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Audience protests against Roberto Abbado interrupt the opening night of the festival, Yannis Kokkos' staging of La forza del destino.

When they asked Wilson to stage an opera by Verdi, the Texan director replied "I'll never do it!". Now he is at his fourth Verdi's production.

Vick enjoys working with young singers, and in with the young second cast he is spoiled.

Without recourse to virtual reality or hallucinogens, Vick has created a suggestive, vividly surreal world where one's reference points are lost to the wind.

Roberto Abbado leads a strong cast in an inspired production by La Fura del Baus.

The young tenor Maxim Mironov, who played the poet Giocondo, was the name on everyone's lips by the end of the show. His voice is a modestly-sized and soft-grained, but it is beautifully produced, and focuses to a laser-like point up top.

The Comunale had teamed up with Bologna's basketball team Virtus to create a 50%-off ticket deal aimed at drawing new audiences. The subject matter of this opera might not seem the most immediately accessible, but this was playing to capture the imaginations of opera newbies.

One wonders why Emma Dante's concept, which explores the plight of women crushed by romantic catastrophes, is not done more often.

In Livermore's staging the scheme becomes meta-cinematographic: the poet Prosdocimus here has Marcello Mastroianni's features in Fellini's film 8 ½.

A pure and intense evening of music, which deserved the warm ovation of the audience at the end of the execution. 

Thanks to Wilson, to an orchestra in great shape, and to an excellent cast, this production was a success. Everybody did his best in the orchestra and in the chorus, without disregarding the soring passages of the score.