San Carlo Theatre: *Luisa Miller* will open the season on 2 December. Celebrating 290 years of history
Macciardi, superintendent and artistic director: the increase in the number of performances, the range of performance times on offer, and the decision to keep season ticket and ticket prices unchanged will help to encourage an ever-growing audience to attend
The 290th anniversary of its foundation, which took place on 4 November 1737, is fast approaching. For this reason, the Teatro di San Carlo’s forthcoming season is an invitation to revisit the great musical epics that have marked the life of Naples’ premier opera house and to reflect on the fundamental role it has played in the history of Italian and international music. The season opens on 2 December 2026 with *Luisa Miller*, Giuseppe Verdi’s 1849 masterpiece commissioned specifically for the San Carlo, a new production directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Daniel Oren.
The programme
The 2026/27 programme was presented in the presence of Gaetano Manfredi, Mayor of Naples and President of the Foundation (“Today, the Teatro di San Carlo has everything it needs to establish itself as a leading player on the national and international cultural scene”), Onofrio Cutaia, Councillor for Culture for the Campania Region, and Fulvio Adamo Macciardi, superintendent and artistic director of the San Carlo Opera House. There will be eleven opera titles and six ballet productions. Two non-subscription performances: the traditional *The Nutcracker* in December and *Tosca* at the Arena Flegrea in July 2027. The season is rounded off with 14 symphonic concerts and 17 chamber music concerts. Among the opera titles, five will be new productions: in February, *Aida*, directed by Serena Sinigaglia and conducted by Renato Palumbo, set to tour Japan in July 2027. In April, Mariano Bauduin will stage Paisiello’s *Nina, or The Madwoman for Love*, conducted by Fabio Biondi, and Donizetti’s rare *Eight Months in Two Hours, or The Exiles in Siberia*, conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo. The composer Alessandro Solbiati will write a new original completion of Claude Debussy’s unfinished opera *La chute de la maison Usher*. In the symphonic and chamber music programme, Ludwig van Beethoven takes centre stage on the bicentenary of his death, which will be marked in 2027: the tribute will open with a performance of the Ninth Symphony conducted by Daniel Oren. The Piano Festival is organised in collaboration with the Alessandro Scarlatti Association: the four concerts will be dedicated to four leading figures on the international scene, ranging from the young Alexander Gadjiev to Michele Campanella, who will celebrate his 80th birthday at the San Carlo, as well as Louis Lortie and Alexander Lonquich.
Macciardi: the start of a major artistic project
Following the resolution of the internal controversies within the Foundation in the post-Lissner era, the first season curated by Macciardi is now underway. He explains: ‘We are celebrating the 290th anniversary of the Teatro di San Carlo as the start of a major artistic and cultural project, centred on Neapolitan identity, history and traditions, dialogue with the city, and an ever-stronger international presence through prestigious tours and collaborations. The increase in the number of performances, the introduction of varied performance times and the decision to keep season ticket and ticket prices unchanged will help to encourage the participation of an ever-growing audience. This year, too, we plan to run the ‘Scuola InCanto’ programme once again to introduce children and young people to opera.”
Interesting facts
The San Carlo and its history are therefore at the heart of it all. Among the highlights: 55 years on from his San Carlo debut, Plácido Domingo will star in a special opera gala alongside Sonya Yoncheva. And Donizetti’s rediscovered opera *Eight Months in Two Hours* will be staged in Naples for the first time in modern times, exactly two centuries after its world premiere in 1827.
