A rich program at the Rome Opera House: discover the magic of opera, ballet, and great music at the historic Costanzi Theatre.
Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has gained an increase in international prestige over the years, hosting performances by world-renowned artists such as Caruso, Gigli, Del Monaco, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Montserrat Caballé and Raina Kabaivanska, as well as acclaimed orchestra conductors Toscanini, De Sabata, Klemperer, Abbado and the Master Riccardo Musti since 2008. And the 2023-24 season is no exception.
The upcoming season promises a rich tapestry of surprises and renowned figures in the musical landscape. It will feature the Italian debut of international directors such as Simon Stone, Ersan Mondtag, the Le Lab duo, Claus Guth, and Allex Aguilera. Additionally, choreographers like William Forsythe and Benjamin Millepied will grace the stage, and musical director Michele Mariotti, will bring forth four operas and two concerts. Last but not least, we eagerly await the return of our honorary lifetime director, Riccardo Muti, who will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The 2023-24 season offers the audience 10 new productions (including 6 operas and 4 dance performances), 11 operas, 7 ballets and 5 concerts, totaling 28 more nights than the previous year. The season will be followed by the 2024 Caracalla Festival, for which we can already unveil a few titles: the ballet Carmen and a tribute to Puccini with performances of Tosca and Turandot, presented as part of Massimiliano Fuksas’ creative project.
INSPIRATION
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Opera
The curtain for the upcoming season will rise on Sunday, 27 November 2023, featuring the new production of Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Simon Stone, who is presenting an opera in Italy for the first time. This show, co-produced with the Teatro Real in Madrid, stars John Relyea in the title role, Maria Agresta as Margherita and Elena, and Joshua Guerrero as Faust. The opening night will be captured by Rai Cultura and broadcast live on Rai5 and Radio3 Rai.
The excitement continues on 9, 12, and 14 December with Michele Mariotti returning to the conductor’s podium for Tosca, directed by Alessandro Talevi. Taking the stage will be three opera luminaries: Anna Pirozzi, Vittorio Grigolo, and Erwin Schrott.
From 13 to 21 January, Damiano Michieletto returns with Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The director sets the opera in a school, turning it into an initiatory journey towards self-awareness and maturity, as it confronts the forces of reason and dogmatism. Michele Spotti takes the helm as the conductor, with performances featuring artists like Juan Francisco Gatell, Emőke Baráth, and Aleksandra Olczyk.
From 9 to 17 April, we mark the debut of American-Cuban soprano Lisette Oropesa with La Sonnambula, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta. This new production is entrusted to the French director duo, Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, known as Le Lab, making their first appearance in our country.
In the summer, from 1 to 12 June, the powerful voices of Gregory Kunde, Roberta Mantegna, and Igor Golovatenko take the spotlight in Verdi’s Othello. Daniel Oren takes the conductor’s podium for this performance.
In the fall, from 11 to 19 October, British director Deborah Warner presents Peter Grimes, a show with deep and dramatic psychological elements.
Also featured in the opera lineup is a new production entirely entrusted to “Fabbrica,” the Young Artist Program of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, directed by Lorenzo Amato. The talents from the fourth edition of 2023/24, including the creative team, singers, and collaborating conductors, are all called upon to produce a show premiering at Teatro Nazionale from 28 to 31 May: Cendrillon by Pauline Viardot, presented in the Italian version curated by Vincenzo De Vivo.
Dance
From 21 to 31 December the spotlight is on the traditional holiday ballet, performed even on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve: The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky, reimagined by Paul Chalmer in a new production directed by Andrea Miglio. Alongside Rome’s talented dancers, the leading roles are portrayed by Maia Makhateli and Victor Caixeta. Conducting the performance is Nir Kabaretti.
From 23 to 29 March, the Dance Triptych returns. The evening commences with Playlist (Track 1, 2), a piece originally created for the English National Ballet in 2018, where William Forsythe seamlessly blends the classic and athletic elements of ballet with the rhythms of new-soul and house music. Following is Windgames by Patrick de Bana, choreographed in 2013 for the Vienna State Ballet on Čajkovskij’s Opus 35, marking the first time his choreographic style graces the stage at the Rome Opera House. The evening culminates with Women, a creation by Brazilian artist Juliano Nunes, set to the music of Danish pianist and composer Alexander Mackenzie.
Swan Lake, choreographed by Benjamin Pech, returns to the stage from 19 to 27 June. Leading the cast are Japanese dancer Fumi Kaneko, making her debut at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and Russian dancer Vadim Muntagirov. Tchaikovsky’s enchanting score is conducted by Koen Kessels, the musical director of the Royal Ballet.
After the summer break, from 14 to 22 September, Sleeping Beauty will be performed at Teatro Costanzi, the last of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets.
For the first time, the company’s repertoire includes The Red and the Black, a creation by Uwe Scholz, on stage from 26 October to 2 November. In his three-act composition, Scholz artfully translates Stendhal’s famous novel into choreography, capturing the essence of the drama through a collage of Hector Berlioz’s music.
Concerts
The honorary lifetime director of the Opera di Roma, Riccardo Muti, returns for a special concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, featuring pieces by Ljadov, Stravinsky, and Strauss (29 January).
Mariotti pairs Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, based on the composer’s own music (20 February). Wellber conducts Proximity or Closeness, a choreography by Ermanno Sbezzo featuring Eleonora Abbagnato and Sergio Bernal, set to the music of Mahler and Schnittke, along with Mozart’s Requiem (10 February). On 15 March, there is a world premiere of the new orchestral version of Fabio Vacchi’s Bandiere nere, based on a text about the birth of ISIS by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Joby Warrick. Finally, Prokof’ev’s Aleksandr Nevskij is presented in conjunction with a screening of Ėjzenštejn’s film and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (14 May).
Summer Season
Also in the summer 2024, the Opera House returns to the traditional stage at the Baths of Caracalla with performances of ballet, music, opera and extras between June to August. Some of the featured titles include the ballet Carmen and a tribute to Puccini with performances of Tosca and Turandot, all under the creative direction of Massimiliano Fuksas.
Teatro Costanzi
Piazza Beniamino Gigli
For the full program: operaroma.it
We will be traveling to Rome in May 2019. We wish to attend a performance, and look forward to doing so. We will be booking soon. Thanks.