Following the summer break, Rome’s Opera and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia return with a compelling lineup of performances. On September 19th, the Teatro Costanzi will host Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw,” directed by Deborah Warner and featuring singers Ian Bostridge and Christine Rice. This production, based on a Henry James ‘noir’ tale, is part of the capital’s lyric foundation’s 20th-century and contemporary music program, which resumes after a September 4th performance by the Ballet Nacional de España.
On September 25th, the season continues at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone with the world premiere of Nicola Piovani’s “Concerto Cantatore” performed by the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus. The program also includes Piovani’s “Cyberknife,” a rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra with soloist Alessandro Carbonare, and symphonic suites from his Oscar-winning score for “Life is Beautiful” and his Fellini-inspired works.
Further opera highlights include Peter Sellars’s Italian premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Adriana Mater” on October 9th. From October 26th-31st, Romeo Castellucci will make his directorial debut for the Rome Opera with a staging of “Stabat Mater” in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, featuring music by Pergolesi and Scelsi. The Teatro Nazionale will present a double bill of Janáček’s “The Diary of One Who Disappeared” and Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine,” directed by Andrea Bernard, also on October 9th. The new 2025-2026 opera season will open on November 27th with Wagner’s “Lohengrin,” directed by Damiano Michieletto.
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia’s symphonic season opens on October 23rd with Daniel Harding conducting a staged production of Wagner’s “Die Walküre,” launching a multi-year project to present the entire “Ring” cycle, unseen in Rome since 1961. The cast features renowned Wagnerians including Michael Volle and Miina-Liisa Värelä. On October 30th, 31st, and November 2nd, Emeritus Director Sir Antonio Pappano returns to the podium to conduct Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony and Bruckner’s monumental “Grosse Messe.”