2025-2026 OPERA AND BALLET SEASON
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA (THE BARBER OF SEVILLE)
by Gioachino Rossini
Comic opera in two acts with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini, based on the play of the same name by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais – Premiere: Rome, Teatro Argentina, 20 February 1816 – Music Publisher: E. F. Kalmus & Co., New York
Concertmaster and Conductor ENRICO CALESSO
Director, set and costume designer PIER LUIGI PIZZI
Assistant director and lighting designer MASSIMO PIZZI GASPARON CONTARINI
Assistant Set Designer SERENA ROCCO
Assistant Costume Designer LORENA MARIN
Chorus master PAOLO LONGO
NEW PRODUCTION BY FONDAZIONE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI DI TRIESTE
Characters and performers
Figaro ALESSANDRO LUONGO
Rosina ANNALISA STROPPA
Count Almaviva MARCO CIAPONI
Bartolo MARCO FILIPPO ROMANO
Basilio ABRAMO ROSALEN
Berta ANNA MARIA CHIURI
Fiorello WILLIAM CORRÒ
Ambrogio ARMANDO DE CECCON
An Officer ARMANDO BADIA
ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND TECHNICAL CREW OF THE FONDAZIONE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI, TRIESTE
A – Friday 28 November 2025, 8:00 pm
E – Sunday 30 November 2025, 4:00 pm
B – Friday 5 December 2025, 8:00 pm
D – Sunday 7 December 2025, 4:00 pm
C – Thursday 11 December 2025, 8:00 pm
S – Saturday 13 December 2025, 4:00 pm
Saturday 20 December 2025 in Udine (Friday 19 December: final rehearsal)
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO)
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on La folle journée, ou le mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais – Music Publisher: E. F. Kalmus & Co., New York
Concertmaster and Conductor ENRICO CALESSO
Director, set and costume designer PIER LUIGI PIZZI
Assistant director and lighting designer MASSIMO PIZZI GASPARON CONTARINI
Assistant Set Designer SERENA ROCCO
Assistant Costume Designer LORENA MARIN
Chorus master PAOLO LONGO
NEW PRODUCTION BY FONDAZIONE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI DI TRIESTE
Characters and performers
Figaro SIMONE ALBERGHINI
Susanna CAROLINA LIPPO
Countess Almaviva EKATERINA BAKANOVA
Count Almaviva GIORGIO CAODURO
Cherubino PAOLA GARDINA
Don Bartolo ANDREA CONCETTI
Don Basilio ANDREA GALLI
Barbarina VERONICA PRANDO
Marcellina ANNA MARIA CHIURI
Antonio WILLIAM CORRÒ
Don Curzio PIETRO PICONE
ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND TECHNICAL CREW OF THE FONDAZIONE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI, TRIESTE
B – Saturday 29 November 2025, 6:00 pm
C – Thursday 4 December 2025, 8:00 pm
S – Saturday 6 December 2025, 4:00 pm
E – Wednesday 10 December 2025, 8:00 pm
A – Friday 12 December 2025, 8:00 pm
D – Sunday 14 December 2025, 4:00 pm
With a pair of newly conceived productions dedicated to the operatic transposition of the revolutionary figure of Figaro – entrusted to none other than Pier Luigi Pizzi, the undisputed master of international stage direction, here working with his distinguished creative team and making his true debut in Trieste – Teatro Verdi inaugurates its opera and ballet season. At the same time, the Teatro Verdi itself is experiencing a truly golden moment, marked by a notable rise in symphonic subscriptions and, even more significantly, a remarkable surge in opera subscriptions, already evident even though the campaign remains open until 12 December.
The 2025–2026 opera and ballet season opens unequivocally under the banner of innovation, with two productions deliberately interwoven within the calendar to enable audiences to experience both works over the course of a single weekend. This approach actively promotes cultural tourism from neighbouring regions and once again affirms Trieste’s standing as a cultural capital for a wide national, international and multilingual area – a distinction that remains truly unparalleled in the Italian and broader European panorama.
The project pays tribute to the figure of Figaro, the revolutionary character conceived by Beaumarchais in his theatrical trilogy Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La mère coupable. A spokesman for an oppressed yet intelligent people, capable of responding with ingenuity to the unjust hardships imposed upon them, Figaro has long been regarded as a standard-bearer of the core ideals of the French Revolution and, from the outset, has captivated the greatest composers. Among the many versions of the repertoire, at Verdi it was chosen to tell and deepen this cultural movement in music between the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, through the two most famous works, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The demanding task of creating two productions and two independent stagings—yet intertwined in meaning and temporal continuity—has been entrusted to the dean of world stage direction, Pier Luigi Pizzi, together with his outstanding creative team led by Massimo Pizzi Gasparon Contarini. Although Pizzi is no stranger to such challenges – having recently faced them with well-deserved success in the baroque repertoire – this marks the first time he brings his inexhaustible artistic inspiration to the intertwining of two entirely new productions within the most celebrated and widely performed operatic canon, represented here by two evergreen masterpieces: Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
The season therefore opens with a production of considerable substance, confirming the excellence of Teatro Verdi’s artistic and technical teams, yet marked equally by a strong sense of innovation. It unites high-quality production values with an increasingly international outlook, strengthening the city’s appeal as a destination for discerning, sophisticated and culturally curious audiences.
Pier Luigi Pizzi, making his true debut in the city—his only previous involvement having been the revival of one of his earlier productions—sets out, together with Massimo Pizzi Gasparon Contarini, the visual foundations of this dual project: “The scenic design is the beating heart of the production, and must evoke, in a stylised and pure form, a place of the soul, a place of memory, one that conjures joy and melancholy at the same time. As in Rossini, so too in Mozart, there must always be ‘expression’ rather than ‘imitation’ of emotions, for the neoclassicism of his music demands visual clarity and logic.”
Both excellent casts, together with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Fondazione, will be conducted by Enrico Calesso, fresh from the acclaimed world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s Fedeli d’Amore for Gorizia2025 – European Capital of Culture, as well as from the sold-out performances of an exceptionally successful symphonic season.
On stage, set against two scenographic settings of great refinement that seem to evoke the understated, luminous elegance of the city’s architecture, two vocal casts of unquestionable international stature will take their place — casts that, despite their global calibre, remain predominantly young, as is very much part of Teatro Verdi’s DNA.
For Il barbiere di Siviglia, opening on Friday 28 November and concluding with a grand finale on 20 December in Udine, the cast will feature Italian baritone Alessandro Luongo, who will subsequently appear in Dallas and at the prestigious Rai Auditorium in Turin; the acclaimed mezzo-soprano Annalisa Stroppa as Rosina, making her Trieste debut; and, in addition, Marco Ciaponi, Marco Filippo Romano, Abramo Rosalen and Anna Maria Chiuri. For Le nozze di Figaro, the title role will be sung by Simone Alberghini, with the experienced Carolina Lippo — often seen on Vienna’s leading stages — as Susanna; rising Russo-Ukrainian star Ekaterina Bakanova as the Countess Almaviva; and international Friulian-Triestine favourite Giorgio Caoduro as the Count. Not to be forgotten is the solid and seasoned Andrea Concetti as Don Bartolo. Notably, no second casts are scheduled, meaning that all performances will feature the same principal artists as the premieres.
It is, in every sense, a true celebratory opening — made all the more reassuring by the considerable rise in season subscriptions which, two weeks before the campaign closes, already exceed last year’s figures by more than one hundred. This growth testifies to the increasing confidence that both local and international audiences place in the Fondazione’s artistic vision, as well as in its production and financial stability, maintained without any ticket price increases for several years.
Moreover, due to the unusual configuration of this year’s subscription schedule, the Victor de Sabata Lounge — with its exclusive selection of local food and wine specialities created in collaboration with Cêmut – Piccola Osteria Furlana — will, on an exceptional basis, remain open and available for booking up to 24 hours before the performances on 28 and 29 November and 12 December, with prices unchanged from last year.