La Scala’s 2026-2027 Opera Season announced
Thirteen opera titles, from the end of the 17th century to the most recent in 1987, form the opera season at La Scala for 2026-2027.
Three operas will be performed at La Scala for the first time, with four conductors and four directors making their debuts in the theatre.
It is Myung-Whun Chung’s first season as Music Director, and it opens with Otello, directed by Damiano Michieletto, with Brian Jagde, Eleonora Buratto, and Luca Salsi.
STAGIONE D’OPERA 2026/2027
4 (preview Under30), 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 29 December 2026, 2, 5 January 2027
OTELLO
Giuseppe Verdi
| Conductor | MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG |
| Staging | DAMIANO MICHIELETTO |
| Sets | PAOLO FANTIN |
| Costumes | CARLA TETI |
| Lights | ALESSANDRO CARLETTI |
| Dramaturgy | MATTIA PALMA |
Cast
| Otello | Brian Jagde (7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 Dec.) / Arsen Soghomonyan (29 Dec.; 2, 5 Jan.) |
| Iago | Luca Salsi (7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 Dec.) / Roberto Frontali (29 Dec.; 2, 5 Jan.) |
| Cassio | Juan Francisco Gatell |
| Roderigo | Cristiano Olivieri |
| Lodovico | Huanhong Li |
| Montano | Nicolò Ceriani |
| Desdemona | Eleonora Buratto (7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 Dec.) / Roberta Mantegna (29 Dec.; 2, 5 Jan.) |
| Emilia | Szilvia Vörös |
The first season of Myung-Whun Chung as Music Director opens with two masterpieces by Giuseppe Verdi inspired by Shakespearean tragedies. The season inaugurates with Otello, composed for La Scala in 1887 to a libretto by Arrigo Boito. After Aida in 1871, Verdi returned to the theatre with a renewed musical language and an unprecedented psychological depth. The intertwining of passions and personal ambitions, deep-rooted prejudices, and collective drama makes the opera relevant and even central to the world of our time. Damiano Michieletto, at his eighth production for La Scala, makes his debut as director of an opening night performance with a distinguished cast featuring Brian Jagde in the title role, Luca Salsi as Iago, and Eleonora Buratto as Desdemona.
22, 24, 27, 30 January, 7 February 2027
LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES
Georges Bizet
| Conductor | HENRIK NÁNÁSI |
| Staging | ARNAUD BERNARD |
| Sets | ALESSANDRO CAMERA |
| Costumes | CARLA RICOTTI |
| Lights | MARCO FILIBECK |
| Video | ROLAND HORVATH |
| Stuntman Coordinator | RAN ARTHUR BRAUN |
Cast
| Leila | Olga Peretyatko |
| Nadir | Dmitry Korchak |
| Zurga | Igor Golovatenko |
| Nourabad | Nicolas Courjal |
In brief
Georges Bizet did not write only Carmen. Twelve years earlier, in 1863, the composer brought this story of friendship, rivalry and forbidden love to the stage of the Théâtre Lyrique, set among the temples and fishing villages on the coasts of Sri Lanka. The duet “Au fond du temple saint” and Nadir’s dreamy aria “Je crois entendre encore” have remained in the repertoire, but in recent years the opera has returned to European stages thanks also to the fascination of its orchestration and the spectacular nature of its choral scenes. Last performed at La Scala in 1948 in Italian, Les Pêcheurs de perles returns in a new production, marking the double debut of conductor Henrik Nánási and director Arnaud Bernard, alongside a prestigious trio of voices.
3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 18, 20, 23, 25, 28 February 2027
DON GIOVANNI
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
| Conductor | THOMAS GUGGEIS |
| Staging | ROBERT CARSEN |
| Sets | MICHAEL LEVINE |
| Costumes | BRIGITTE REIFFENSTUEL |
| Lights | ROBERT CARSEN, PETER VAN PRAET |
| Choreography | PHILIPPE GIRAUDEAU |
Cast
| Don Giovanni | Luca Micheletti (3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 18, 20, 25 Feb.) / Davide Luciano (23, 28 Feb.) |
| Commendatore | Gianluca Buratto |
| Donna Anna | Adela Zaharia (3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 28 Feb.) / Francesca Pia Vitale (18, 20, 23, 25 Feb.) |
| Don Ottavio | Daniel Behle (3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 28 Feb.) / Dmitry Korchak (18, 20, 23, 25 Feb.) |
| Donna Elvira | Marta Torbidoni (3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 28 Feb.) / Tara Erraught (18, 20, 23, 25 Feb.) |
| Leporello | Alex Esposito (3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 28 Feb.) / Tommaso Barea (18, 20, 23, 25 Feb.) |
| Masetto | Lodovico Filippo Ravizza |
| Zerlina | Mara Gaudenzi |
In brief
Thomas Guggeis, the young Generalmusikdirektor of the Frankfurt Opera, won over La Scala audiences in 2024 conducting Die Entführung aus dem Serail. He now returns for Don Giovanni in the celebrated production created by Robert Carsen for 7 December 2011. From the spectacular mirror reflecting the auditorium at the beginning to the perspective of the wings replicating La Scala’s architecture, Carsen’s production restores the ambiguous boundary between rationality and seduction that undermines the certainties of the Enlightenment, granting the libertine the final word. Luca Micheletti, already a brilliant Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at La Scala, takes on the title role, while Alex Esposito returns as Leporello; meanwhile, Adela Zaharia makes her debut at La Scala as Donna Anna.
16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26 February, 4, 7 March 2027
LA BOHÈME
Giacomo Puccini
| Conductor | DANIEL OREN |
| Staging and sets | FRANCO ZEFFIRELLI |
| Costumes | PIERO TOSI |
| Lights | MARCO FILIBECK |
Cast
| Rodolfo | Stefan Pop (16, 19, 21, 26 Feb.; 7 Mar.) / Valentyn Dytiuk (17, 24 Feb.; 4 Mar.) |
| Schaunard | Alessio Arduini |
| Benoît e Alcindoro | Matteo Peirone |
| Mimì | Carolina López Moreno (16, 19, 21, 26 Feb.; 7 Mar.) / Maria Teresa Leva (17, 24 Feb.; 4 Mar.) |
| Marcello | Davide Luciano |
| Colline | Riccardo Fassi |
| Musetta | Sara Blanch |
| Parpignol | Zizhao Chen |
In brief
Perhaps no opera production has enjoyed the success and diffusion of the Bohème conceived by Franco Zeffirelli in 1963 and later enriched by Piero Tosi’s costumes. Over the decades, generations of conductors and singers have succeeded one another, yet the realism of the garret, the spectacular visual impact of the two-tier stage in the second act, and the melancholy of the snow in the third continue to exert their irresistible fascination on audiences. This new revival marks the return to the podium of Daniel Oren, a profound connoisseur of Puccini’s language, with two protagonists making their debuts on the La Scala stage: Carolina López Moreno, now sought after by the leading opera houses, and Stefan Pop.
30 March, 1, 3, 6, 10, 13, 16 April 2027
ANNA BOLENA
Gaetano Donizetti
| Conductor | FRANCESCO IVAN CIAMPA |
| Staging | CHIARA MUTI |
| Sets | ALESSANDRO CAMERA |
| Costumes | TOMMASO LAGATTOLLA |
| Lights | VINCENT LONGUEMARE |
Cast
| Enrico VIII | Roberto Tagliavini |
| Anna Bolena | Vasilisa Berzhanskaya (30 Mar., 3, 6, 13, 16 Apr.) / Monica Conesa (1, 10 Apr.) |
| Giovanna Seymour | Raffaella Lupinacci |
| Lord Rochefort | Alberto Petricca |
| Lord Percy | Juan Diego Flórez (30 Mar., 3, 6, 13, 16 Apr.) / Juan Francisco Gatell (1, 10 Apr.) |
| Smeton | Mara Gaudenzi |
| Sir Hervey | Francesco Pittari |
In brief
The encounter between the atmospheres of European Romanticism and the language of Italian Bel Canto gave rise to an extraordinarily rich body of works, whose pinnacle is undoubtedly Gaetano Donizetti’s so-called “Tudor Trilogy”. Historical events and sentimental intrigues are treated by the composer and his librettist Felice Romani with poetic momentum and unfailing dramatic effectiveness, creating unforgettable female characters destined for the great protagonists of the stage. Today, La Scala revives the title after the great productions of the past, engaging artists of proven experience in Italian opera, such as conductor Francesco Ivan Ciampa, making his debut, and director Chiara Muti. The formidable leading roles are entrusted to Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Roberto Tagliavini and Juan Diego Flórez.
17, 20, 22, 24, 27, 30 April 2027
THE RAKE’S PROGRESS
Igor Stravinsky
| Conductor | RICCARDO CHAILLY |
| Staging | KASPER HOLTEN |
| Sets | PHILIPP FÜRHOFER |
| Costumes | ANJA VANG KRAGH |
| Lights | JONAS BØGH |
| Dramaturgy | JOHANNE HOLTEN |
Cast
| Father Trulove | Andrew Harris |
| Anne Trulove | Rebecca Nelsen |
| Tom Rakewell | Thomas Atkins |
| Nick Shadow | Alex Esposito |
| Mother Goose | Natascha Petrinsky |
| Baba la Turca | Jamie Barton |
| Sellem | Robert Murray |
| Proprietario del manicomio | Bastian Thomas Kohl |
In breve
The eighteenth century, brilliantly reinvented by Stravinsky through the splendid verses of Auden and Kallman, inspired by Hogarth’s vivid and cruel engravings, marks Riccardo Chailly’s first return to the Piermarini after his years as Music Director. The Maestro, who had already conducted the score at the beginning of his La Scala career in 1979, reunites with director Kasper Holten, with whom he collaborated on Boris Godunov, which inaugurated the 2022/2023 Season, and continues his exploration of the Russian repertoire, one of the constants of his artistic activity in opera and symphonic music. Thomas Atkins and Rebecca Nelsen make their La Scala debuts in the leading roles, while Alex Esposito also brings his unsettling interpretation of the luciferian Nick Shadow to La Scala.
4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 22 May 2027
MACBETH
Giuseppe Verdi
| Conductor | MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG |
| Staging | BARRIE KOSKY |
| Sets | KLAUS GRÜNBERG |
| Costumes and lights | KLAUS BRUNS |
| Dramaturgy | CLAUS SPAHN |
Cast
| Macbeth | Luca Salsi (4, 6, 8, 11, 22 mag.) / Fabián Veloz (13, 15, 18 mag.) |
| Banco | René Pape (4, 6, 8, 11, 22 mag.) / Simon Lim (13, 15, 18 mag.) |
| Lady Macbeth | Anastasia Bartoli (4, 6, 8, 11, 22 mag.) / Marta Torbidoni (13, 15, 18 mag.) |
| Dama di Lady Macbeth | Mariapaola Di Carlo |
| Macduff | Francesco Meli (4, 6, 8, 11, 22 mag.) / Antonio Poli (13, 15, 18 mag.) |
| Malcolm | Paolo Antognetti |
In brief
Second title of the Season and second Shakespeare-inspired Verdi opera for Music Director Myung-Whun Chung, Macbeth is an opera deeply rooted in the performance history of Teatro alla Scala. Luca Salsi has already authoritatively interpreted the title role, including for a season opening, and there is great anticipation for the La Scala debut of Anastasia Bartoli, a new leading figure on the Italian operatic scene. Barrie Kosky, one of the leading names in today’s directing world, also presents his first production in Milan: a Zurich-created production that achieved enormous success, in which the protagonists wander alone through an environment of darkness inhabited only by their voices and Verdi’s music.
23, 29 May, 4, 9, 11, 14 June 2027
DON QUICHOTTE
Jules Massenet
| Conductor | BERTRAND DE BILLY |
| Staging | DAMIANO MICHIELETTO |
| Sets | PAOLO FANTIN |
| Costumes | AGOSTINO CAVALCA |
| Lights | ALESSANDRO CARLETTI |
| Video | ROLAND HORVATH |
| Choreography | THOMAS WILHELM |
Cast
| Dulcinée | Gaëlle Arquez |
| Don Quichotte | Alex Esposito |
| Sancho Pança | Giulio Mastrototaro |
| Pédro | Emy Gazeilles |
| Rodriguez | Samy Camps |
| Juan | Didier Pieri |
| Garcias | Saori Sugiyama |
In breve
Never before performed at La Scala, Don Quichotte is Massenet’s penultimate opera, based on Cervantes’ novel as filtered through a theatrical work by Jacques Le Lorrain, and premiered in Monte Carlo two years before the composer’s death. Damiano Michieletto imagines the story as an allegory about the loss of illusions and the dreamer’s social isolation, placing the three acts in three different moments: the 60s as the age of memories, the 90s as the manifestation of crisis, and today as the moment of death. The protagonist’s mind is crowded with images represented through video projections, alternating scenes from his past with graphic representations of his obsessions. Alex Esposito lends his vocal and acting qualities to the protagonist, hopelessly in love with the charismatic Gaëlle Arquez. In his final hour, only Sancho, portrayed by Giulio Mastrototaro, remains beside him, perhaps the only one who truly cared for him.
15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 June, 1 July 2027
I PURITANI
Vincenzo Bellini
| Conductor | FABIO LUISI |
| Staging | DAVIDE LIVERMORE |
| Sets | ELEONORA PERONETTI, PAOLO GEP CUCCO, DAVIDE LIVERMORE |
| Costumes | GIANLUCA FALASCHI |
| Lights | ANTONIO CASTRO |
| Video | D-WOK |
Cast
| Gualtiero Valton | Vittorio De Campo |
| Giorgio | Giorgi Manoshvili |
| Arturo | Galeano Salas (15, 19, 21, 23, 25, 29 Jun.; 1 Jul.) / Valerio Borgioni (17 Jun.) |
| Riccardo | Mattia Olivieri |
| Bruno | Paolo Antognetti |
| Enrichetta | Marta Pluda |
| Elvira | Adela Zaharia (15, 19, 21, 25, 29 Jun.) / Gilda Fiume (17, 23 Jun.; 1 Jul.) |
In breve
Vincenzo Bellini’s masterpiece, an authentic poetic manifesto of Italian Bel Canto, is performed less frequently than one might expect, also because of the extreme difficulty of the leading roles written for Giovan Battista Rubini and Giulia Grisi. The title has been absent from La Scala since 1971, and bringing it back means reaffirming the identity of the Milanese theatre as a home of the bel canto tradition, both artistically and in terms of production. Fabio Luisi possesses, like few others, a deep knowledge of the expressive codes of this repertoire, to which Davide Livermore restores dramatic intensity and spectacular quality. A long search led to the identification of Galeano Salas as the tenor capable of tackling the forbidding role of Arturo in the spaces of the Piermarini, while Adela Zaharia returns as Elvira and Giorgi Manoshvili is Riccardo.
26, 28 June, 5, 7, 13 July 2027
NIXON IN CHINA
John Adams
| Conductor | KENT NAGANO |
| Staging | VALENTINA CARRASCO |
| Sets | CARLES BERGA, PETER VAN PRAET |
| Costumes | SILVIA AYMONINO |
| Lights | PETER VAN PRAET |
| MARK GREY |
Cast
| Richard Nixon | Thomas Hampson |
| Pat | Renée Fleming |
| Mao Tse-tung | Alfred Kim |
| Chiang Ch’ing | Kathleen Kim |
| Henry Kissinger | Seth Carico |
| Chou En-lai | Xiaomeng Zhang |
| Nancy T’sang | Aebh Kelly |
| Second secretary to Mao | Ning Liang |
| Third secretary to Mao | Lora Grigorieva |
In brief
With Nixon in China, it is not only a new title or a new composer making a first appearance on the stage of the Piermarini, but an entire repertoire that constitutes an essential part of twentieth-century music. John Adams’s first opera turns forty and has become an established classic: the account of the historic visit of Richard and Pat Nixon to China, where they were received by Mao Tse-tung and his wife Chiang Ch’ing, presents in a single fresco both an episode of recent history – now once again strikingly relevant – and a glimpse into domestic life. Valentina Carrasco’s production, created in Paris, portrays with wit and elegance both the manoeuvres of what became known as “pingpong diplomacy” and the personalities of the protagonists, brought vividly to life by Thomas Hampson and Renée Fleming. For the occasion, Kent Nagano returns to the La Scala podium.
11, 13, 15, 18, 23, 26 September 2027
LEONORA
Ferdinando Paër
| Conductor | ROLAND BÖER |
| Staging | DANIELE MENGHINI |
| Sets | DAVIDE SIGNORINI |
| Costumes | NIKA CAMPISI |
| Lights | GIANNI BERTOLI |
In brief
Teatro alla Scala celebrates the bicentenary of the death of Ludwig van Beethoven in many ways: entrusting some of the Symphonies to its Music Director, commissioning a new opera for children about the composer, and presenting in the Season, with the forces of the Academy, Leonora ossia l’amor coniugale by the Parmesan composer Ferdinando Paër. Leonora, whose libretto is derived from a work by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly alluding to the excesses of the Reign of Terror, premiered in Dresden in 1804; the following year, Beethoven presented his Fidelio in Vienna, also derived from Bouilly, whose intended title was, in fact, Leonora. Overshadowed by Beethoven’s masterpiece, Leonora nevertheless remains a work of quality that helps illuminate the musical scene of the early nineteenth century. On the podium is Maestro Roland Böer, while the production is directed by the young Daniele Menghini, making his La Scala debut after winning the Italian Critics’ Abbiati Prize in 2026.
2, 8, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29 October 2027
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Gioachino Rossini
| Conductor | GIULIO CILONA |
| Staging | LEO MUSCATO |
| Sets | FEDERICA PAROLINI |
| Costumes | SILVIA AYMONINO |
| Lights | ALESSANDRO VERAZZI |
| Choreography | NICOLE KEHRBERGER |
Cast
| Conte di Almaviva | Jack Swanson (2, 14, 19, 23, 27 ott.) / Dave Monaco (8, 16, 21, 25, 29 ott.) |
| Bartolo | Marco Filippo Romano (2, 14, 19, 21, 25, 27 ott.) / Omar Montanari (8, 16, 23, 29 ott.) |
| Rosina | Mara Gaudenzi (2, 14, 19, 23, 27 ott.) / Chiara Amarù (8, 16, 21, 25, 29 ott.) |
| Figaro | Boris Pinkhasovich (2, 14, 19, 21, 25, 27 ott.) / Lodovico Filippo Ravizza (8, 16, 23, 29 ott.) |
| Basilio | Huanhong Li |
| Fiorello | Gianluca Failla |
| Berta | Serena Gamberoni |
In brief
Legendary from the very circumstances of its composition, completed with astonishing speed, and from its premiere, which took place in 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome amid protests from the supporters of Paisiello, whose Barbiere had dominated the stage for more than thirty years, Il barbiere di Siviglia is among the most beloved and frequently performed operas in the world. Its success lies in an inexorable comic mechanism that tempers the social criticism of Beaumarchais’s original text with unprecedented rhythmic energy and continuous melodic invention. Leo Muscato’s staging, which relocates the story among the backstage areas and dressing rooms of a theatre, restores depth to the relationships between the characters, highlighting their humanity, by turns tender and cruel. Giulio Cilona, a young conductor rising at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, conducts his first opera at La Scala, with Boris Pinkhasovich as Figaro, Mara Gaudenzi, a former student of the La Scala Academy, as Rosina, and Jack Swanson as Almaviva.
26, 28 October, 2, 6, 10, 13, 16 November 2027
DIDO AND ÆNEAS
Henry Purcell
| Conductor | GIANLUCA CAPUANO |
| Staging and choreography | MARCOS MORAU |
| Sets | MAX GLAENZEL |
| Costumes | SILVIA DELAGNEAU |
| Dramaturgy | ROBERTO FRATINI |
Cast
| Dido | Emily D’Angelo |
| Æneas | Alessio Arduini |
| Belinda | Mélissa Petit |
| Second woman | Loriana Castellano |
| Sorceress | Carlo Vistoli |
| First witch | Jiayu Jin |
| Second witch | Valeria Girardello |
| First sailor | Massimo Altieri |
In brief
The first great masterpiece of English opera is set in a girls’ boarding school in London in the 1680s. Purcell reworks, in a highly personal manner, the experiences of Venetian and French opera, achieving an entirely new result. Nahum Tate’s libretto reinterprets Virgil, combining the story of the love between Æneas, fleeing from Troy, and Dido, Queen of Carthage, with the grotesque interventions of witches. When Æneas abandons her to fulfil his mission, Dido takes her own life, addressing her sister Belinda a farewell that remains among the most moving pages in the history of musical theatre. The difficult task of rendering the complex forms of English Baroque theatre in contemporary terms is often entrusted to artists capable of combining choreographic and directorial talent: in this case, Marcos Morau, who thus makes his debut at the Piermarini. Conducting is Gianluca Capuano, who is exceptionally at ease in the ever-changing forms of pre-classical musical theatre. Emily D’Angelo sings the role of Dido, Alessio Arduini appears as Æneas, and Carlo Vistoli performs the Witch.
