Verdi Il trovatore

Italian conductor and Music Director of the Tbilisi State Opera, Giacomo Sagripanti is regarded as one of the most outstanding conductors of his generation on the international stage. In 2016, he received the Opera Award for Best Young Conductor in London. He began his career in Italy and Germany, notably at the Festival della Valle d’Itria, the Associazione Lirica e Concertistica Italiana, and the Theater Lübeck. He soon appeared on major European and international stages, including the Semperoper Dresden, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Opernhaus Zürich, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, Opéra Bastille, The Royal Ballet and Opera in London, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari. Recent highlights include conducting Moïse et Pharaon for the opening of the Rossini Opera Festival, Verdi’s Requiem with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Turandot in a new production at the Hamburg State Opera. He has also made his debuts at Teatro Real in Madrid and at the Metropolitan Opera. Alongside his operatic work, he maintains a regular symphonic career with ensembles such as the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Orquesta Sinfónica de las Islas Baleares, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, and the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento. His recent and forthcoming engagements include La Fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera, La Bohème at the Wiener Staatsoper, La traviata at The Royal Ballet and Opera, and Norma at the Bayerische Staatsoper. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he conducted La rondine in 2024.

Stage director and creative director, Francisco Negrin has pursued an international career for more than thirty years, bringing his work to the leading stages of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Australia. After studying film, he turned to opera and quickly established himself as one of the most “musical” stage directors of his generation, recognized for his fidelity to the score and his modern, elegant sensibility. He has signed more than seventy productions, widely acclaimed by critics, for companies including The Royal Ballet and Opera (London), the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), the Det Kongelige Teater (Copenhagen), Opera Australia, New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the Teatro Real (Madrid), Dutch National Opera (Amsterdam), San Francisco Opera, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Among his notable productions are Giulio Cesare, Partenope, Norma, Werther, The Cunning Little Vixen, I puritani, Macbeth, Verdi’s Jérusalem, and Vicente Martín y Soler’s L’Arbore di Diana, several of which have been released on DVD. Alongside his operatic work, he conceives and directs large-scale international events, developing a distinctive visual and cinematic approach. Valued for his ability to collaborate closely with artists and creative teams, he is particularly recognized for the dramaturgical clarity and accessibility of his productions, especially in his approach to rare or complex works. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he directed Macbeth in 2012 and Il trovatore in 2017.

A costume designer and set designer, Louis Désiré has pursued an international career for more than twenty years, bringing his work to numerous stages across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. After collaborating with major opera houses — notably in Buenos Aires, San Francisco, New York, Marseille, Bilbao, Copenhagen, and Madrid — he made his directorial debut in 2007 with Werther in Buenos Aires, for which he also designed the sets and costumes. Since then, he has developed an artistic career that frequently combines stage direction, set design, and costume creation. His many productions include I due Foscari, Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini, Norma, La traviata, Carmen, Der fliegende Holländer, La Cenerentola, Lohengrin, Il trovatore, Tosca, and Don Carlo, presented on major international stages. Alongside his directing work, he has designed sets and costumes for Salome, Macbeth, Rigoletto, Alcina, Mozart’s Mitridate, re di Ponto, The Pearl Fishers, Madama Butterfly, and Luisa Miller, and created the costumes for El arbore di Diana (Martín y Soler) and I puritani. For several seasons, he has worked in close collaboration with the Opéra de Marseille on major productions including Les Huguenots, Don Quichotte, and Dialogues des Carmélites. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he notably designed the sets and costumes for Un ballo in maschera (2011), Macbeth (2012), and Il trovatore (2017), as well as directing, designing the sets, and creating the costumes for Francesca da Rimini (2012).

One of the most acclaimed British lighting designers of his generation, Bruno Poet has built an international career spanning opera, theatre, and major musical events. A recipient of three Knight of Illumination Awards and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Lighting Design for Frankenstein at the National Theatre, he has established a distinctive lighting language that is both dramaturgically driven and strikingly visual. In opera, he collaborates with companies including The Royal Ballet and Opera (London), English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Teatro Real (Madrid), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), Houston Grand Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. His notable designs include Don Giovanni, Akhnaten, Salome, Otello, Carmen, Alcina, Kevin Puts’s The Hours, and Il trovatore, presented in Monte-Carlo, Madrid, Copenhagen, and Los Angeles. Alongside his operatic work, he designs lighting for major theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway, as well as for international tours by artists such as Björk, Sigur Rós, and Alicia Keys, developing a deeply immersive and cinematic aesthetic. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he designed the lighting for Macbeth in 2012 and for this production of Il trovatore in 2017.

Born in Livorno (ltaly) in 1960, Stefano Visconti studied the piano and then choral conducting with Fosco Corti and Roberto Gabbiano, as well as orchestra conducting with Piero Bellugi and Giancarlo Andretta. He was appointed choirmaster at Opéra de Monte-Carlo in 2007. Before this he was choirmaster at the Teatro Goldoni, Livorno (1991-2001), Choirmaster at the Opéra-Théâtre d’Avignon (2001-2007), as well as Choirmaster at the Festival Puccini, Torre del Lago (1999-2015). From 1984 to 2001 he conducted the Guido Monaco Polyphonic Choir of Livorno which, under his direction, won several national awards (Vittorio Veneto, Arezzo and Florence competitions). In 2000 he founded the Chamber Choir of Tuscany, formed of professionals. He directed the reconstitution of the complete sacred works of Giuseppe Cambini for soloists, choir, and orchestra. Since 2008 he has conducted the choirs of the Sanxay Lyrical Evenings. He is the artistic and music director of the Monte Carlo Chamber Choir. He has made several recordings with Foné, Agora and Kikko Classics, in particular several of Mascagni’s operas (L’amico Fritz, I Rantzau, Lodoletta, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Silvano, Cavalleria rusticana, Iris and Sì). Since 2017 he has directed the coordination of the choirs for the Chorégies d’Orange festival.

Polish baritone born in Warsaw, Artur Ruciński studied at the Academy of Music in his hometown before making his debut in 2002 at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in the title role of Eugene Onegin. He soon appeared at Poland’s leading opera houses and was subsequently invited to perform in Pikovaya Dama, Eugene Onegin, and Faust in a production staged by Robert Wilson. A major turning point in his career came in 2010, when Daniel Barenboim invited him to sing Eugene Onegin at the Berlin State Opera (Staatsoper Unter den Linden). From then on, he has appeared on the world’s foremost international stages, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, Teatro alla Scala, the Arena di Verona, the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra Bastille, Teatro Real in Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Vienna State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. His wide-ranging repertoire includes Il trovatore, La traviata, Don Carlo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Un ballo in maschera, Manon, La Bohème, Falstaff, and Simon Boccanegra. A frequent concert performer, he has also appeared in works such as Carmina Burana, Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah, and Britten’s War Requiem. Recent and upcoming engagements include a return to the Metropolitan Opera for I puritani, Il trovatore at Teatro Real in Madrid, a role debut as Iago in Otello, La traviata at the Vienna State Opera, and La Bohème at Teatro di San Carlo. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he has notably performed in Luisa Miller and Lucia di Lammermoor (2018), Il corsaro (2021), and Don Carlo (2023).

French soprano Alexandra Marcellier is establishing herself as one of the most promising artists of her generation. Revealed in 2023 as “Newcomer of the Year” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, she notably distinguished herself in La clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival, followed by her portrayal of Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) at the Opéra Bastille, a role she had previously performed in Saint-Étienne, at The Monte-Carlo Opera, the Opéra de Marseille and Oper Frankfurt. In 2025, she makes her debut at the Palau de les Arts Valencia in Dialogues des Carmélites and performs the role of Nedda (Pagliacci) in Saint-Étienne. She has also appeared as Micaëla (Carmen), Alice Ford (Falstaff) and Blanche at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège. She made her professional debut in 2018 in Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Bordeaux, before performing notably in La Voix humaine in Milan and on an international tour dedicated to the music of Joe Hisaishi. A graduate of the Bordeaux Conservatory, where she studied with Maryse Castets, and winner of the Jeune Espoir Prize at the Concours des Amis du Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, she furthered her training at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival with Silvana Bazzoni-Bartoli and made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2017. Among her recent and forthcoming engagements are her return to The Monte-Carlo Opera and her debut at the Opéra de Québec as Mimì (La Bohème).

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians, Varduhi Abrahamyan studied at the State Conservatory of her native city before embarking on a career that quickly brought her to the world’s leading international stages. She is now a regular guest at the Opéra de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, the Opernhaus Zürich, and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Her exceptionally wide-ranging repertoire spans bel canto as well as the great Romantic and post-Romantic works. She has notably appeared in the title roles of Carmen, Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, and Handel’s Rinaldo, as well as Eboli in Don Carlo, Adalgisa in Bellini’s Norma, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Fenena in Nabucco, Preziosilla in La forza del destino, Arsace in Rossini’s Semiramide, Malcolm in La donna del lago, Isabella in L’italiana in Algeri, Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, Pauline in Pikovaya Dama, Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Maffio Orsini in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia, Fricka in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and Calbo in Maometto II. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, she has notably performed Alcina as well as Eboli in Don Carlo, and returns there this season to portray Azucena in Il trovatore.

Italian tenor born in Sicily, Piero Pretti made his professional debut on a European tour in 2006, performing the role of Rodolfo in La bohème. In the following seasons, he sang Alfredo in La traviata in Jesi and Treviso, the title role in Poliuto in Sassari, Manrico in Il trovatore in Ravenna, and Achille in Iphigénie en Aulide at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome under the direction of Riccardo Muti. The 2011/12 seasons marked a decisive milestone in his career, quickly establishing him on the world’s leading stages, including the Wiener Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, Teatro Regio di Torino, and Teatro Real in Madrid. Recent and upcoming engagements include La traviata at Teatro alla Scala, Madama Butterfly at Bunka Kaikan under the baton of M° Muti, Don Carlo and Un ballo in maschera at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Rigoletto at Teatro Regio di Torino and Staatsoper Hamburg, Il trovatore at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl and Opéra de Monte-Carlo, I masnadieri at Teatro Real in Madrid, and Turandot at Atlanta Opera.

Russian bass Evgeny Stavinsky completed his studies as singer and choir conductor at the Moscow State Academy of Choral Art before further training at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He subsequently joined the ensemble of the Novaya Opera in Moscow, where he developed a significant part of his repertoire. He has appeared on major international stages including the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, La Scala in Milan, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence and the Glyndebourne Festival in the United Kingdom. He has performed under the baton of Riccardo Muti and has sung Beethoven’s 9th symphony as well as Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiem, notably with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His repertoire includes Thoas (Iphigénie en Tauride), Pimen (Boris Godunov), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Méphistophélès (Faust), King Heinrich (Lohengrin), King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Zaccaria (Nabucco), Colline (La bohème), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Oroveso (Norma), Timur (Turandot) and Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia). A prize winner of the Riccardo Zandonai Competition, he received the Golden Mask Award for Best Opera Performer in 2018 for his portrayal of Méphistophélès in Faust. Closely associated with the Russian and Italian repertoires, he has portrayed numerous Verdi roles and continues the tradition of dramatic singing, notably at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo in Il trovatore.

Italian mezzo-soprano and prizewinner of numerous international competitions (Volpi, Caniglia, Rosetum, Zandonai, Spoleto, Battistini, Toti Dal Monte, Barbieri), as well as a finalist at Operalia and the Francisco Viñas Competition, Annunziata began studying singing and piano at an early age. She further refined her training with Renata Scotto, Regina Resnik, Daniela Dessì, Renato Bruson and Mirella Freni. She made her debut in 2003 as Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), a role that brought her wide recognition, before going on to perform such roles as Carmen, Maddalena (Rigoletto), Azucena (Il trovatore), Amneris (Aida), Preziosilla (La forza del destino), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Quickly (Falstaff), Neris (Medea) and Madelon (Andrea Chénier). She has appeared at Italy’s leading opera houses as well as internationally, notably in Marseille, Monte-Carlo, at the Wexford Festival, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Bregenz Festival and the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo. Recently, she distinguished herself at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in Il viaggio di Sindbad by Silvia Colasanti and in Suor Angelica, and made her debut at the Bregenz Festival as Frugola (Il tabarro). She also appears in concert performances of Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiem, and Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, she notably performed in Andrea Chénier in 2023 and in Cavalleria rusticana in 2024.

Cuban-American tenor, born in Cuba and raised in the United States, Reinaldo Macias was a prizewinner at the Metropolitan Opera auditions before graduating from the Geneva Conservatory and furthering his studies in Italy with Arrigo Pola and Claude Thiolas. A long-standing member of the Opernhaus Zürich, he distinguished himself there in numerous roles while also appearing on major international stages, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Bavarian State Opera, the Opéra de Paris, The Royal Ballet and Opera in London and the Vienna State Opera. He has collaborated with conductors such as Nello Santi, Bruno Campanella, Sylvain Cambreling, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Franz Welser-Möst. His repertoire notably includes Dmitri (Boris Godunov), Loge (Das Rheingold), Laca (From the House of the Dead), the Incredibile (Andrea Chénier), Spalanzani (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Arminio (I masnadieri), Spoletta (Tosca) and Schmidt (Werther). He has also performed Flavio (Norma) alongside Cecilia Bartoli at several major European opera houses. At the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, he has notably appeared in Norma, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, I masnadieri, Otello, Werther, Andrea Chénier, Don Carlo and Tosca.