Arena di Verona Festival 2023: Tosca

It is an event that attracts thousands of music lovers to Verona every summer: the opera season in the ancient Roman Arena. Nearly 22,000 spectators regularly fill the mphitheater for the performances. The dream couple of opera, Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigòlo, returns to the breathtaking open-air stage, to perform Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is “one of the best Toscas currently singing” and Vittorio Grigòlo “the most Italian Cavaradossi we know. With lots of wonderful melting, elegant and nonchalant full of triumphant greatness a triumph all along the line” (Online Merker). The captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana, who masterfully exploits the amphitheatre’s vast space by placing huge elements on the stage that are reminiscent of or borrowed from the locations of the action, makes the opera a “spectacle of monumental opulence” (Online Merker). “A Tosca to relish!” Artesnews.it

Arena di Verona Festival 2024: La Bohème

Nearly 22,000 spectators fill the amphitheater to watch the spectacle unfold on the world’s largest opera stage. Director Alfonso Signorini’s production of Puccini’s beloved La Bohème transports the summery Arena to a snow-covered Paris of the 19th century. The tragic love story at the centre of the work is convincingly portrayed by audience favourite Vittorio Grigòlo and rising star Juliana Grigoryan, who is making her debut in the Arena. Grigòlo’s “‘full throttle’ Rodolfo shows energy and charisma, winning the audience over from the first notes” and Grigoryan moves the crowd as Mimì: “Her voice is rich, flowing with phrasing and precision, conveying emotions of love, hope and suffering without being victimized” (Artes News). The rest of the ensemble gives remarkable performances, toeing the line between light-heartedness and heartbreak perfectly. Especially outstanding: Eleonora Bellocci as Musetta “steals the show…her vocal agility and dynamism remain steadfast from her charming and flawless Waltz onwards” (Artes News). The orchestra, in the capable hands of Daniel Oren, “creates expressive and effective musical fabric” (Corriere dello Spettacolo).

La Gioconda

Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, presented by the Teatro di San Carlo, in a co-production with the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona, presents a stellar cast under the baton of Pinchas Steinberg: Anna Netrebko, here in one of the most complex roles in the repertoire, shows “her vocal ability with an absolute mastery of her instrument” (Bachtrack). Ludovic Tézier’s Barnaba, “exhibited brilliant ease in every nuance of tone, register and phrasing” (Bachtrack) and Jonas Kaufmann’s Enzo proved his great presence and vocal skills. Romain Gilbert’s stage direction and the excellent performance from the orchestra fullfilled the expectations of a great production.

Sylvia

Léo Delibes’ Sylvia, created in 1876 at the Opéra Garnier, is an absolute masterpiece for its choreographic and musical richness. Manuel Legris, star of the Paris Opera, brings to Milan a new Sylvia that will delight the audience with its sumptuous choreography. This version of Sylvia focuses primarily on heterogeneous possibilities for the development of pure dance and thus also gives a wide scope to the picturesque moments that are once again decorated in great detail by Luisa Spinatelli.

Giselle

The La Scala production of Yvette Chauvirè’s version of the unforgettable choreography by Coralli – Perrot, in a modality designed by the director of the Ballet Manuel Legris.

Le Corsaire

The version of Le Corsaire by Manuel Legris arrives at La Scala, his first revival of a nineteenth century classic, fully highlighting the intent and innovativeness of his choreographic approach and his musical and dramaturgic quest. With its clear and accessible plot, notable attention to musicality and relations among characters, the sumptuous and evocative décor and costumes by Luisa Spinatelli, it will be an occasion recombining the energy virtuosity, the lyricism and romanticism of one of the 19th century’s most adventurous and thrilling ballets d’action with the talents of the La Scala dancers.