The Teatro Regio di Torino is set to present Puccini’s “Le Villi.”

The opera will star Roberta Mantegna, Laura Giordano, Martin Muehle, Azer Zada, Simone Piazzola, and Gëzim Myshketa. Riccardo Frizza will conduct the rarely performed piece in a production by Pier Francesco Maestrini.

Regarding the work, Frizza said, “In the centenary year of Puccini’s death, being celebrated at opera houses worldwide, I share the pride of this choice by the Teatro Regio, Turin, to be one of the few theatres (and the only one in Italy) to stage his first opera, ‘Le Villi’ which highlighted, from its first performance at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan in 1884, the young composer’s ability to create captivating melodies and amazingly modern pages of symphonic music.”

The conductor added, “The opera, although previously turned down at the Sonzogno competition (the story is well-known, made up of publishing house manoeuvres which took the young Puccini to Ricordi) was a success with the Milanese audience at the Teatro Dal Verme, yet the composer decided to revise it immediately after its debut. This second two-act version of the opera also triumphed at its first performance in December of the same year at the Teatro Regio, Turin. And it is this version that we are about to perform, one hundred and forty years later, in a new production by Pier Francesco Maestrini. I’m happy to be back again after just a few months conducting the Regio’s excellent Orchestra and Chorus, the latter prepared by Ulisse Trabacchin.”

“Le Villi” will be performed between April 19 and 26, 2024.