Singer

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.

La Traviata

Arena di Verona

Christmas Eve, 1871. In Cairo’s newly built opera house, the curtain rises on the premiere of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida. This is a turning point in cultural history, when an occidental passion for exoticism and an oriental interest in European high culture come together to create great art. Very few works of opera have achieved such widespread popularity. And rightly so: with its thrilling musical effects, exotic sounds and tableaux, the colourful instrumentation and monumental scenes alternating with moments of great intimacy, Aida is a true musical and dramatic treasure trove. And that’s not all. Through the tragic love affair between the Ethiopian princess Aida and the Egyptian army commander Radamès, torn between the interests of state, church and family, Giuseppe Verdi reflects on the crisis-ridden plight of the modern individual, ending with a highly moving plea for the utopian power of love.

Aida

Semperoper Dresden

After the Kurt Weill Triptych and the Season opening in tribute to Shostakovich, Music Director M° Chailly adds another key milestone to his ongoing exploration of Verdi’s work, completing his survey of the composer’s early operas with the work that marked a turning point. The triumph of Nabucodonosor at La Scala in 1842 signaled the definitive breakthrough of the composer, while also forging a strong bond between the Milanese theatre (and, more broadly, Italian opera) and the emerging spirit of unification and the Risorgimento. The new production, in which the divertissements composed by Verdi for the 1848 revival in Brussels will be performed, marks the La Scala debut of the now well-established talent of Alessandro Talevi, a South African director who has reconnected with his Italian roots. The cast is the best imaginable: Anna Netrebko, Luca Salsi, Francesco Meli, Michele Pertusi, and Veronica Simeoni. Also central to the production is the Chorus, conducted by Alberto Malazzi, performing the iconic “Va, pensiero.”

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Nabucodonosor

Teatro alla Scala

A stellar vocal cast performs one of the most mysterious works in the history of music, suspended between light and shadow, which continues to challenge and move audiences of every era

Mozart’s Requiem

Cattedrale di San Lorenzo

The Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy open the doors of the Chorus hall to three events dedicated to the art of singing.

Francesco Meli

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre

In a hallmark of his partnership with the CSO, Riccardo Muti takes center stage to conduct selections from Verdi’s enthralling, passion-filled operas. The program also features a lineup of treasured Italian opera repertoire performed by internationally acclaimed singers and the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

An Opera Night with Riccardo Muti

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Opera recital (Francesco Meli, Luca Salsi e Nelson Calzi)

Teatro La Fenice

Simon Boccanegra

Medea

San Carlo Theatre

This much sought-after, fascinating tenor is at home on the leading stages of the world. He’s a heroic tenor who started his career in bel canto and Rossini roles. Recent engagements have included Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra in London, Genoa and Vienna, Ernani and Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Riccardo Muti in Tokyo, Baden-Baden and the Salzburg Festival, Aida at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Muti. He’s a regular guest at houses including the Semperoper in Dresden, La Scala Milan and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rome Opera, the Margitszigeti Színház in Budapest, Arena di Verona, Covent Garden and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence. He went on tour to Tokyo with Verdi‘s La traviata before returning to open La Scala’s season, for the sixth time, last year, with Don Carlo. Francesco Meli’s appearing at Oper Frankfurt for the first time, in recital with his pianist Davide Cavalli.

Francesco Meli (Tenor) & Davide Cavalli (Piano)

Oper Frankfurt

When Rossini died in 1868, Verdi suggested that Italy’s leading composers join forces to write a funeral mass. He himself contributed the concluding »Libera me«. However, the project was abandoned shortly before the premiere. Five years later, Verdi decided to write his own requiem, into which he incorporated the existing material. This work was not written for the church, but for the concert hall. Powerful emotions and dramatic contrasts combine to create a stream of deeply felt music that underscores the urgent message of the sacred texts: humility in the face of death and the hope of salvation to be gained through supplication.

6th Symphony Concert

The opera "Aida" by Giuseppe Verdi is not only set in Egypt and premiered in Cairo, but throughout the history of its origin it is closely linked to the country on the Nile and its viceroy, the Khedive Ismael Pasha. How Verdi initially reacted to the request to compose the opera and how strongly the contemporary developments in Europe and Egypt influenced the work in addition to the interest in archeology, Johann Casimir Eule tells in the opera guide online.

Verdi & Liszt

Francesco Meli / Luca Salsi

The emotions of ‘Va, pensiero’ as you have never experienced them before. Come and marvel at Nabucco, the choral drama par excellence, in a poetic and visionary production designed by Stefano Poda.

Tenor

Francesco Meli

Events

Upcoming events

11 - 28 Jun, 2026

Aida · Semperoper Dresden

Jun 12 - Sep 12, 2026

La Traviata · Fondazione Arena di Verona

Jun 16, 2026

Verdi & Liszt · Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Jun 21, 2026

Francesco Meli / Luca Salsi · Teatro alla Scala

Jun 26 - Sep 9, 2026

Nabucco · Fondazione Arena di Verona

Past events

Jun 12 - Sep 12, 2026

La Traviata · Fondazione Arena di Verona

11 - 28 Jun, 2026

Aida · Semperoper Dresden

Future and recently performed repertoire

Alfredo Germont in La traviata by Verdi

Fondazione Arena di Verona

Singer in Otello by Verdi

Teatro La Fenice

Singer in Requiem by Mozart

Opera Carlo Felice Genova

Singer in La forza del destino by Verdi

Teatro La Fenice

Jason in Médée by Cherubini

Teatro di San Carlo

Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra by Verdi

Teatro La Fenice

Radamès in Aida by Verdi

Semperoper Dresden

Singer in Paraphrase de concert sur 'Rigoletto' by Liszt

Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

Ishmael in Nabucco by Verdi

Fondazione Arena di Verona

Singer in Messa da Requiem by Verdi

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Singer in Widmung by Liszt

Teatro La Fenice

Radamès in Aida by Verdi

Semperoper Dresden

Singer in Don Carlo by Verdi

Teatro La Fenice

Ismaele in Nabucodonosor by Verdi

Teatro alla Scala

Singer in Rigoletto by Liszt

Teatro La Fenice

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