Italy’s famous Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is coming to Ljubljana, with two perfomances of Verdi’s opera Il trovatore. The orchestra will be conducted by the legendary Zubin Mehta, who conducted the closing concert of the 56th Ljubljana Festival on the last occasion the orchestra performed in Slovenia. The performances of Il trovatore form part of the 72nd Ljubljana Festival and will take place in Cankarjev Dom’s Gallus Hall on 8 and 10 July.

Il trovatore is the first opera that Giuseppe Verdi wrote without being commissioned. It is among the works in which, with dramaturgical effectiveness, he associated particular keys with specific figures or groups in order to represent clearly the differences between the characters and the social ranks they occupied. The opera premiered at the Teatro Apollo in Rome in 1853 and was an immediate popular success, with 229 stagings around the world in the next three years alone.

Il trovatore became the most popular opera in Verdi’s lifetime, thanks to its unflagging melodic invention, passionate lyricism and deft orchestration that constantly underlines the characters of the four principals. It could be described as an opera about war and death, but it is at the same time an opera of great emotions and love. The Conte di Luna loves Leonora but the young woman does not return his feelings, since she is in love with the troubadour Manrico and is prepared to do anything for her love, even to die.

The main roles will be sung by Leon Kim (Conte di Luna), the winner of numerous international prizes including a primo premio assoluto at the Cappuccilli-Patanè-Respighi Competition; Carolina López Moreno (Leonora), who has performed in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie; Matteo Desole (Manrico), a frequent collaborator with the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation; and Olesya Petrova (Azucena), who has worked with acclaimed conductors such as Valery Gergiev.

The opera will be performed by the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in collaboration with director Stefania Grazioli, in a revival of the production originally directed by Cesare Lievi. The latter has described Il Trovatore as a nocturnal opera in which the characters move in a desolate landscape. Another factor that makes this production special is that the 200-member cast will also include a number of Slovene extras.

Tickets are available online at ljubljanafestival.si and at the Križanke Box Office, petrol stations and other Eventim ticket outlets.