Riccardo Zanellato - Attila*

One of the most appreciated bass of our time, Riccardo Zanellato has recently gained great successes in Ferrando in Il Trovatore at the Salzburg Festival besides Placido Domingo under Daniele Gatti, in Bellini’s I Puritani and Lucia di Lammermoor in Florence, Simon Boccanegra in Dresden, Turandot at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, La Bohème and Norma at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Norma in Paris, revivals of Macbeth ( R. Abbado/Wilson) at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna and a Gala concert for the 5th Anniversary of the Guangzhou Opera House in China. Mr. Zanellato’s future plans include: Nabucco in Stuttgart; Aida in Valencia and Naples (Pinchas Steinberg conducting); Il Trovatore at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; new production of Don Carlo in Leipzig. Mr. Zanellato will sing Verdi’s Requiem with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Riccardo Chailly; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in St. Danis under the baton of Michele Mariotti with the Orchestre National de France; and Bruckner’s Te Deum at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.

Gezim Myshketa - Ezio*

After his acclaimed debut as Frà Melitone in La Forza del Destino at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Gezim Myshketa will make his debut in this Verdi’s masterpiece. Recent engagements include also: La Traviata in Hamburg; Carmen at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and in St. Gallen; La Traviata, Falstaff and La Bohème in Stuttgart. Amongst Mr. Myshketa future plans it is worth mentioning: Simon Boccanegra (Paolo Albiani) in Antwerp; La Traviata in Leipzig; I Puritani, Faust and revivals of Carmen and La Bohème in Stuttgart; La Rondine at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse.

Daniele Abbado - director

Daniele Abbado studied at the School of Dramatic Arts of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano and graduated in philosophy. He began his career as a theatre director in 1988, extending progressively his interest in stage dramaturgy, TV direction, multimedia shows and lyric opera productions. His work in opera repertoire include different masterpieces by Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Boito, Puccini, Weber, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, and at the same time he directed productions of 20th century authors such as Berg, Weill, Ravel, Stravinskij, Honegger, Britten, Dalla Piccola. His production of Il prigioniero and Il volo di notte by Dalla Piccola, produced by Maggio Musicale (Florence) was awarded the Premio Abbiati as best Italian performance in 2004 and in 2012 he received the Premio Oscar della Lirica as Best Director.  Daniele Abbado was Artistic Director of Teatro “R. Valli” in Reggio Emilia (2002-2012). After the great success of his Debussy production Pelléas et Mélisande at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and Nabucco at the Liceu in Barcelona his future plans include: Tosca, Falstaff and Pelléas et Mélisande at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Trovatore at the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna; revivals of Nabucco in London and revivals of Attila at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.

Gianni Carluccio - set and lighting designer

Gianni Carluccio graduated in 1981 in Set Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. He began to work as set and costume designer in 1983. As designer he worked with directors such as Roberto Andò, Daniele Abbado, Walter Pagliaro and Moni Ovadia in the most important theaters in Italy such as Piccolo Teatro of Milan, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and many others. To his vast experience one can include productions such as: Wozzeck by Alban Berg performed for the opening of the new Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome; doublebill Il Prigioniero and Volo di notte by Luigi Dallapiccola, production that has won the prestigious Premio Abbiati in 2004. In 2013 he began his collaboration with the director Marco Bellocchio designing stage and lighting in Uncle Vanja and Pagliacci. International experiences include the world premiere of Jr. Butterfly by S. Saegusa at the Bunka Kaykan Theater in Tokyo, and Così fan tutte at the Opera House of St. Paul, Minnesota, both with director Daniele Abbado.

He participated in exhibitions and variuos events, in particular he collaborated on the installation of Peter Greenaway and Robert Wilson in Milan and Lille. He also works regularly as Production Designer in Cinema. His recent engagements include: Akhnaten at the MiTo Festival; Die Zauberflöte at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Pélleas et Mélisande at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. Future projects include: revivals of Attila (Teatro Massimo Palermo) and Minetti (Teatro Biondo in Palermo); revivals of Pélleas et Mélisande at the Teatro Regio in Turin.