Opera and Ballet

A new production conducted by Tomáš Netopil and directed by Davide Livermore

Teatro Regio, Friday 22 January 2010 at 8 pm

2010 opens with Idomeneo, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first opera seria masterpiece, an opera in three acts on Giambattista Varesco’s libretto, after the tragédie lyrique of the same name by Antoine Danchet. The opera, on stage from Friday 22 January, confirms one of the Regio’s lines of policy: to propose important titles outside the usual repertoire, a significant artistic decision, which is possible for a theatre that counts on a mature, well-established public. On stage, the best singers on the international scene: Matthew Polenzani, Ruxandra Donose, Annick Massis and Eva Mei. On the podium of the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio will be Maestro Tomáš Netopil; the young music director of the National Theatre of Prague and stage director Davide Livermore return to collaborate in a new production – co-produced by the Teatro Comunale of Bologna – after having demonstrated, in Il Ratto dal Serraglio in 2006, a particular feeling for  Mozart operas. The Chorus Master is Roberto Gabbiani.

The great tradition of Russian ballet

Teatro Regio, Friday 11 December 2009 at 8 pm

On Friday 11 December the long-awaited event of The Nutcracker, the ballet with music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky on the libretto by  Marius Petipa, based on the short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann, will open. Starring at the Regio will be the Vaganova Ballet Academy of St. Petersburg which will present, for fourteen performances through 23 December, the 1934 choreography by Vasilij Vajnonen, revived by Altynaj Asylmuratova, the academy’s director.

This will be the only Italian engagement for the historic ballet school of St. Petersburg – founded officially in 1738 at the request of Empress Anna Johannovna as the Imperial Theatrical Institute – which, in its nearly 300 year history, has formed the best dancers in the world: Anna Pavlova, Vaclav Nižinskij, Rudolf Nureyev, Natalija Makarova, Michail Baryshnikov and Agrippina Vaganova, who was director and to whom, in 1957, the school was dedicated. Today it is directed by the former star of the Mariinsky Theatre Altynaj Asylmuratova. The same Mariinsky Theatre, with its  Kirov Ballet, counts among its ranks the greatest number of Academy graduates. The Torino performances, therefore,  provide a magnificent occasion for seeing ballet stars of the future.

Stars of bel canto on stage for Rossini

Teatro Regio, Wednesday 25 November 2009 at 8 pm

After the extraordinary success of Traviata, on Wednesday 25 November the Teatro Regio will present a new production of Tancredi by Gioachino Rossini. This masterpiece, with which the twenty-one-year-old composer from Pesaro made a name for himself as a master of opera seria, will be conducted by Kristjan Järvi, the thirty-seven-year-old American who belongs to an important family of musicians coming from Esthonia. Yannis Kokkos will be responsible for the stage direction, sets and costumes. The all-Italian cast will feature the most important specialists of bel canto: Daniela Barcellona, Patrizia Ciofi, Antonino Siragusa and Simone Del Savio. The Chorus Master is Claudio Fenoglio.

With Tancredi the Regio continues its policy of international co-productions, renewing its partnership with the Teatro Real of Madrid, together with the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcellona and the Teatro de la Maestranza of Seville.

Gianandrea Noseda on the podium for the inauguration 
Laurent Pelly directs for the first time in Italy

Teatro Regio, Wednesday 14 October 2009 at 8 pm

Inaugurating the Teatro Regio season on Wednesday 14 October will be a new staging of La traviata. The great masterpiece of Giuseppe Verdi’s creative genius will be conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. For the first time in Italy, Laurent Pelly – director of the Théâtre National de Toulouse – will be responsible for the stage direction and costumes, while sets are by Chantal Thomas and lighting by Duane Schuler. Featured in Verdi’s opera will be Elena Mosuc and Carlos Álvarez, for the first time on stage in Torino, and Francesco Meli, who has chosen the Teatro Regio for his debut in the role of Alfredo. The Chorus Master is Roberto Gabbiani.

The new staging, realised by the Teatro Regio in co-production with the Santa Fe Opera Festival, proposes – eight years after the last production in Torino – one of the most emblematic titles of the great repertoire, which has never failed to stir audiences, and which the Teatro Regio will take on tour – together with La bohème – to Japan in July 2010.