The Teatro Filarmonico is set to present Verdi’s rarely performed work “Stiffelio.”

The Verona production will star Luciano Ganci and Stefano Secco sharing the title role alongside Caterina Marchesini and Daniela Schillaci as Lina, and Vladimir Stoyanov as Stankar.

Regarding the rarely performed work, Ganci said, “When I was small, I didn’t want to be an astronaut like most of my peers, but a priest. Perhaps what I saw in it was the tranquillity of a life oriented towards others, being able to guide the souls and console the minds of other people, or perhaps I was simply fascinated by the black cassocks and the altar rites that combined faith and theatre. Life has propelled me to take on the most amazing job in the world, allowing me to be a priest, lover, father, warrior, soldier, bandit, and perhaps even an astronaut.

“This time, I’m a priest again; following my debut in 2017 at the Parma Verdi Festival in the legendary staging by the late lamented Graham Vick, I’m back interpreting the role of Stiffelio,” he continued. “This is a rather unusual opera by the great Maestro Verdi, which touches the consciences of its leading characters and the consciences of many others on a subject which, despite becoming accepted, is still one of the greatest tragedies within a couple (and life itself): that of betrayal. Stiffelio faces internal conflict from the outset, indeed from before the start of the opera. He is a tortured, persecuted character, who changes his name and discovers in his Lina a safe haven and a reference point from which to start again and forget the past.”

“Stiffelio” will be presented from Oct. 27 through Nov. 3, 2024.