Dario Solari - Nabucco (August 22^nd, 25^th, 27^th, 29^th)

Mr Solari began his career at a very early age performing in important theaters all around the world. Among his past engagements, it is worth mentioning: Don Carlo with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic; Il Trovatore in Ravenna and then on tour in Italy; Macbeth for the 2012 season’s opening night at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome under Riccardo Muti, at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna (R. Abbado conducting and R. Wilson directing), in Florence at the Teatro alla Pergola in its original 1847 version (J. Conlon conducting and G. Vick directing), in Kiel and in Copenhagen; Le Nozze di Figaro in Cardiff; Attila at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome; Belisario (title role) and Maria di Rudenz (Corrado Waldorf) for the season’s openings of the Bergamo Musica Festival in 2012 and 2013. After his recent successes in Toulon (Simon Boccanegra) , Copenhagen (Les Vêpres siciliennes) and Florence (Madama Butterfly), in the next months Mr. Solari will perform Macbeth at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna; Stiffelio in Frankfurt; Le Nozze di Figaro and Dom Sébastien roi de Portugal in Toulouse.

Gevorg Hakobyan - Nabucco (August 23^rd, 26^th, 28^th, 30^th)

Awarded for his achievements in music by the President of his native Republic of Armenia, he starred in Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci and Aida at the Teatro Mikhailovskij in St. Petersburg, Madama Butterfly, Cavalleria Rusticana and Aida at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia under the baton of Lorin Maazel; Carmen and Nabucco in Kazan and he made his debut as Gérard in Andrea Chénier at the Kiel Opera; he recently made his debut as Paolo Albiani in Simon Boccanegra beside Placido Domingo in Valencia, under the baton of Evelino Pidò and appeared as Bes in Tchaikovsky’s Cherevichki (The Slippers) at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. He just made his debut as Scarpia in Tosca at the Marinskij Theater in St. Petersburg and he will sing this role again in a new production of Tosca in Kiel in the next season.

Alessandra Gioia - Abigaille* (August 22^nd, 25^th, 27^th, 29^th)

She started her musical studies still very young and she then specialized at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. Amongst her recent engagements, it is worth mentioning: Suor Angelica at the in Milan; Iphigenie auf Tauris by Gluck/Strauss at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca; Carmen and Don Pasquale on tour in Italy; Aida (title role) for the AsLiCo OperaDomani throughout many Italian theaters.

* Role debut

Cristina Melis - Fenena (August 22^nd,23^rd,25^th,26^th,27^th,28^th,29^th,30^th)

Winner of the International Lyric Contest “Giacomo Lauri Volpi” and of the International Contest “Giuseppe Verdi” in Parma, Cristina Melis debuted as Azucena in Il Trovatore in Parma. In the past seasons she performed in Ravel’s L’Enfant et Sortileges under Yves Abel in Palermo; Carmen, Traviata, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and in a series of concerts at the Arena in Verona; Cenerentola (title role) and as Isabella in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Azucena in Il Trovatore and Amneris in Aida in Parma; El Amor Brujo in Cagliari; Eugene Onegin, Petite messe solennelle and Bruckner’s Te Deum in Bologna; Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Reggio Emilia; Cavalleria Rusticana at the Opera di Firenze; Luisa Miller in Liège; Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Gianluigi Gelmetti in Rome and Taranto. Mrs. Melis returns to the Opernhaus in Kiel, where in the past seasons she was acclaimed in such productions as Il Trovatore, Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin and Rienzi. Plans include: Carmen (title role) and Rheingold (Fricka) at the Opernhaus in Kiel; Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater at the Festival Anima Mundi in Pisa; Madama Butterfly in Naples; Carmen (title role) and Rigoletto (Maddalena) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.

Francesco Cilluffo - Conductor

Conductor and composer, he graduated from the Turin Conservatoire, the Guildhall School of Music and the King’s College in London. Among his most notable appearances as conductor: Zemlinsky’s Der König Kandaules in Palermo; concerts with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago (Chile); Mozart’s Requiem (Levin edition), Duruflé’s Requiem op. 9 and Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 14 with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino; concerts tour with the ORT-Orchestra della Toscana; Cilea’s L’Arlesiana for the opening of the 2013-2014 season of Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi (just released in CD and DVD for Dynamic); Verdi Galas at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow and at the Verdi Festival in Parma; Cavalleria rusticana in Sassari; Tancredi for the Circuito Lirico Lombardo (Pavia, Cremona, Como and Brescia), featuring the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali; La cambiale di matrimonio at the Teatro Regio in Parma; Il barbiere di Siviglia in Genoa; Wolf-Ferrari’s Il Campiello at the Opera di Firenze-Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and at the Teatro Verdi in Trieste; L’elisir d’amore at the Regio in Parma, at the Comunale in Modena and with the New Israeli Opera; Tutino’s Le Braci (world première) at the Martina Franca Festival. Plans:a new production of Mascagni’s Gugliemo Ratcliff at the Wexford Festival Opera; a revival of Le Braci at the Opera di Firenze-Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; a new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv; La Traviata at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and in Charleroi.