INAUGURATION OF THE OPERA AND BALLET SEASON

The Opera and Ballet Season opens with a joint inauguration featuring the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova and the Teatro Nazionale di Genova. On the programme will be the double performance of Turn of the Screw, a tale by Henry James translated and adapted for the prose theatre by Carlo Sciaccaluga under the direction of Davide Livermore, and The Turn of the Screw, an opera in a prologue and two acts by Benjamin Britten based on the tale by James, with the direction of Riccardo Minasi – music director of the Opera Carlo Felice – and the direction of Davide Livermore. Both new productions are realised in collaboration between the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice, the Teatro Nazionale in Genoa and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in València.

ALL THE TITLES OF THE Opera and Ballet SEASON

Lucia di Lammermoor, a tragic drama in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti, in the Teatro Carlo Felice Foundation’s production in co-production with the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the ABAO-OLBE of Bilbao, will be conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa and directed by Lorenzo Mariani.

Giampaolo Bisanti will be maestro concertatore and conductor of Il cappello di Paglia di Firenze, in the new version of the staging by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice in collaboration with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège. Directed by Damiano Michieletto.

The Nutcracker, a ballet in two acts by Pyotr Il’ič Tchaikovsky will be performed by the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, conductor Karen Durgaryan, choreography by Georgy Kovtun from Marius Petipa.

Conducted by Renato Palumbo and directed by Giorgio Gallione, the three-act melodrama La traviata, by Giuseppe Verdi, will be staged in the Teatro Carlo Felice Foundation’s production.

Donato Renzetti – director emeritus of the Theatre – will conduct Andrea Chénier, a historical drama in four scenes by Umberto Giordano, in the staging of the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Opéra Garnier Monte-Carlo, directed by Pier Francesco Maestrini.

In the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice’s production, Falstaff , an opera comedy in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, will be staged, conducted by Riccardo Minasi and directed by Damiano Michieletto.

Die Liebe der Danae (The Love of Danae), a mythological comedy in three acts by Richard Strauss, in the new staging by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice, will be performed for the first time in its original version with Italian artistic ensembles. It will be conducted by Fabio Luisi – honorary director of the theatre – and directed by Laurence Dale.

Carmen, opéra-comique in four acts by Georges Bizet, will be staged in the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma Foundation’s production, maestro concertatore and conductor Donato Renzetti, directed by Emilio Sagi.

The opera season closes with Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Singspiel in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, staged by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, conducted by Giancarlo Andretta and directed by Daniele Abbado. The protagonists are the Soloists of the Opera Carlo Felice’s Academy of advanced training and professional integration for opera singers, directed by Francesco Meli.

Among the soloists cast in the Opera Season:

Karen Gardeazabal, Franco Vassallo, Nina Minasyan, Iván Ayón Rivas, Luca Tittoto, Marco Ciaponi, Nicola Ulivieri, Paolo Bordogna, Benedetta Torre, Olga Peretyatko, Francesco Meli, Roberto Frontali, Fabio Sartori, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Maria Josè Siri, Ambrogio Maestri, Galeano Salas, Ernesto Petti, Erika Grimaldi, Caterina Sala, Sara Mingardo, Scott Hendricks, Angela Meade, John Matthew Myers, Piero Pretti, Annalisa Stroppa, Giuliana Gianfaldoni.

The conductors of the Symphonic Season:

Riccardo Minasi – music director of the Theatre – Donato Renzetti – director emeritus of the Theatre, Wolfram Christ, Claudio Marino Moretti – Maestro of the Carlo Felice Opera Chorus – Hartmut Haenchen, Leonhard Garms,

From Wednesday 26 June at 3 p.m., start of season ticket sales. From Monday 1 July, start of single ticket sales. Info and tickets: www.operacarlofelicegenova.it.

“At the conclusion of a 2023/2024 Opera and Symphonic Season that was a huge success with the public and critics – states the Superintendent Claudio Orazi – there are great expectations for the 2024/2025 artistic programme that promises to be full of new emotions. With the support of tens of thousands of spectators, including loyal subscribers and many young people, we have achieved a leading role among national and international musical institutions through a programme that ranges from Baroque to contemporary music, ensuring the preservation, protection and enhancement of the great Italian opera repertoire. A project that, also for the next Season, will be shared with internationally renowned conductors and artists together with directors who are at the forefront of research into new languages of art and the theatre scene. A theatre strongly committed to involving new audiences, a commitment to which the Ministry of Culture, the Region of Liguria, the Municipality of Genoa and the Iren Group contribute in a motivated and growing way as founding partners. Alongside them are the qualified sponsorships of Banca Passadore, Intesa San Paolo, and Esselunga. The quality of the partners that, to date, share and cooperate in the theatre’s activities and projects is remarkable: suffice it to mention the National Theatre of Genoa, the University, the Conservatory and the Academy of Fine Arts of Genoa, plus the Regional School Office, the Archdiocese of Genoa, the Gog, and the Paganini Prize. In the territorial sphere, with the Liguria Musica season, there are dozens of municipalities that collaborate permanently with the theatre; from Imperia to La Spezia, from Rapallo to Monterosso, from Alessandria to Novi Ligure and many others. In addition to the strong territorial roots, synonymous with identity and memory, there are also significant international collaborations such as those with the Royal Opera House in Muscat, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Paris Opera, the National Theatre in Zagreb, the Teatro alla Scala, Columbia University and Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York. These latter collaborations will be joined by a new project dedicated to the Euro-Mediterranean area, starting with the city of Tangier. On the basis of these results, it is the theatre’s intention to grow further, in the wake of an Opera Foundation with a “polycentric character” that today directly manages several performance venues (Teatro Carlo Felice, Teatro della Gioventù, Teatro Auditorium Montale, Foyer of the Theatre, Teatro ai Parchi di Nervi) and collaborations in Italy and around the world with dozens of other institutions. All this is possible, thanks to the commitment of workers in all departments and a formidable artistic team composed of Fabio Luisi (honorary director), Donato Renzetti (director emeritus), Riccardo Minasi (music director)”.

“A new artistic Season in which there will be no lack of soloists and conductors of great calibre with the renowned Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra and many collaborations that will be able to involve not only all Opera Carlo Felice enthusiasts, but also that large audience made up of many young people that the Opera Carlo Felice has been able to attract in recent years together with the great talents of the Academy of Advanced Music – says the acting President of the Liguria Region, Alessandro Piana. A season marked by the new and the traditional with a very rich programme. A tribute to immortal operatic masterpieces, with prestigious stagings, original versions and themes that continue to excite audiences of all ages. And alongside proposals that testify to our theatre’s commitment to promoting creativity and innovation, as is clearly evident in the joint inauguration, to be held on 12 October, between Opera Carlo Felice and Teatro Nazionale di Genova, with the staging of the diptych Giro di vite – The Turn of the Screw, giving the Genoese public the chance to grasp every link between prose and musical version. An important proposal at national level that testifies to the collaboration between institutions, carried out with great success in recent years. This is another reason why we are certain that there will be no shortage of emotions in both the opera performances and the symphonic and choral concerts, in the chamber vocal music concerts, in the events throughout Liguria, and in the international promotion project in New York, which will be a real bridge between different cultures under the banner of art. Each evening will represent a unique opportunity to experience the magic of live music in one of Italy’s most prestigious and evocative theatres, which has been able over time to continuously renew itself and to appear on many international stages”.

The Opera and Ballet Season

On Saturday 12 October 2024 the joint opening of the Opera and Ballet Season of the Opera Carlo Felice Genova and the Theatre Season of the Teatro Nazionale di Genova will be held with The Turn of the Screw – a story written by Henry James in 1898 – alternating a prose theatre adaptation faithful to the original text and the version set to music by Benjamin Britten in a single staging at the Ivo Chiesa Theatre. This important initiative is unique at national level and in line with the statutory objectives of the Carlo Felice aimed at integrated cooperation between cultural institutions. The diptych opens with Giro di vite, a translation and adaptation by Carlo Sciaccaluga, a production of the Teatro Nazionale in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in València, directed by Davide Livermore, with sets by Manuel Zuriaga, costumes by Mariana Fracasso, lights by Antonio Castro and music by Giua and Mario Conte; performers, Linda Gennari (Institutrice), Gaia Aprea (Mrs. Grose), Aleph Viola (Mrs. Grose), Aleph Viola (Mrs. Britten), and the others (Mrs. Britten). Grose), Aleph Viola (Peter Quint), Virginia Campolucci (Miss Jessel), Ludovica Iannetti (Flora), Luigi Bignone (Miles). Next, The Turn of the Screw, an opera in a prologue and two acts by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by Myfawny Piper from the short story by James, will be performed in the Teatro Carlo Felice Foundation’s new production in collaboration with the Teatro Nazionale and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía. It will be conducted by Riccardo Minasi, music director of the Opera Carlo Felice Genova to 2022, whose recent and upcoming symphonic debuts include the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. The direction will be by Davide Livermore, with sets by Manuel Zuriaga, costumes by Mariana Fracasso and lighting by Antonio Castro; performers: Valentino Buzza (Quint), Karen Gardeazabal (The Governess), Oliver Barlow (Miles), Lucy Barlow (Flora), Polly Leech (Mrs. Grose), Marianna Mappa (Miss Jessel). Davide Livermore comments: “I have the enormous joy of being able to tell you that the Teatro Nazionale and the Opera Carlo Felice will jointly inaugurate their Seasons with Henry James’ Turn of the Screw, the same title that I have the honour of staging both in the prose version for the Teatro Nazionale and in the opera version by Benjamin Britten for the Carlo Felice. I am enthusiastic about it, it is a way of underlining how fundamental it is to work as a system, how fundamental it is that the excellence of a city does not isolate itself in a stronghold, but instead continues to wish to be at the disposal of the citizenry with planning, with openness and with ideas. I am grateful to the Carlo Felice for having welcomed this idea, organising it together with us in full collaboration of spirit. I thank once again the Superintendent Claudio Orazi and the Artistic Director Pierangelo Conte.”

Lucia di Lammermoor, Gaetano Donizetti’s tragic drama in three acts, with libretto by Salvatore Cammarano from the novel The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott, will be staged from Friday 15 November in the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice’s production in co-production with the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna and with ABAO-OLBE of Bilbao. Francesco Ivan Ciampa will conduct the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra and Chorus, with direction by Lorenzo Mariani, sets by Maurizio Balò, costumes by Silvia Aymonino and lighting by Linus Fellbom. The cast consists of: Franco Vassallo (Enrico), Nina Minasyan (Lucia), Iván Ayón Rivas (Edgardo), Paolo Antognetti (Arturo), Luca Tittoto (Raimondo), Alena Sautier (Alisa) and Manuel Pierattelli (Normanno).

Starting on Friday 13th December, the new version of the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice’s production in collaboration with the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège of Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, a musical farce in four acts by Nino Rota to his own libretto and by Ernesta Rinaldi from Un chapeau de paille d’Italie by Eugène Laviche and Marc Michel, will be on stage. Giampaolo Bisanti will conduct the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera Carlo Felice, with direction by Damiano Michieletto, sets by Paolo Fantin, costumes by Silvia Aymonino and lighting by Luciano Novelli. In the cast: Marco Ciaponi (Fadinard), Nicola Ulivieri (Nonancourt), Paolo Bordogna (Beaupertuis / Emilio), Didier Pieri (Uncle Vezinet), David Ferri Durà (Felice), Blagoj Nacoski (Achille di Rosalba / A guard), Benedetta Torre (Elena), Giulia Bolcato (Anaide), Marika Colasanto (The milliner), Sonia Ganassi (The Baroness of Champigny).

The Nutcracker, a ballet in two acts by Pyotr Il’ič Tchaikovsky from the short story Nußknacker und Mausekönig by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, will be staged from Saturday 21 December. Under the direction of Karen Durgaryan, the corps de ballet of the Armenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre will perform the choreography by Georgy Kovtun from Marius Petipa, sets and costumes by Vyacheslav Okunev.

Sunday 12 January 2025 will see the staging of La traviata, a melodrama in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave from the novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas’ son, in the Teatro Carlo Felice Foundation’s production. It will be conducted by Renato Palumbo, directed by Giorgio Gallione, with sets and costumes by Guido Fiorato and lighting by Luciano Novelli. The protagonists of the opera will be brought to life: Olga Peretyatko / Elena Schirru (14, 16, 18) (Violetta Valery), Carlotta Vichi (Flora Bervoix), Chiara Polese (Annina), Francesco Meli / Klodjan Kaçani (14, 16, 18) (Alfredo Germont), Roberto Frontali / Leon Kim (14, 16, 18) (Giorgio Germont), Roberto Covatta (Gastone), Claudio Ottino (Baron Douphol), Andrea Porta (Marquis d’Obigny), Francesco Milanese (Doctor Grenvil).

The historical drama in four scenes Andrea Chénier, by Umberto Giordano to a libretto by Luigi Illica, will be staged from Thursday, February 6th in the Teatro Comunale di Bologna Foundation and the Opéra Garnier Monte-Carlo. Donato Renzetti – the theatre’s director emeritus and one of the most esteemed conductors of the Italian school – returns to the podium of the Carlo Felice. During his career, Renzetti has conducted many of the most prestigious orchestras, including the London Sinfonietta, the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the DSO Berlin, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestra Rai, the Dallas Symphony, the Belgian Radio and Television Orchestra in Brussels, the Orchestre National du Capitol de Toulouse and the Orchestre National de Lyon. The direction is by Pier Francesco Maestrini, with sets and video by Nicolás Boni, costumes by Stefania Scaraggi and lighting by Daniele Naldi. The cast includes Fabio Sartori (Andrea Chénier), Amartuvshin Enkhbat / Stefano Meo (9, 12) (Carlo Gérard), Maria Josè Siri (Maddalena di Coigny), Cristina Melis (La mulatta Bersi), Siranush Khachatryan (La contessa di Coigny), Manuela Custer (Madelon), Nicolò Ceriani (Roucher), Matteo Peirone (Fléville), Marco Camastra (Fouquier Tinville), Luciano Roberti (Matthieu), Didier Pieri (Unbelievable), Gianluca Sorrentino (The Abbot), Andrea Porta (Schmidt).

In the staging of the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the opera comedy in three acts Falstaff, by Giuseppe Verdi, on a libretto by Arrigo Boito from the play The Merry Wives of Windsor and the drama The History of Henry the Fourth by William Shakespeare, will be on stage from Friday 7 March. Riccardo Minasi will return to conduct, directed by Damiano Michieletto and with sets by Paolo Fantin, costumes by Carla Teti and lighting by Alessandro Carletti. The cast includes Ambrogio Maestri (Sir John Falstaff), Ernesto Petti (Ford), Galeano Salas (Fenton), Blagoj Nacoski (Dr. Caius), Cristiano Olivieri (Bardolfo), Luciano Leoni (Pistola), Erika Grimaldi (Alice Ford), Caterina Sala (Nannetta), Sara Mingardo (Mrs. Quickly), Paola Gardina (Mrs. Meg Page).

Damiano Michieletto comments: “I send my greetings and wish Opera Carlo Felice, Artistic Director Pierangelo Conte and Superintendent Claudio Orazi all the best of luck for a season full of success and rich in stage life for the Genoa audience. An audience that I am very happy to see again with the two productions Il cappello di paglia di Firenze and Falstaff. The first production is by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice and returns years later in a new guise, with changes in the stage layout and in the movements of the chorus, to propose a revival that is both something different and with some new ideas. Falstaff is another opera to which I am very attached, and this production brings Verdi’s opera into contact with life and with the composer’s idea of old age; in this regard, it is set in the rest home that Verdi had built precisely for artists who are now on their way to retirement, as Falstaff is. These are two performances that I hope will meet the public’s taste, excite, entertain, and convey the beauty of live performance, a direct contact with the public and its emotions. Best of luck to all the employees and workers of the Opera Carlo Felice, see you in your city!”

On Sunday, 6 April, Die Liebe der Danae (The Love of Danae), a mythological comedy in three acts by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Joseph Gregor, will be staged – in the Italian premiere of the original version with Italian artistic ensembles. The conductor is Fabio Luisi – honorary conductor of the Opera Carlo Felice, music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, principal conductor of the Danish National Symphony, emeritus conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and principal conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo – and Michael Zlabinger, who will be on the podium in the performance on Wednesday 16 April. After the success of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, inaugural title of the 2023-2024 Season, Laurence Dale will direct the new production at the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice, with sets and costumes by Gary McCann and lighting by John Bishop. Bringing the opera’s protagonists to life Scott Hendricks (Jupiter), Timothy Oliver (Merkur), Tuomas Katajala (Pollux), Angela Meade (Danae), Valentina Farcas (Xanthe), John Matthew Myers (Midas), Albert Memeti (Erste König), Eamonn Mulhall (Zweite König), Nicolas Legoux (Dritte König), Giovanni Battista Parodi (Vierte König), Anna Graf (Semele), Agnieszka Adamczak (Europa), Hagar Sharvit (Alkmene), Valentina Stadler (Leda).

Fabio Luisi comments: “I am delighted to present for the first time in Italy Richard Strauss’s last opera, The Love of Danae, which in a certain sense represents a spiritual and dramaturgical testament of the Bavarian composer. Always oscillating, as in his masterpieces Ariadne at Naxos and Woman without Shadow between mythology and myth, between comedy and sacred representation, between comic and tragic, Strauss paints a multifaceted and at times merciless portrait of human passions and weaknesses, with a complex and mature musical language. I thank the Opera Carlo Felice for its courage in wanting to produce this project”.

Laurence Dale: “Last year I had a wonderful experience directing Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Opera Carlo Felice Genova. There is no greater compliment than to be invited again, and I am very happy to return to Genoa to work together with colleagues and friends of the Theatre on an even more difficult project for me. It is Die Liebe der Danae, the penultimate opera by Richard Strauss. Once again we have a wonderful musical director, Fabio Luisi, an expert in this repertoire, whom I have known for a long time and with whom I am very happy to be working for the first time. For this very vocally complex production we also have the most suitable performers. Die Liebe der Danae is a comedy, a rare case for Strauss if we think of Salome or Elektra, so it is a beautiful opportunity to create a comedy with music of great richness and invention. The protagonist of the opera is the princess Danae, with whom Jupiter is sincerely in love. Danae loves gold, so Jupiter pretends to be Midas, who can turn everything into gold. Danae will have to choose between true love and wealth, and in the end she will find love. I can’t wait to return to Genoa!”

Carmen, an opéra-comique in four acts by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy from the novella by Prosper Mérimée, in the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma Foundation’s production, will be staged from Friday 16 May. Donato Renzetti will be maestro concertatore and conductor, with direction by Emilio Sagi, sets by Daniel Bianco, costumes by Renata Schussheim and lighting by Eduardo Bravo. The cast consists of: Piero Pretti / Amadi Lagha (17, 24) (Don Josè), Luca Tittolo / Abramo Rosalen (17, 24) (Escamillo), Saverio Fiore (Le Dancaire), Armando Gabba (Le Remendado), Paolo Ingrasciotta (Morales), Luca Dall’Amico (Zuniga), Annalisa Stroppa / Caterina Piva (17, 24) (Carmen), Giuliana Gianfaldoni / Angela Nisi (17, 24) (Micaela), Vittoriana De Amicis (Frasquita), Alessandra Della Croce (Mercedes).

To close the season, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), Singspiel in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, will be performed from Friday 13th June in the Teatro Carlo Felice Foundation’s production. Conducted by Giancarlo Andretta, directed by Daniele Abbado, sets by Lele Luzzati, costumes by Santuzza Calì and lighting by Luciano Novelli. It will be the Soloists of the Accademia di alto perfezionamento e inserimento professionale of the Opera Carlo Felice Genova who will interpret the Mozart characters, as part of a training project that also in the fifth edition of the Accademia – created in 2020 – will see the debut of the students in the last title of the Opera Season.

Daniele Abbado comments: “I am very happy to resume Il flauto magico made with Lele Luzzati in 2002, it is a very important occasion to remember the extraordinary artist he was. I met Lele during my formative years and we became friends, when he gave me confidence in my first years as a director it was a great honour for me. Together we worked on an animated film with Giulio Giannini, a children’s show based on texts by Bruno Munari, and then we made The Flute for the Carlo Felice in Genoa.

I remember a long period of serene and positive planning, many meetings that almost always took place at Lele’s house in Genoa between comparisons, discussions and research. For me it was the first time, but Lele Luzzati had already worked on The Magic Flute on several occasions, it was clear that there was a poetic marriage between Lele’s artistic world and this opera, he was very stimulated to find new, unexpected and interesting stagecraft solutions. The rehearsal period was also peaceful, with an excellent cast and a very good director. The performance came off well and was appreciated by the public. The memory is very strong and I am happy to have the opportunity to reconstruct this show and meet Lele Luzzati once again’.

The titles La traviata (1853), Andrea Chénier (1896), Falstaff (1893) and Carmen (1875), are part of the cultural project “Genova nell’Ottocento” (Genoa in the 19th century), the main theme of Genoa 2025, which will be developed throughout the year through various activities of Genoa City Council and local cultural institutions.

Donato Renzetti: ‘The past 2023-24 Season has been very well received, not only by the city, national and international critics, but also and above all by the increasingly numerous public. The success was not only of the productions in which I took part – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which was later revived at the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Werther, and the world premiere of Édith – but also of all the operas on the bill, which were very well received. This is due to the planning and conception of the Season, and to the synergy between Superintendent Claudio Orazi and Artistic Director Pierangelo Conte. It did not stop at the Opera Season in the theatre alone; another great achievement was to bring numerous concerts throughout the Liguria Region, with chamber, sacred, and contemporary music, thus spanning all fields of music. Also important was the discovery of young talents, conductors, soloists, and singers with our Academy. A peculiarity that only Genoa has is the willingness to collaborate with young people, from middle school to high school and university: we have seen numerous students at every performance. Culture is part of our history, starting in schools, and a people without culture certainly has no future. The new season will follow the idea of the past season. I will conduct three symphonic programmes and two very important operas from our repertoire: Andrea Chénier and Carmen. There is an extraordinary relationship with the staff, the Orchestra and the Chorus, but also with the Technicians and all the workers at the Theatre, whom I thank. The work and the success belong to all the workers, because everyone collaborates. I am convinced that the Season will be a positive one, please come in large numbers: “without music, life would be a mistake”!”

The Symphonic Season

The Symphonic Season – consisting of twelve symphonic and symphonic-choral concerts from Thursday 17 October 2024 to Thursday 19 June 2025 – aims to offer the public a varied programme. In the continuation of an artistic project spanning past and future seasons, the musical programmes explore different strands of symphonism, ranging from the classical to the romantic to the contemporary repertoire. Together with the conductors, Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera Carlo Felice Genova, high-profile international soloists will perform, including Benedetta Torre, Michael Spyres, Timothy Ridout, Giacomo Menegardi, Francesca Paola Geretto, Michele Campanella, Simon Zhu and Hagar Sharvit. Among the great symphonic masterpieces are the Overture from Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony From the New World, Fryderyk Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 Renana, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 and many more. In a continuous dialogue with the classical repertoire, the programmes feature more rarely performed pieces, including William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto and Jörg Widmann’s Con brio.

During the Dialogues concert, on 11 April 2025, there will be the world premiere of the new version of Stèle pour Vierne by composer-in-residence at the Opera Carlo Felice Francesco Filidei – an organist and composer who, during his career, has taken part in major contemporary music festivals around the world; His works have been performed by numerous world-class orchestras, including WDR, SWR, RSO Wien, RAI, Tokyo Philharmonic, BRSO and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Monte Carlo, Nice, Picardie, Helsinki, Vilnius and Warsaw.

Francesco Filidei comments: ‘First of all, I would like to thank the Superintendent Claudio Orazi and the Artistic Director Pierangelo Conte for the unique opportunity I was given to be composer-in-residence during these years at the Opera Carlo Felice. We have already tackled numerous productions, and next year we will again have the chance to work together on a piece I wrote a few years ago and which will be presented in a new guise and in its Italian premiere: Stèle pour Vierne. It is a piece I wrote with my instrument, the organ, in mind, and is part of a series of works such as Fiori di fiori, dedicated to Frescobaldi, and Killing Bach, dedicated to Bach. Stèle is dedicated to Louis Vierne, a French composer who deserved much more attention and who was much followed by his contemporaries, especially Debussy, being organist at Notre-Dame. From a harmonic point of view, he developed interesting concatenations, and a remarkable inventive research, as can be seen from his 24 free-style pieces from which I have also taken the theme of Carillon de Westminster. The piece takes its cue from another work by Vierne, Stèle pour un enfant défunt, from which I quote a few passages.

The life of this composer was very troubled and sad. He was blind, hunchbacked, had two sons who died in the war and was betrayed by his wife. He died on the organ of Notre-Dame, at the end of a concert, while he was improvising on a theme. When he lost consciousness, a low E rang out from the pedalboard in the church, the public thought it was part of the improvisation, I have tried to evoke this in the work that will be presented next year. Later at the theatre we will also have an opera that I have been working on for years, Il nome della rosa, which will be premiered at La Scala on 27 April 2025, and then revived in Genoa and Paris. It is a score of almost 900 pages, with a very large ensemble. On this work I have tried to respect Umberto Eco’s novel. I hope to see you at the theatre for both the piece on Vierne and the opera on Il nome della rosa‘.

On the podium, Riccardo Minasi and Donato Renzetti will conduct both the opera and symphonic repertoire.

Riccardo Minasi will conduct four concerts during the season: the Opening Concert on Thursday 17 October, with music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Joseph Haydn – soloists Benedetta Torre, Laura Verrecchia, Matteo Falcier and Alessandro Luongo; France and America, with music by Aaron Copland, William Grant Still and Hector Berlioz – soloists Valeria Serangeli and Michael Spyres; New Perspectives, with music by Richard Wagner, Béla Bartók and Antonín Dvořák – soloist Timothy Ridout; and Beethovenian, with music by Jörg Widmann, Robert Schumann and Ludwig van Beethoven – soloist Simon Zhu.

Donato Renzetti will conduct the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra in four appointments: Symphonic Tales, music by Arnold Schönberg and Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov – soloist Francesca Paola Geretto; Brahms and Šostakovič, with music by Johannes Brahms and Dmitrij Šostakovič – soloist Michele Campanella; Casella and Tchaikovsky, with music by Alfredo Casella and Pyotr Il’ič Tchaikovsky – soloist Federico Romano; and Fin de siècle, with music by Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel, Jules Massenet, Pyotr Il’ič Tchaikovsky and Igor’ Stravinsky – soloist Elisabetta Garetti.

The programme also includes a choral event, with the German Requiem by Johannes Brahms, featuring the Soloists of the Opera Carlo Felice Chorus, pianists Antonella Poli and Patrizia Priarone, and the Opera Carlo Felice Chorus conducted by Claudio Marino Moretti.

Novecenti – Vocal Chamber Music

Following the success of past editions, the Novecenti series of concerts of vocal chamber music will return, articulated in the 2024-25 Season in six concerts: Hommage à Fauré, Wunderlieder, Ricordi italiani, Voyages Lyriques, Chansons e Canzonette and Schubert and Berio. The protagonists are Claudio Marino Moretti at the piano, the Soloists of the Carlo Felice Genoa Opera Chorus and soloists Benedetta Torre, Matteo Lippi, Dennis Carli, Paola Gardina, Corrado Orlando and Erika Patrucco. The musical programmes explore the fascinating world of vocal chamber music with a focus on the rich 20th century repertoire. Claudio Marino Moretti was Maestro of the Choir of the Teatro Regio in Turin (2001-2008) and of the Choir of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice (2008-2021), since 2002 he has been Maestro of the Carlo Felice Opera Chorus. He has given many concerts with repertoires ranging from Bach’s complete motets to composers of the historical and contemporary 20th century, collaborating with conductors such as Luisi, Noseda, Campanella, Frizza, Chung, Gardiner, Harding, Prêtre, Plasson, Bychkov, Abbado and many others.

Liguria Music

In the continuation of an artistic project that takes the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra to prestigious venues throughout the Liguria region, the Liguria Musica review will return, with a dedicated cycle of symphonic concerts on tour in the Region and beyond. The Liguria Musica 2024-25 programme schedule will be announced in the weeks to come.

Start – The inaugural events

During the month of October 2024, the Start programme brings together all the inaugural events of the Lyric and Ballet, Symphonic, and Chamber Vocal Music programmes, as well as three appointments conceived and realised in collaboration with prestigious institutions and focused on the 20th-century and contemporary repertoire. On Friday 11th October at the Teatro della Gioventù, in cooperation with the Ansaldo Foundation, Genoa’s Niccolò Paganini Conservatory, the University of Genoa and the Luigi Nono Onlus Archive Foundation, the concert Omaggio a Luigi Nono (Homage to Luigi Nono) will be held, dedicated to the Venetian composer on the centenary of his birth; the programme will feature music by Nono with performers Felicita Brusoni, Martino Sarolli and Veniero Rizzardi. This is followed on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 October by the openings of Lirica e Balletto and Novecenti – vocal chamber music with the diptych Giro di vite and The Turn of the Screw and with Novecenti – Hommage à Fauré. On Monday 14 and Tuesday 15 October, at the Theatre of Youth, in collaboration with Genoa’s Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini and with the University of Genoa, there will be a conference and a concert focusing on Luigi Nono’s Fabbrica illuminata, whose interpretation will be provided by the singing and electronic music classes of the Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini. The opening concert of the Symphonic Season on Thursday 17 October will be followed, on Saturday 19 October, by the last appointment of Start: the concert Avanguardie, dedicated to Arnold Schönberg on the 150th anniversary of his birth and realised in collaboration with the Conservatorio Niccolò Paganini in Genoa; music by Rosalba Quindici, Arnold Schönberg, Olivier Messiaen, Tristan Murail and Jonathan Harvey; performers Emanuele Torquati, Rosalba Quindici and Martino Sarolli.

Tour

A Bridge of Music: Genoa – New York
Between the end of September and the beginning of October 2024, the Opera Carlo Felice will return to New York as part of an enhancement project that will be completed in 2025, with the bicentennial of Italian Opera in the United States (1825-2025). The tour will open on Wednesday 25 September 2024, at the Teatro Carlo Felice, with a concert by the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra conducted by Davide Massiglia. The three New York dates will then follow a route that, thanks to music, draws a bridge between the cities of Genoa and New York. On Monday 7 October, at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, the conference “Waiting for the bicentennial” – Two Hundred Years of Italian Opera in the United States (1825-2025), and a concert dedicated to Maria Malibran and Niccolò Paganini with music by Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and Niccolò Paganini will be held, featuring mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya and violinist Giuseppe Gibboni (winner of the 56th Paganini Prize). On Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 October, at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra and Giuseppe Gibboni will be conducted by Donato Renzetti in a concert dedicated to Lorenzo Da Ponte and Niccolò Paganini with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Niccolò Paganini.

La rondine: Monte-Carlo
On Wednesday 30 October 2024, the Opera Carlo Felice Orchestra will take part in a concert performance of Giacomo Puccini’s La rondine at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. The performance takes place as part of the celebrations for the centenary of Puccini’s death (1858 -1924). The Carlo Felice Orchestra and the Chorus of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo (prepared by Stefano Visconti) will be conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti. Soloists: Pretty Yende (Magda), Deanna Breiwick (Lisette), Charles Castronovo (Ruggero), Juan Francisco Gatell (Prunier), Roberto De Candia (Rambaldo).

The Opera Carlo Felice Genoa for Young People

The Academy of advanced training and professional integration for opera singers.
The Accademia dell’Opera Carlo Felice Genova, the link between the end of the academic course for young singers and their insertion in the difficult world of musical theatre, will reach its fifth edition in the 2024-2025 season. The artistic direction is entrusted to Francesco Meli, who has drawn on his theatre experience to define the teaching guidelines that focus on daily individual lessons in technique, vocal interpretation and drama. The students, after a public selection and through a five-month immersive study experience, are ready for their big debut on the stage of the Opera Carlo Felice. Every year, the theatre’s management programmes the last title of the season attributing all the parts to the talents of the Academy. In this course of study, under the musical direction of pianist Davide Cavalli and the coordination and teaching of Serena Gamberoni, the young singers participate in master classes held each year by the greatest names on the international opera scene, such as Daniela Barcellona, Leo Nucci, Michele Pertusi, Elisabeth Norberg-Schulz, Riccardo Zanellato, Rosa Feola, Paolo Bordogna, Chris Merritt, and Roberto de Candia. Great importance is attached to the relationship with one’s own body; each student is guided by experienced teachers in body awareness courses so that they can improve, preserve and protect their ‘musical instrument’.

Students and Young People at the Opera
As part of its projects to bring young people closer to opera, the Foundation promotes musical culture in schools. With the Students and Youth at the Opera initiative, the theatre wishes to involve schools of all levels, music conservatories, fine arts academies and universities in an exciting experience by having students participate in evening performances and rehearsals, thus making young people protagonists of the new Italian cultural trend that aims to recover our musical traditions and rediscover the high educational and training potential of music.

Meetings with the public realised in collaboration with UniGE
In parallel with the initiative Studenti all’Opera and in order to respond positively to the success of the meetings held in the 2023-24 season, the Foundation renews its collaboration with the University of Genoa, developing a cycle of conferences for students and the city dedicated to the opera titles and concerts on the programme. The meetings, coordinated by Raffaele Mellace, Dean of the School of Humanities of the University of Genoa, will be held by professors from the University who will make available to listeners the skills and knowledge of the most up-to-date research in order to offer, first of all to the younger generations, and to the entire public the opportunity to enjoy with full awareness the extraordinary beauty of an artistic heritage that can significantly enrich existence, from a young age and throughout adult life.

PCTO – Pathways for Transversal Skills and Orientation
Routes of study, research, listening education, through non-traditional modes, social and digital languages. Dedicated to first and second level secondary school students, the Pathways are established in agreement with educational institutions. The collaboration with the educational institutions pursues the objective of transmitting the cultural heritage of opera, symphonic music and musical theatre in general to the new generations through specific paths closely related to the curricula, providing valuable experience functional to new professional perspectives.