It metaphorically refers to Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia in the new world premiere production of Giacomo Puccini’s Trittico in the vision of director Pier Francesco Maestrini and in the interpretation of conductor Roberto Abbado, the third homage in the season of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna to the Tuscan composer on the centenary of his death after Manon Lescaut and Tosca. The three one-act operas that make up the celebrated masterpiece – Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi – originally planned by the Bologna opera-symphonic foundation in separate performances, will instead be brought together in four evenings that will see them jointly staged from 5 to 12 July at the Comunale Nouveau. The performance is co-produced with the Teatro Verdi in Trieste.

The director’s idea of juxtaposing Puccini’s three one-act plays with the three canticles of the Divina Commedia – Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso – stems from one of the composer’s very first projects for his Trittico, later shelved while maintaining a direct Dantean reference only in Gianni Schicchi. There remains, however, according to Maestrini, “this idea with the damned souls in Tabarro, with the souls awaiting redemption in Suor Angelica, with the stroke of genius of the ‘heavenly’ Schicchi. It is certainly no coincidence,’ explains the director, ‘that a good part of the third title that makes up the trilogy is written in endecasyllables, or when Suor Angelica appears and sings ‘I desideri sono i fior dei vivi, non fioriscon nel regno delle morte…’ (Desires are the flowers of the living, they do not bloom in the realm of death…) it refers to the prayer of St Benedict in Paradise.

Among the visual references in the staging – with sets designed by Nicolás Boni, costumes by Stefania Scaraggi and lighting by Daniele Naldi – stands out the illustrations by Gustave Doré for the Divina Commedia “which, moreover,” continues Maestrini, “have influenced so much cinema, including Beyond Dreams, which I would say is my main reference for this Triptych”.

Roberto Abbado, winner of the “Abbiati Prize” in 2008 and Principal Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, returns to the Bologna podium. He will also be involved in the Symphonic Season underway on 9 December at the Manzoni.

The sombre story of Tabarro on the barges of the Seine – on a libretto by Giuseppe Adami based on Didier Gold’s La Houppelande – sees baritones Franco Vassallo and Dario Solari alternating in the roles of Michele, tenors Roberto Aronica and Mikheil Sheshaberidze in those of Luigi and sopranos Chiara Isotton and Amarilli Nizza in the guise of Giorgetta. The cast is completed by Cristina Melis (Frugola), Xin Zhang (Tinca), Luciano Leoni (Talpa), Marco Puggioni (Venditore di canzonette), Tatiana Previati and Cristobal Campos as the two lovers.

Chiara Isotton and Amarilli Nizza alternate as the title roles in Suor Angelica, a touching and merciless opera with a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano set in a monastery at the end of the 17th century. The Aunt Princess is the soprano Chiara Mogini, Manuela Custer is the Abbess, Federica Giansanti the Novice Mistress, while Vittoriana De Amicis, Elena Borin and Laura Cherici are respectively Suor Genovieffa, the Zelatrice Nun and the Nurse Nun.

Closing in mockery is the Trittico with Gianni Schicchi, a Dante-inspired “bizzarria” again on a libretto by Forzano that – despite its comic character – revolves around two frauds and a mourning in medieval Florence. It stars baritone Roberto de Candia in the title role, tenors Giorgio Misseri and Giuseppe Castoro alternating as Rinuccio, and soprano Darija Auguštan as Lauretta. Completing the cast are Manuela Custer as Zita, Vittoriana De Amicis as Nella, and Laura Cherici as La Ciesca. The male characters include the voices of Luciano Leoni as Betto di Signa, Mattia Denti as Simone and Michele Patti as Marco.

The Orchestra, the Chorus prepared by Gea Garatti Ansini, and the Chorus of White Voices instructed by Alhambra Superchi are those of the TCBO.

The performances will be preceded – about 45 minutes before they begin – by a short presentation of the opera in the Foyer of the Comunale Nouveau.

Tickets – ranging from €20 to €120 – are on sale online via Vivaticket and at the Teatro Comunale ticket office, open Tuesday to Friday from 12 noon to 6 p.m., on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Largo Respighi, 1); on performance days at the Comunale Nouveau (Piazza della Costituzione, 4/a) from one hour before and until 15 minutes after the start.