Opera and Ballet Season of the Verdi Theatre of Trieste
Opera and ballet at the Giuseppe Verdi Theatre
About Opera Season Verdi Theatre
The theatre overlooking the sea
Inaugurated in 1801 and dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi, the Giuseppe Verdi Opera Theatre is the musical heart of Trieste, overlooking the Rive, a stone's throw from Piazza Unità d'Italia. Every year, its Opera and Ballet Season attracts enthusiasts from all over the Northeast and neighboring Slovenia, with a program that intertwines the cornerstones of Italian melodrama with major international repertoire titles.
Between repertoire and new productions
The season, which runs from November to June, alternates Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, and Mozart with great Central European composers like Richard Strauss and Kurt Weill, in line with the city's borderland vocation. A significant portion of the titles are created in the theatre's artisan workshops as new productions, while others come from co-productions with major Italian and European theatres.
Voices, batons, and authorial direction
Internationally renowned singers and prestigious conductors perform on the Verdi stage, under the guidance of the Permanent Music Director Enrico Calesso. Productions directed by names like Pier Luigi Pizzi and ballet evenings, often in collaboration with the Rome Opera House, complete a high-level offering.
A season that extends beyond the theatre
The Foundation collaborates with the Teatro Stabile del Friuli-Venezia Giulia and brings some productions outside Trieste, to Udine and Pordenone, broadening the opera audience to the entire region. Attending an evening at the Verdi means experiencing one of the most cherished cultural rituals of the Julian city, in a hall with a bicentennial history.
Opera Season Verdi Theatre — edition 2026
The 2025-2026 season of the Verdi Theatre opens with an inaugural double bill of new Trieste productions directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi: Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, staged between November and December 2025. The season continues in 2026 with highly anticipated titles, concluding with Richard Strauss's Elektra in June 2026.
Enrico Calesso, Beatrice Venezi, Renato Palumbo, Giulio Prandi, and Leonardo Sini will conduct; among the voices in Madama Butterfly are Olga Maslova, Antonio Poli, and Ambrogio Maestri, while Il Trovatore features Anna Pirozzi, Yusif Eyvazov, and Carlo Lepore.
Programme Opera Season Verdi Theatre 2026
Opera – 2025-2026 Season
- The Barber of Seville (Rossini) – November 28, 30 and December 5, 7, 11, 13, 2025, cond. Enrico Calesso, dir. Pier Luigi Pizzi (new production)
- The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) – November 29 and December 4, 6, 10, 12, 14, 2025, cond. Enrico Calesso, dir. Pier Luigi Pizzi (new production)
- Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Weill) – January 30, 31 and February 1, 6, 7, 8, 2026, cond. Beatrice Venezi, dir. Henning Brockhaus
- Il Trovatore (Verdi) – February 27, 28 and March 1, 6, 7, 8, 2026, cond. Renato Palumbo, dir. Louis Désiré
- Madama Butterfly (Puccini) – April 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 2026, cond. Giulio Prandi, dir. Alberto Triola
- Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) – May 8, 10, 14, 16, 22, 24, 2026, cond. Leonardo Sini, dir. Paolo Valerio (co-production with Teatro Stabile FVG – Il Rossetti)
- Elektra (R. Strauss) – June 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28, 2026, cond. Enrico Calesso (new production)
Ballet
- Petit/Wheeldon/Pastor Evening – January 9, 10, 11, 13, 2026 (La Rose Malade, Within the Golden Hour, Proust, Bolero), in collaboration with the Rome Opera House
Highlights Opera Season Verdi Theatre 2026
Prices Opera Season Verdi Theatre 2026
Practical information — Opera Season Verdi Theatre
How to get there: The Verdi Theatre is located on the Rive, in the center of Trieste, within walking distance of the station and Piazza Unità d'Italia.
Tickets: Season subscriptions and single performance tickets are on sale at the theatre's box office and online.
Accommodation: Numerous hotels and B&Bs in the historic center, a short distance from the theatre.
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Where does it take place — Opera Season Verdi Theatre
Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi
Riva Tre Novembre, 1, 34121 Trieste