No use beating around the bush: Mascagni’s operas following Cavalleria rusticana all different from one another have been overshadowed by the fame of the first. A fate in many ways unjust given their musical quality. Iris is one of these hidden gems: first performed in 1898 it is the first example of an Italian opera set in Japan and anticipates some ideas that would soon appear in Madama Butterfly (moreover with the same librettist Luigi Illica). But unlike Puccini’s Mascagni’s Japan is idealized and completely detached from reality as befits a symbolist drama: in an idyllic place among flowers bamboo and streams two agents of evil lie in wait. The victim is a young girl whom Illica and Mascagni follow with masterful skill through the tortuous paths of her mind where dreams and memories of childhood collide with the horror of the world the abduction for the purpose of sexual abuse and finally the agony on the mysterious boundary between life and death. Their creation explores an intimate side of femininity in this case transfigured in a symbolic key.

Iris

Teatro Regio di Torino

Amidst golden pyramids and imposing scenery, Franco Zeffirelli's luxurious and fantastic Egypt is back at the Arena with Aida. In this majestic production, a legend is back for seven performances for the 2026 Festival.

Aida Ed. Franco Zeffirelli

Arena di Verona

The world’s most loved and performed opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece, will open the 103rd Arena di Verona Opera Festival in a new production which, for the first time in Arena history, will bring one of the French capital’s most iconic institutions to Verona: the Moulin Rouge.

Mariano Buccino

Events

Upcoming events

5 - 18 Nov, 2026

Iris · Teatro Regio Torino

18 - 29 Apr, 2027

Tosca · Teatro Massimo

Past events

5 - 18 Nov, 2026

Iris · Teatro Regio Torino

Jul 30 - Sep 10, 2026

Aida Ed. Franco Zeffirelli · Fondazione Arena di Verona

Future and recently performed repertoire

Il Dottore Grenvil in La traviata by Verdi

Fondazione Arena di Verona

Angelotti in Tosca by Puccini

Teatro Massimo

The King in Aida by Verdi

Fondazione Arena di Verona

Il Cieco in Iris by Mascagni

Teatro Regio Torino

About

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