Singer

Step into a world of passion, tragedy, and deception with Puccini’s Il trittico, a trio of one-act operas led by world-renowned opera conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Il tabarro unveils a shadowy tale of love and betrayal along the Seine. Suor Angelica plunges into the depths of sacrifice behind convent walls. Gianni Schicchi turns deception into delight in a sharp-witted comedy of intrigue. Three stories, three distinct worlds—one unforgettable evening of Opera in Concert.

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Opera in Concert: Puccini’s Il trittico

Kennedy Center

Pagliacci, an opera in two acts with a prologue, by Ruggero Leoncavallo, follows in the fortunate wake of Cavalleria rusticana, which had paved the way for the strand of verismo theatre. The libretto, prepared by the composer himself, is based on a crime story, a crime of passion that really happened in Montalto Uffugo, the village in Calabria where the composer lived as a young man. Performed at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, under the baton of Toscanini, the opera achieved international fame in a very short time. The popular setting, where violent feelings are rendered by a convulsive vocalism, is the backdrop to the drama of jealousy of Canio, the head of an itinerant company. Thanks to the subtle narrative device of the theatre within the theatre, of real life consumed in the comedy performed on stage, Leoncavallo enhances the dramatic charge of the subject. The demon of jealousy that devours the protagonist, an unhappy man in reality and in fiction, cannot but lead him to the final catastrophe, with the heinous murder of his adulterous wife Nedda and her unfortunate lover.

Pagliacci / Cavalleria rusticana

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

It is the summer of 1789. A festivity is being prepared in the castle of Countess de Coigny. Charles Gérard, a servant of the Countess´ voices his hatred of the French aristrocracy´s decadence. His aged Father is forced to labour all day long and Gérard himself leads the undignified life of a lackey. Moreover, he is secretly and unhappily in love with Madeleine de Coigny, the daughter of the House with whom he was raised. The political situation is very tense. When the visitors attending the ball finally arrive, they try to distract themselves from the disquieting news from Paris with the help of arcadian idylls and games. The young poet André Chénier is among the guests. Madeleine requests him to recite a poem. He sings of love and laments the injustice of the powers that be in such a convincing manner that Madeleine is deeply moved and forced to quit the room. The doors are suddely opened and a mob of irate people led by Gérard shocks the ball guests. However, the Countess manages to pacify and disperse the mob. The dancing continues.

Andrea Chenier

Deutsche Oper Berlin

A political drama about a bloody seizure of power, namely the rise and terrible fall of the Scottish military leader Macbeth and his wife, are at the heart of Verdi’s opera, based on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Barrie Kosky's production is «an aesthetic milestone in the work’s reception» (NZZ). It radically concentrates on the protagonists’ inner perspective in a ghostly jet-black stage space. Gianandrea Noseda navigates Verdi’s bold score. Roman Burdenko and Ekaterina Semenchuk sing the roles of the couple shattered by fears and madness.

Macbeth

Zurich Opera House

Otello

Mariinsky II

Aida is a grand opera in the tradition of works like Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots, but it is also a deeply personal, psychological drama. As in many of Verdi’s operas, the characters’ inner struggles collide with broader political conflicts. At the heart of Aida lies a love triangle set against the backdrop of a devastating war. I have grown weary of typical productions: all those piles of sand, colourful hieroglyphs, elephants and camels… On the other hand, I didn’t want to stage Aida in the way it’s currently done in, say, Germany, or as it was recently presented at Covent Garden, with direct references to contemporary conflicts. I wanted to offer a fresh perspective, something unusual but always within the framework of Verdi’s work and with the utmost respect for his creation.

Aida

MACBETH was the first of Shakespeare’s plays to be set to music by Verdi, in 1847. Despite his decades of interest in the English playwright, he did not adapt another work of Shakespeare’s until late in his career. Verdi’s operatic rendition of this tale of murky prophecies and bloody struggles for the throne of Scotland came in the hugely productive decade that Verdi himself came to refer to as his »galley slave years«. Still striving for critical recognition, he turned out a string of operas that expanded on the bel canto genre. MACBETH was part of an evolution in Italian opera, a development that was even more evident in the modified version released in 1865. In typical fashion Verdi roughened up the storyline and injected some emotional twists and turns, intensifying the drama in the process and creating a tense momentum that sends the protagonists hurtling towards their respective gruesome ends.

The festive opera night lasts approx. 2 hours without an interval. After the stage programme, the opera will remain open: With music, culinary offerings and artistic interventions, you can experience a unique "Night at the Opera".

Festive opera night for the German Aids Foundation

Experience the thunderous music of Otello in the hands of our opera-loving Music Director. Verdi’s score offers a thrilling exploration of uncontrolled human emotion at its most extreme. Hailed as a pinnacle of Italian operatic repertoire, Verdi’s transformation of the Shakespeare play was described by The New York Times as an “ascent towards a higher musical plane” following its 1887 premiere.

Opera in Concert: Noseda conducts Verdi’s Otello

California Center for the Arts

plendor and misery lie close together in the life of the courtesan Violetta Valéry. Celebrated as an enigmatic beauty at lavish Parisian parties, she is forced to abandon her great love for Alfredo due to bourgeois conventions. With this opera about a "whore," as Giuseppe Verdi himself called her, he shocked the audiences of his time. His sharp critique is directed against the hypocritical practices of society, while he imbues Violetta herself, on her path of suffering, with the aura of a saint. With keen psychological insight, director Christof Loy draws inspiration from the aesthetics of Verdi's era. Under the direction of Joana Mallwitz, the young Spanish soprano Marina Monzó makes her debut in the title role.

La traviata

Opernhaus Zürich

A clown whose laughter catches in his throat, a ruthless lover, a hitman with a warm voice: In Rigoletto, Verdi assembles bawdy farce, profound character studies and overwhelming emotion into a dazzling grotesque about power and vulnerability. The opera is so much more than „La donna è mobile!” In his production, Jan Bosse tells the tragedy of a man who fails to separate his private life from his public actions. The Deutsche Oper Berlin auditorium becomes the decadent ducal court of Mantua, the understage a claustrophobic hiding place. There, Rigoletto keeps his daughter Gilda hidden from the eyes of the nobles. But as the action unfolds, the carefully separated roles of the cynical court jester and the gentle father begin to crumble. In his futile attempt to protect his daughter, Rigoletto inadvertently destroys his world – until only an empty stage remains. Conductor Anna Handler, already a favourite with the public, will conduct her first Verdi production.

Rigoletto

Undoubtedly one of the most famous melodies in operatic history is the popular prisoners’ chorus «Va pensiero,» from Nabucco, which in Verdi’s time was even considered the unofficial national anthem of Italy. Beyond this, however, it was also Verdi’s unerring instinct for theatrically effective situations that made Nabucco the composer’s first major success; here, too, Verdi found his very personal musical-dramatic language. The powerful, contrasting choral scenes, which address the Babylonian-Hebrew conflict, the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile of the Jews are juxtaposed with the story of the disintegration of a ruling family: Abigaille and Fenena are half-sisters, both in love with the young Jew Ismaele. Their father, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, descends into madness and despair. The title role features the charismatic baritone Nicola Alaimo, deeply rooted in the Italian tradition, alongside the radiant Saoia Hernández as Abigaille. The fiery Verdi conductor Antonino Fogliani leads the performance.

Nabucco

One of Richard Strauss’s grandest and most gorgeous operas receives a fully staged performance as part of the 2027 Mandel Opera & Humanities Festival. A symbolic tale of love, redemption, and compassion, the half-human Empress sets out on a desperate quest to gain a shadow or face a terrible fate. Conducted by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and featuring an international cast of singers, this is an operatic event not to miss.

Baritone

Roman Burdenko

Events

Upcoming events

Dec 20, 2026 - Jan 23, 2027

La traviata · Opernhaus Zürich

Jan 29 - Feb 19, 2027

Rigoletto · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Apr 24 - May 14, 2027

Nabucco · Deutsche Oper Berlin

16 - 22 May, 2027

Die Frau ohne Schatten · The Cleveland Orchestra

Past events

Apr 29 - May 1, 2026

Opera in Concert: Puccini’s Il trittico · National Symphony Orchestra

Feb 22 - Mar 3, 2026

Pagliacci / Cavalleria rusticana · Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Future and recently performed repertoire

Giorgio Germont in La traviata by Verdi

Opernhaus Zürich

Macbeth in Macbeth by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Iago in Otello by Verdi

Mariinsky Theatre

Singer in Die Frau ohne Schatten by Strauss

The Cleveland Orchestra

Tonio in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo

Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chénier by Giordano

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Singer in Andrea Chénier by Giordano

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Rigoletto in Rigoletto by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Amonasro in Aida by Verdi

Mariinsky Theatre

Nabucco in Nabucco by Verdi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Singer in Il trittico by Puccini

National Symphony Orchestra

Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni

Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

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