From 17 July to 9 August 2026

 

Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

17, 26 July, 1°, 9 August

Directed by Paul-Émile Fourny

Conducted by Fabrizio Maria Carminati

 

NABUCCO Ariun Ganbataar

ZACCARIA Alberto Comes

ABIGAILLE Anastasia Bartoli

ISMAELE Alessandro Scotto Di Luzio

FENENA Laura Verrecchia

ANNA Alessia Camarin

ABDALLO Simone Fenotti

 

Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini

18, 24 July, 2, 8 August

Directed by Daniele Menghini

Conducted by Gianluca Martinenghi

 

FIGARO Grisha Martirosyan

CONTE D’ALMAVIVA Ruzil Gatin

ROSINA Raffaella Lupinacci

BARTOLO Marco Filippo Romano

BASILIO Riccardo Fassi

BERTA Giulia Mazzola

FIORELLO Valerio Morelli

 

Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi

19, 25, 31 July

Directed by Francisco Negrin

Conducted by Dmitri Jurowski

 

MANRICO Piero Pretti

CONTE DI LUNA Franco Vassallo

LEONORA Marta Torbidoni

AZUCENA Sofia Petrovich

 

Carmina Burana by Carl Orff

7 August

Conducted by Ramón Tebar

 

SOPRANO Sara Blanch

TENORE Ruzil Gatin

BARITONO Grisha Martirosyan

 

FORM-Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana

 

Chorus Coro Lirico Marchigiano “Vincenzo Bellini“

Chorus Director Christian Starinieri

 

An international stage and breeding ground for the great voices of the future, the Macerata Opera Festival presents the cast of its 62nd edition with a parade of outstanding artists, bringing together world stars and emerging young talents.

Next summer, the Sferisterio will host leading artists such as Piero Pretti, Franco Vassallo and Marco Filippo Romano, new stars such as Anastasia Bartoli and Ariun Ganbataar, and young talents such as baritone Grisha Martirosyan. It also reconfirms the presence of Marta Torbidoni from the Marche region, a rising star on the international scene, and Ruzil Gatin, already highly praised for his Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at the MOF 2022.

With a new production of Nabucco by Belgian director Paul-Émile Fourny and the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana conducted by Fabrizio Maria Carminati, the Macerata Opera Festival 2026 will open on 17 July on the majestic stage of the Sferisterio, continuing its search for the most interesting voices on the international scene. The cast features one of the most acclaimed singers of recent years, soprano Anastasia Bartoli, a powerful Abigaille with a richly coloured voice, soaring high notes, a modern, provocative image and an unconventional personality, decidedly outside the norm. With her is another intriguing voice-revelation, the young baritone Ariun Ganbataar, who recently amazed the audience at the Teatro Regio in Parma with his vocal power, his adamantine sound projection, tasteful phrasing and precise diction, not to mention that he is the second great baritone to arrive on Western stages from Mongolia, a country with only three million inhabitants that has a particular vocation for opera, thanks in part to its deep-rooted folk tradition of diphonic throat singing. Also among the young performers, appearing at the Sferisterio for the first time, is mezzo-soprano Laura Verrecchia, fresh from a highly successful year at La Fenice in Venice, the Rome Opera House and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Among the excellent returns to the MOF are bass Alberto Comes, making his debut in the important role of Zaccaria, tenor Alessandro Scotto di Luzio as Ismaele and the young soprano Alessia Camarin as Anna.

From 18 July, the acclaimed production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Daniele Menghini in 2022 with musical direction by Gianluca Martineghi, will return to the MOF. On stage at the Sferisterio will be a cast of specialists in the Rossini repertoire and an excellent revelation in the role of the protagonist Figaro: the young Armenian baritone Grisha Martirosyan, one of the winners of the recent edition of Placido Domingo’s famous Operalia competition, who has made important debuts at Salzburg and the Royal Opera House in London. Already considered by critics to be an excellent Rossini’s Figaro, Martirosyan will arrive in Macerata fresh from months in the same role in Bonn.

The Count of Almaviva will be played by Ruzil Gatin, now a highly regarded singer following his convincing performances at La Scala and the ROF, not to mention the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Rosina will be played by the young but already well-established mezzo-soprano Raffaella Lupinacci, a bel canto singer with a well-established repertoire in Rossini’s works, thanks in part to her long association with the ROF since 2012. Bartolo will be played by the excellent baritone Marco Filippo Romano, a superb interpreter of character roles thanks to his perfect diction and clean, incisive timbre even in the most difficult passages. Thanks to his outstanding acting skills, he is sought after by the best theatres on the international scene.

The bass Riccardo Fassi will return to Macerata in the role of Don Basilio after appearing on the stages of the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera and the San Francisco Opera, confirming his prominent position in Europe and overseas. Meanwhile, young Giulia Mazzola will make her debut on the stage of the Sferisterio as Berta, a promising new talent already appreciated by the most prestigious theatres and festivals, including Caracalla for the Rome Opera and the Arena di Verona. Another talented performer, in the role of Fiorello, is the young baritone Valerio Morelli, who will make his debut in Macerata fresh from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Finally, from 19 July, the revival of Il Trovatore by Mexican director Francisco Negrin, already at the MOF in 2013 and 2016, with Maestro Dmitri Jurowski conducting and a cast of great solidity and proven experience, starting with the famous Italian tenor Piero Pretti in the role of the protagonist Manrico, the refined baritone Franco Vassallo as Count di Luna, the Marche soprano Marta Torbidoni as Leonora, and the young Sofia Petrovich as Azucena, an artist in constant growth after her significant debuts at the Opera de Paris.

Finally, at the heart of the opera festival, on 7 August, a great evergreen that now transcends all genres, Orff’s Carmina Burana, with the debut at the Sferisterio of the famous conductor Ramón Tebar alongside the voices of Ruzil Gatin, Grisha Martirosyan and the young Spanish soprano Sara Blanch, one of the most interesting singers of her generation, who will be coming to the MOF for the first time directly from the Salzburg Festival.

This edition once again features the new colourful and contemporary image for the three works on the programme, in which, thanks to the well-balanced use of AI, the protagonists of the opera become credible heroes of a potential fantasy saga between cartoon and video game, creating a contemporary language that is well suited to the new audience of the Sferisterio, which increasingly sees young people taking centre stage thanks to the Sferisterio Scuola project and the Anteprime Under30 previews.