Bonsoir Monte-Carlo

Yvan Cassar is one of the most renowned and celebrated figures in the world of music, spanning all genres and formats, from stage to television. A multi-talented arranger, composer, and conductor trained at the Paris Conservatory, he draws his artistic originality from the wide range of his projects. From Jean-Michel Jarre's spectacular show in front of the Egyptian pyramids to concerts with Mylène Farmer and Johnny Hallyday, his musical expertise goes far beyond the traditional boundaries of orchestras and opera houses. His collaborations with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Natalie Dessay, José Carreras, Roberto Alagna, and Julie Fuchs established him as an accomplished conductor in the operatic repertoire. Several landmark projects in his career also underscore his reputation as a gifted arranger. In 2017, for example, he presented an orchestral and personal vision of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, accompanied by Francis Cabrel, Laurent Voulzy, -M-, Natalie Dessay, Roni Alter, Hugh Coltman, and others. Among his notable albums are Johnny symphonique, “Sur l'écran noir de mes nuits blanches,” Natalie Dessay's tribute to Claude Nougaro, and “Caruso 1873,” Roberto Alagna's tribute to the great Neapolitan tenor, recorded with the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France. He has also produced and arranged two albums by violinist Nemanja Radulovic for Deutsche Grammophon.  

A lover of English-language musicals, Nicolas Engel is the author of French adaptations of some of the greatest classics in the genre: Chicago, Grease (Théâtre Mogador, Paris), The Producers (Théâtre de Paris), The Phantom of the Opera, Peter Pan, and Tootsie (Théâtre Saint-Denis, Montreal). In 2022, he received the Best Adaptation Trophy at the Trophées de la Comédie Musicale for his work on The Producers. The show won the Molière Award for Best Musical. Nicolas Engel also wrote the libretto for Les 2 Léo, an opera for children composed by Raphaël Bancou (Opéra de Vichy), Une partie de cache-cache, a musical monologue composed by Raphaël Callandreau (Théâtre de l’Épée de Bois, Vincennes), and Regarde bien petit, a theatrical piece exploring the music of Jacques Brel. In cinema and television, Nicolas Engel writes and directs films about musicals. His short film Les Voiliers du Luxembourg stages a sung love story in the alleys of the Jardin du Luxembourg. His musical film La Copie de Coralie was awarded at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and Critics' Week. Singer Jeanne Cherhal and actor Serge Riaboukine perform a duet set to the rhythms of photocopiers. In 2016, he dedicated a musical portrait to singer-songwriter Elise Caron. In 2024, he co-wrote and co-directed the musical documentary Les Sirènes de Dieppe about a troupe of drag queens from Normandy.

Davide Livermore has built an outstanding career spanning over two decades, both on major European stages and in theatres across his native Italy. Outside Europe, he has worked at the Philadelphia Opera, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan, and the Seoul Arts Center. He maintains a long-standing collaboration with Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, where he has opened several seasons with Attila (2018), Tosca (2019), A riveder le stelle (2020), and Macbeth (2021). At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he has directed Adriana Lecouvreur (2017), the world premiere of Caruso a Monaco with Jonas Kaufmann (2023), Don Carlo (2023), Giulio Cesare (2024), Das Rheingold and Aida (2025). In addition to his stage work, he served as General Manager and Artistic Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and is currently Artistic Director of Genova’s Teatro Nazionale. He has taught stage direction and design at the IUAV University in Venice and headed Performing Arts School at the Teatro Stabile in Turin. In April 2025, his original project D’oro – Il sesto senso partigiano was presented in Rome in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic. He also recently directed the film The Opera! – Arias for an Eclipse, premiered at the Rome Film Festival. He is an Officer of the Order of the Star of Italy and a recipient of the Eschilo d’Oro Prize for his stagings at the Syracuse Festival.

A regular collaborator of stage director Robert Carsen, Erika Rombaldoni has worked in some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Teatro Real in Madrid, La Fenice in Venice, La Monnaie in Brussels, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and London’s Royal Opera House. She has also worked alongside Richard Cocciante and Luc Petit Création(s) on musical theatre productions. In parallel, she performed as a dancer for MTV, Mediaset, and the HBO series Rome (Emmy Awards 2006–2007). As a choreographer, she created the stage movement for several major productions, including Il Nome della Rosa, a co-production between the Paris Opera and La Scala, and Prokofiev’s Matrimonio al Convento at the MusikTheater an der Wien, both directed by Damiano Michieletto; as well as Carmen for the ballet company of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. She has also directed and choreographed Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo (Wratislavia Cantans Festival), Amami (Macerata Opera Festival), and Arianna (MAXXI Museum, Rome). 2025, she will also choreograph the tour of Italian singer Cesare Cremonini.

A graduate of the Teatro Stabile Acting School in Turin, Sax Nicosia has been working with Davide Livermore since 2006, initially as an actor on stages such as the Teatro Regio in Turin, the Montpellier Opera Festival, and the Palau De Les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. As assistant director, he contributed to two season openings at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan alongside Davide Livermore: A Riveder Le Stelle (2021) and Macbeth (2022). In May 2019, he made his debut at the Teatro Greco in Syracuse, playing Menelaus in Euripides' Helen, a performance that earned him the Assostampa Award. On the same stage, in 2022, he portrayed Agamemnon in Aeschylus' tragedy of the same name. In cinema, Sax Nicosia has appeared in L'uomo che ama by Maria Sole Tognazzi, The Gerber Syndrome by Maxì Dejoie, and, in 2025, in The Opera! – Arie per un'eclissi alongside Vincent Cassel and Fanny Ardant. Since 2023, he has also been the Artistic Director of the Teatro Baretti in Turin.

Founded in Milan in 1998 by Florian Boje, Cristiana Picco, and Claudio Santucci, Giò Forma is a multidisciplinary studio bringing together architects, artists, and set designers. Their creative work spans architecture, concerts, international exhibitions, fashion, cultural events, and opera set design. Operating worldwide - from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, Sydney to Chicago - they design spectacular, large-scale projects across genres and disciplines. Their close collaboration with stage director Davide Livermore has resulted in acclaimed productions on major stages such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan (with an unprecedented four consecutive opening nights), the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and the opera houses of Sydney, Barcelona, Rome, Naples, Florence, Muscat, and São Paulo. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Giò Forma has created the sets for Adriana Lecouvreur, Don Carlo, Giulio Cesare, Das Rheingold, and Aida. The studio is also behind iconic architectural works such as the Maraya Concert Hall in Al ʿUlā (Saudi Arabia), which has received multiple international awards, including a Guinness World Record, and the Cartier “Legendary Thrill” pavilion in Milan. Their guiding principle: “Everything is a stage.”

Gianluca Falaschi was born in Rome. He has worked in various Italian and international theatres, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, the Sydney Opera House and the Palau de les Arts in Valencia. In his longstanding collaboration with Davide Livermore, he has designed over thirty productions, including three season openings at the Teatro alla Scala: Attila, Tosca and Macbeth. He has also designed costumes for various operas at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, winning the Abbiati Critics’ Award for Best Costume Designer for Ciro in Babilonia in 2013. His strong collaboration with Lydia Steier includes productions of Les Troyens at the Semperoper in Dresden, Carmen at the Cologne Opera, Perelà by Dusapin, and Armide by Gluck at the Staatstheater in Mainz, for which he was named Costume Designer of the Year in 2015 and 2017 by Opernwelt. In 2024 he made his house debut at the Opernhaus Zürich (Die lustige Witwe) and at the Vienna Staatsoper (Così fan tutte), both directed by Barrie Kosky. In the ballet genre, he has created sets and costumes for Francesco Ventriglia’s choreography of The Wizard of Oz, premiered in Florence, and later produced by the New Zealand Royal Ballet. He also designed costumes for The Nutcracker at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome. Since 2021, he has explored new artistic horizons, venturing into directing with Angelica by Porpora at the Festival della Valle d'Itria, co-produced by Mainz Staatstheater, and Adriana Lecouvreur in Mainz and Düsseldorf. In 2022, he directed, designed sets, and created costumes for Griselda at La Fenice in Venice, I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Teatro Bellini in Catania, and Chiara e Serafina at the Donizetti Festival in Bergamo. In Monte Carlo, he designed costumes for Adriana Lecouvreur in 2017, Das Rheingold and Aida in 2025.

Born in Cambil-Jaén, Andalusia, Antonio Castro began his career in lighting after training in electrical engineering, working at the Teatro Cánovas in Málaga. He soon collaborated with various companies, first as a technician and later as a lighting designer for theatre, dance, and music productions. He has worked with the Málaga School of Dramatic Art, the Conservatory of Dance, and the Escénica performing arts centre. Since 2006, he has been resident lighting designer at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, where he designs lighting for numerous productions while continuing freelance work. He has created the lighting for several Centre de Perfeccionament productions, including Le nozze di Figaro, Dido and Aeneas, Juditha Triumphans, Silla, Bastien und Bastienne, and Il tutore burlato, and has worked on opera productions such as Otello, Norma, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Luisa Fernanda, Rigoletto, Aida, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Macbeth, La Gioconda, and La forza del destino, which earned the Campoamor Award in 2014. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he has designed the lighting for The Telephone and Amelia al ballo (2013/2014), Caruso a Monaco, Don Carlo, Giulio Cesare (2023/2024), Das Rheingold (2024/2025), and Aida this season.

D-wok is a creative studio specialized in performance design, innovative stage formats, event production, and advanced video design systems. For over a decade, its creative director, Paolo Gep Cucco, has worked in close collaboration with stage director Davide Livermore, contributing to a significant evolution in operatic aesthetics. Together, they have designed four season-opening productions at La Scala in Milan, as well as numerous stagings at leading opera houses around the world, including the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Opera House in Muscat (Sultanate of Oman), and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, where D-wok designed the video for Giulio Cesare (2023/2024), Das Rheingold (2024/2025) and Aïda this season. Their work spans major events, live performance, opera, concerts, museum exhibitions, and television, with a distinctive approach in which performance, technology, and projection media become emotionally charged with narrative elements. Among their most acclaimed projects are the full digital set designs for the 2021 season of the Arena di Verona. D-wok has also developed a bespoke augmented reality system built on the Unreal Engine - the only cinema-grade software of its kind in Italy - which was notably used by RAI for the world premiere of A riveder le stelle, the opening production of La Scala in December 2020.

Born to parents from Martinique, Rachel Valéry, self-taught artist, developed a passion for the performing arts at an early age. She began with dance, before discovering theater at the age of 11 and singing at 16. Her versatility and talent on stage naturally led her to musical theater. Her first professional experience on the Parisian stage was FAME, The Musical in 2008. She discovered the world of cabaret at the age of 23, then took part in a touring production in Asia with Franco Dragone, director of shows for Cirque du Soleil, among others. In 2018, she was cast at the Théâtre Mogador in Paris in the dual role of The Presenter and Kitty-on-the-Run in Chicago, the musical. This successful debut led her to join the cast of The Lion King in 2021, in the role of Sarabi.

Grégory Benchenafi made his debut in Roger Louret's theater company, where he received his acting training and discovered the repertoire of operetta and musical theater. In 2011, for his first leading role in Mike Brant - Laisse-nous t'aimer directed by Thomas Le Douarec, he was nominated for a Molière Award in the “Most Promising Actor” category. In 2019, he played the role of Fred in Chance !, winner of the Molière Award for Best Musical. Grégory Benchenafi was also part of another recent success, not to say triumph: Les Misérables at the Théâtre du Châtelet, directed by Ladislas Chollat (7 awards at the Trophées de la Comédie Musicale). On stage, he played the role of Dorian Gray in Thomas Le Douarec's production and Flap in Maux d'amour, directed by Johanna Boyé alongside Corinne Touzet. Since 2020, he has performed more than 500 times in Benoit Solès' play La Machine de Turing, directed by Tristan Petitgirard, a production which won four Molière awards. 

A young actor, Brice Lefort began studying theatre at the age of ten at the conservatories of Draveil and Crosne in the suburbs of Paris where he grew up. In 2017, he enrolled in the Bachelor of Acting program at EICAR, a school of film and audiovisual media, where he appeared in his first short films (Je suis un partage in 2017 and Céleste in 2019). With his classmates, he founded a theatre company, which produced Victor, ou les enfants au pouvoir, a play staged at the Théâtre de Belleville in Paris, and later performed at the Festival OFF d'Avignon in 2022.

Born in South Africa, Pretty Yende has risen to the top of the opera world with phenomenal speed. Since her debut as Micaëla (Carmen) at the Latvian National Theatre in Riga, she has performed on the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Royal Opera House, Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Vienna and Berlin State Operas, and the opera houses of Munich, Barcelona, Zurich, and others. She made her debut as Adina (L’elisir d’amore), a signature role, in Vienna, and has since sung it in London, New York, Berlin, Munich, and at the Chorégies d’Orange. Other highlights include Violetta (La traviata), Lucia, Rosina, Juliette, Elvira (I puritani), Pamina, Musetta, Fiorilla, Manon, Marie (La Fille du régiment), Leïla (Les Pêcheurs de perles), and Olympia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann). In 2024/25, she appears as Semele at Covent Garden and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Ismene (Mitridate) in Madrid, Leonora (Il trovatore) at the Tiroler Festspiele, Marie in Naples, Lucia in Dresden, and Olympia at the Met. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, she appeared in La Rondine in 2024 as part of the Puccini Festival, and returns this season as a special guest in the grand tribute to Joséphine Baker, an iconic figure with whom she feels a deep personal connection.