Souls in Limbo, beyond Boundaries
‘Souls in Limbo, Beyond Borders’ is the title and the invisible thread that runs through the entire season, weaving an underground plot that unites works and ballets, eras and styles, tradition and vision. It is the plot of characters suspended on the brink of something: an impossible love, a fatal choice, an inner transformation. This is a season of blurred boundaries, of those territories where dream and reality intertwine, where art becomes life and fiction becomes revelation. A season where the main characters live permanently suspended on a threshold between desire and duty, the self and the other, light and shadow. The protagonists face not certainties but shadows, mists, mirrors that sometimes reflect clearly, sometimes distort reality. Not safe havens, but fertile anxieties. The theatrical scene thus becomes a mirror of the human condition: fragile, changeable, deeply true.
All the staff and artists of the Teatro Massimo Foundation will be involved in the operas, ballets and concerts: the Orchestra, Chorus, Ballet, Youth Chorus as well as the Set Design Workshops.
The Season includes titles taken from the great repertoire, new productions, visionary reinterpretations, international co-productions and an artistic and symbolic journey that explores the thresholds of existence: between light and shadow, reality and imagination, destiny and desire.
The emotional focus of the season is on the female protagonists: from Zemfira to Nedda, from Gilda to Dido, from Aida to Amneris, to Semiramide. Figures suspended between desire and condemnation, purity and rebellion, love and renunciation.
The season explores the dramatic power of their stories, often marked by exclusion, strength and sacrifice, and does so in dialogue with the great issues of our time, such as the fight against gender-based violence and for the rights of children and adolescents.
Full Calendar with casts (in Italian)
2025-26 OPERA & BALLET CALENDAR
Opening November 21 2025
Sergej Vasil’evič Rachmaninov
Aleko
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Pagliacci
Conductor Francesco Lanzillotta
Director Silvia Paoli
with Brian Jagde, Carolina López Moreno, Elchin Azizov
Teatro Massimo Chorus, Youth Chorus, Ballet and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening December 14 2025
Giacomo Puccini
La bohème
Conductor Carlo Montanaro
Director Mario Pontiggia
with Anastasia Bartoli, Arturo Chacón-Cruz, Hasmik Torosyan, Jessica Nuccio
Teatro Massimo Chorus, Youth Chorus and Orchestra
A Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening January 22 2026
Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij
Il lago dei cigni
Coreographer Jean-Sébastien Colau
Conductor Nicola Giuliani
with Maia Makhateli and Andrea Sarri
Teatro Massimo Ballet and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening February 20 2026
Henry Purcell
Dido and Aeneas
Conductor Gabriele Ferro
Director Lorenzo Amato
with Roberta Mantegna, Zachary Altman
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
A Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening March 11 2026
Gioachino Rossini
Semiramide
Conductor Christopher Franklin
Director Pierre-Emmanuel Rousseau
with Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Chiara Amarù, Mirco Palazzi, Maxim Mironov
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
A Production of the Opéra de Rouen – Normandie
Opening March 29 2026
Aloisius Ludwig Minkus
Don Quichotte
Coreographer José Martínez
Conductor Mojca Lavrenčič
Teatro Massimo Ballet and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
in coproduction with the Opéra National de Bordeaux
Opening April 26 2026
Gaetano Donizetti
Le convenienze e inconvenienze teatrali
Conductor George Petrou
Director Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
with Nicola Alaimo, Desirée Rancatore
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening May 22 2026
Giuseppe Verdi
Aida
Conductor Frédéric Chaslin
Director Mario Pontiggia
with Maria José Siri, Angelo Villari, Daniela Barcellona, Claudio Sgura
Teatro Massimo Chorus, Ballet and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
in coproduction with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
Opening June 20 2026
Caravaggio
(music by Claudio Monteverdi with Bruno Moretti’s orchestration)
Coreographer Mauro Bigonzetti
Conductor Gianna Fratta
Teatro Massimo Ballet and Orchestra
Opening September 12 2026
Pietro Mascagni
Cavalleria rusticana
Conductor Gaetano D’Espinosa
Director Marco Gandini
with Teresa Romano, SeokJong Baek
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
A New Production of the Teatro Massimo
Opening October 3 2026
Pëtr Il’ič Čajkovskij
La bella addormentata
Coreographer Reginaldo Oliveira
Conductor Carlo Benedetto Cimento
Teatro Massimo Ballet and Orchestra
A Production of the Salzburger Landestheater
Opening October 23 2026
Giuseppe Verdi
Rigoletto
Conductor Gianna Fratta
Director John Turturro
with Ludovic Tézier, Adela Zaharia, Francesco Demuro
Teatro Massimo Chorus, Ballet and Orchestra
A Production of the Teatro Massimo di Palermo
in coproduction with Teatro Regio di Torino, Shaanxi Opera House and Opéra Royal de Wallonie
2025-26 CONCERTS CALENDAR
December 4 2025 – Opening Concert
Luchino Visconti/Nino Rota
Il gattopardo
Conductor Timothy Brock
Teatro Massimo Orchestra
Projection of the Film Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) by Luchino Visconti with live Orchestra, original music by Nino Rota
A project getto realizzato da Cineteca di Bologna e CAM Sugar con la collaborazione della Fondazione Cini di Venezia
Musiche di Nino Rota edite da CAM Sugar
Revisione e ricostruzione della partitura originale di Timothy Brock
January 1 2026 – Single-Tickets Event
New Year’s Concert with Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor Lorenzo Passerini
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
January 8 2026
Ludwig van Beethoven
Missa Solemnis
Conductor Umberto Clerici
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
February 8 2026
Conductor Frédéric Chaslin
Violin Salvatore Greco
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
February 25 2026
Orchestra Nazionale Barocca dei Conservatori
Lully, Marais, Rameau
Conductor and violin Emmanuel Resche-Caserta
Soprano Marie Perbost
Orchestra Nazionale Barocca dei Conservatori
A Project of the Ministry of University and Research
In collaboration with the Conservatory of Music Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo
March 19 2026
Conductor Salvatore Punturo
Teatro Massimo Chorus
March 22 2026
Orchestra Nazionale dei Conservatori
Dmitrij Dmitrievič Šostakovič – Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 2, op. 102
Sergej Sergeevič Prokof’ev – Suite from Romeo and Juliet
Conductor Diego Ceretta
Piano Elia Cecino
Orchestra Nazionale dei Conservatori
A Project of the Ministry of University and Research
In collaboration with the Conservatory of Music Ottorino Respighi in Latina
April 12 2026
Conductor Riccardo Frizza
Teatro Massimo Orchestra
May 6 2026
Orchestra Conservatorio Scarlatti
Conductor to be confirmed
Orchestra of the Conservatory of Music Alessandro Scarlatti
In collaboration with the Conservatory of Music Alessandro Scarlatti
June 9 and 10 2026
Beethoven
Symphony No. 9
Conductor Nir Kabaretti
Teatro Massimo Chorus and Orchestra
September 24 2026
Orchestra Jazz Siciliana – The Brass Group
Conductor Domenico Riina
Orchestra Jazz Siciliana
In collaboration with the Fondazione Orchestra Jazz Siciliana – The Brass Group
October 11 2026
Conductor Gabriele Ferro
Teatro Massimo Orchestra