With the press presentation in Milan on February 1st, the Verdi Festival opened a round of presentations, with a roadshow that will take the company’s staff members to Spain as well as to several venues in Latin America, as proof of the Festival’s international appeal.

The 2019 edition will feature four operas, opening at Parma’s Teatro Regio on September 26th with I due Foscari followed by Aida in the small Busseto theater, Luisa Miller in the Church of San Francesco al Prato, and Nabucco again at the Teatro Regio.

All titles will be shown in new productions except for Aida, for which the company will present a revival of the world renowned 2001 Franco Zeffirelli production. I due Foscari will be directed by Leo Muscato, while Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte will take care of Nabucco.

Luisa Miller will be staged in a venue which is new for the festival, a 13th century church which was turned into a jail in the 19th century and is currently still deconsacrated. The production will be directed by Russian director Lev Dodin, whose 2012 production of Schiller’s Kabale und Liebe toured several international venues after its St. Petersburg premiere enjoying a great success.

The director will collaborate with the festival’s music director Roberto Abbado, who will also conduct a symphony concert featuring orchestral works by Verdi and a number of contemporary French composers. Along with other concerts and recitals, a host of other events will take place at different venues in town, bringing music to less central parts of Parma and trying to get a new and younger audience involved.

The Festival is thriving, as is the Teatro Regio, which enjoys the second highest contribution from tax payers (Art Bonus), as well as an increasing level of private sponsorship and strong support from the city administration. The only institution which does not seem to appreciate the efforts of the company is the Ministry of Culture: in spite of ranking first for quality standards among Italian festivals in its cluster, the Verdi Festival has not been recognized with the appropriate level of public sponsorship. The company has sued the State on this issue and a judgment from the Administrative Court is awaited in May. As a side remark, one may note that the Parma administration does not reflect the composition of the current government.