Tuesday 14 April, 6.30pm
Fondazione Arena di Verona presents the Opera Festival 2026, one of the most important opera festivals in the world.
Internationally renowned soprano Cecilia Gasdia, General Manager of Fondazione Arena, will talk about the history of the Arena Festival and its cultural and artistic value within the international landscape. Stefano Trespidi, Deputy Artistic Director will give highlights on the 2026 season.
Followed by a concert dedicated to Italian opera singing, recognized by Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The audience will be taken on a journey through the most famous arias of Italian opera, performed live by international artists sopranos Rosa Feola and Vittoriana de Amicis, and baritone Gezim Myshketa, accompanied at the piano by Cecilia Gasdia.
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Cecilia Gasdia Superintendent of the Arena di Verona Foundation. After completing her classical studies as well as voice and piano training, in 1980 she won the RAI Callas Competition and made her debut as the leading role in Luisa Miller. In 1982 she performed Anna Bolena at Teatro alla Scala. In 1983 she sang Liù in Turandot at the Arena di Verona, where as a student she had previously worked as an extra and chorus artist. In 1984 she was chosen by Kleiber and Zeffirelli for La Traviata in Florence and, from its world premiere, took part in Il Viaggio a Reims conducted by Abbado and directed by Ronconi. She has performed more than 90 roles on stage with artists such as Muti, Chailly, Prêtre, Gelmetti, Scimone, Russell, Pizzi, Ramey, Kraus, Pavarotti, and Domingo, devoting particular attention to Rossini’s Colbran roles, many of which she has also recorded and received awards for. Her concert activity includes over 1,000 recitals, frequently with I Solisti Veneti, but also spanning different musical genres alongside pop artists; she has served on juries for singing competitions and television programs. From 2015 to 2020 she was Director, then President, of the Verona Accademia per l’Opera. Since 2018 she has been Superintendent of the Arena di Verona, and since 2022 Vice President of ANFOLS. She is a Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
Stefano Trespidi began his theatre training at a very young age at the Fondazione Arena di Verona, learning the basics of his future profession on the stage of the world’s most prestigious open-air theatre. He attended the training course in theatre direction and production at the Accademia di Arti e Mestieri del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, which concluded with the staging of Sarti’s Giulio Sabino at the Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna. He has collaborated with leading international directors, including Giancarlo Del Monaco, Hugo De Ana, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Gilbert Deflo, Graham Vick, Denis Krief and Franco Zeffirelli, for whom he oversaw the revival of Carmen at the Arena di Verona in 2003, released on DVD, and with whom he embarked on a long partnership that led him to restage the Maestro’s shows in theatres around the world. He continues to spread Franco Zeffirelli’s artistic legacy in the revivals of the Maestro’s productions, created for the Arena di Verona and other stages, which are in constant demand both in Italy and abroad. He works in some of the major Italian and international theatres, including the Massimo in Palermo, the Opera in Lausanne, the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Comunale in Bologna, the Campoamor in Oviedo, the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Baluarte in Pamplona, the Ravenna Festival, the Opera in Marseille, the Verdi in Trieste, the Croatian National Theatre, the Mihailovsky Theatre in St Petersburg, the São Carlos in Lisbon, the Tokyo International Forum in Japan, the Los Angeles Opera, the Muscat Royal Opera House in Oman, and the Colón in Buenos Aires. He directed the following opera productions: Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in 2004, Verdi’s La Traviata in 2005 and the New Year’s Eve Gala in 2006 at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; Zanon’s La Notte nel Bosco at the Teatro Comunale in Adria in 2005; Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro in Amarante, Portugal, in 2007; Gala Domingo in 2009, Gala Verdi in 2013, Antología della Zarzuela at the Arena di Verona in 2017 with Plácido Domingo; Verdi’s Aida in Tokyo in 2010; La Traviata in Trieste in 2010; Verdi’s Nabucco at the Royal Palace of Caserta in 2016; Giordano’s Andrea Chénier in Lajatico in 2018, Puccini’s La Bohème at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 2018 and 2022; the Domingo Gala at the Arena di Verona in 2019 and 2022, Ponchielli’s Il Parlatore Eterno in 2021, repeated in 2023, and Puccini’s La Bohème in 2022 at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona. On the occasion of the Cultural Olympics held in Turin in 2006, he collaborated with R.A.I. on the television filming of the show Troilo e Cressida, directed by Luca Ronconi. He has been Associate Director for the Fondazione Arena di Verona since 2005, overseeing the restaging of numerous productions. Since 2018, he has been Director of Artistic Production and International Relations for the Fondazione Arena, and since 2019, he has held the position of Deputy Artistic Director.
Rosa Feola, bel canto soprano, perfected her skills with Renata Scotto at the Opera Studio of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, where she made her debut in the role of Corinna in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims and gained international attention by winning the Operalia 2010 Competition, presided over by Plácido Domingo, held at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In the early stages of her career, she performed Ines in Mercadante’s I due Figaro conducted by Maestro Muti, with whom she maintains a long-standing collaboration. Under his direction, together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she debuted in Orff’s Carmina Burana at Millennium Park in Chicago and at the opening of the Carnegie Hall concert season in New York. Among the various roles she has interpreted are Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden in London, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Terme di Caracalla in Rome, Opernhaus Zürich, and many others. She is in demand at the most important theaters, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Opernhaus Zürich, the Salzburg Festival, as well as in Chicago, Washington, Barcelona, Berlin, London, and Madrid, collaborating with the most prestigious conductors and directors. Her most recent engagements have seen her as the protagonist in Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Mozart’s Mass in C minor at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Hamburg, and as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot in Zürich. With the Fondazione Arena, she performed at the Teatro Filarmonico for the 2020 Christmas Concert, broadcast via streaming. She made her debut at the Arena di Verona as Gilda in Rigoletto in 2023. On the occasion of the 102nd Arena di Verona Opera Festival, she returns in Rigoletto and as Violetta in La Traviata.
Born in L’Aquila, Vittoriana De Amicis began vocal studies at a very young age at the Conservatory of her hometown, graduating with top marks under the guidance of Antonella Cesari. She continued her training in Italy and abroad, at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. She was selected for the role of Aninka in Brundibár by Hans Krása at the Austrian Parliament on the occasion of the Memorial Day for the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp. She refined her vocal technique with Mariella Devia and Antonella D’Amico, won several competitions — including the 6th Renata Tebaldi International Competition in San Marino — and between 2018 and 2020 attended the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia. She has performed in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Schloss Schönbrunn Theater in Vienna and in Valencia. She took part in the world premiere of De Bello Gallico by Nicola Campogrande in Florence and in the world premiere of Delitto e dovere by Alberto Colla (as the Duchess of Paisley and Jane Peccy) at the 65th Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and at the Teatro Coccia in Novara. She has sung Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto in Teramo, Oscar in Verdi’s Un Ballo in maschera, Berta in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen in Tianjin and Harbin. She has appeared as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Jerez de la Frontera, Córdoba, and in the show Intimissimi On Ice at the Arena di Verona. In the concert field, she took part in the event marking the tenth anniversary of Luciano Pavarotti’s passing at the Arena di Verona, in the world premiere of Campogrande’s Hello, World! at the Auditorium in Milan, and performed with Academia Montis Regalis for the MiTo Festival, in addition to participating in numerous concerts dedicated to the music of Ennio Morricone. She recently performed as Menica in Martín y Soler’s Il Tutore burlato in Valencia and made her debut at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples in Verdi’s Il Trovatore (Ines) conducted by Marco Armiliato. She sang in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, appeared as Mlle Jouvenot in Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and took part in the Fuoco di gioia Gala conducted by Donato Renzetti at the Teatro Regio in Parma. She is also engaged at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Sister Genoveffa) and Gianni Schicchi (Nella). She will make her debut at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona for the 2026 Opera and Ballet Season in the role of Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff.
Gezim Myshketa, born in Albania in 1982, graduated from the “Arrigo Boito” Conservatory in Parma. After winning the AsLiCo Competition in 2006, he made his debut in Don Giovanni in Italy and France. He has performed in theatres such as the Rome Opera, Teatro Regio in Turin, Arena di Verona, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra de Marseille, and ROH Muscat, collaborating with conductors of the calibre of Paolo Arrivabeni, Philippe Auguin, Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Frédéric Chaslin, Daniel Oren, Michele Mariotti, Nello Santi, and with stage directors including Robert Carsen, Giancarlo del Monaco, Pierluigi Pizzi, Damiano Michieletto, Graham Vick, and Calixto Bieito. Among his engagements for the 2025–26 season are: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Pordenone and Trieste; Le Villi at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona; Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa; and La Traviata at the Opéra de Montpellier.