Tosca and Madama Butterfly , two much-loved masterpieces, for a tribute to Puccini on the centenary of his death. These are two of the five titles - four operas and a ballet, from 9 February to 7 July - of the new Opera and Ballet season of the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari .

Directed by Beatrice Venezi who returns to Cagliari after the public success of "La traviata", Tosca will be performed from March 15th .

From June 28th, under the direction of Gianluca Martinenghi, the drama of the seduced, abandoned and suicidal geisha will be staged. A summer date, with a strong title, chosen specifically to attract season ticket holders and enthusiasts, including tourists .

«A 'year zero' of a shorter seasonal programming, to allow us to present the 2024-2025 season at the end of the year and align ourselves with the other national and international Foundations», explains superintendent Nicola Colabianchi in presenting the new season this morning in the Media Factory area of the theater.

The focus is on great Italian opera . Puccini , but also Rossini and Boito , in a program that combines repertoire music with interesting rediscoveries.

THE CALENDAR – The curtain rises on February 9th with the proposal, as usual, of a precious musical rarity. The atmospheres of ancient Rome will relive in Nero by Arrigo Boito, a monumental historical fresco. It is the world premiere in Sardinia , the last performance in Italy dates back to 1975 and will be proposed in a new staging of the Lirico. On the podium Francesco Cilluffo, directed by Fabio Ceresa, making his debut in Cagliari.

«To these works is added a very colorful and hilarious staging of Rossini's Italiana in Algiers », says Colabianchi. Scheduled for May 3rd, it has been missing from Cagliari for 27 years and sees the return to the Sardinian capital after 35 years of Jan Latham-Koenig, a master of international standing and acute interpreter, above all, of the Swan of Pesaro. «Then again, from May 21st - continues the superintendent -, the , La fille mal gardée, one of the rarest classical ballets performed». It will be performed for the second time in Cagliari, the first was in the summer of 1986 at the Roman Amphitheatre. The music is by Peter Ludwig Hertel performed by the corps de ballet and soloists of the Ukrainian Ballet Academy and with choreography by Egor Shepachev.