A Season to Remember

This month, Rome’s performance season offers a wonderful mix of opera, sacred music, and world-class ballet. From 11 October to 1 November, the Teatro Costanzi stages Falstaff, Giuseppe Verdi’s final opera, conducted by Michele Mariotti. Based on Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV, this lively comic opera follows the adventures of the ageing Sir John Falstaff. Hoping to solve his money problems, he tries to seduce two wealthy married women by sending them identical love letters. Instead, the ladies join forces to teach him a lesson, leading to a series of hilarious pranks, mistaken identities, and comic misunderstandings. The story ends with love and forgiveness, and Verdi’s famous closing chorus celebrates the idea that life itself is one big joke. On 17 October at the Teatro Costanzi and 22 October at the beautiful Basilica of San Vitale, Michele Mariotti is back with Gioacchino Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, a series moving of choir and orchestra pieces that well represent the Italian musical style of the late-1800s. Dance lovers can look forward to Icone della Danza on 26 October (pictured above). Created and directed by Eleonora Abbagnato, the prestigious gala returns to Rome after its successful Paris debut, bringing together some of the world’s finest ballet stars for a special one-night event. The month concludes on 27 and 28 October with a triple ballet programme featuring Petrushka by Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Marco Goecke; Afternoon of a Faun by Claude Debussy, choreographed by Jerome Robbins; and The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky in Pina Bausch’s choreography. operaroma.it