Two dates define Italy’s cultural winter: 27 November in Rome and 7 December in Milan. This year both opening nights break with tradition.
In Italy, opera isn’t a museum piece — it’s a national event. Season openings make the evening news, stars walk red carpets, and millions watch from home. Here’s what makes the 2026/27 openings worth following.
Rome: Stravinsky opens the Teatro dell’Opera — 27 November
The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma has chosen a bold opener: Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, in a new production that marks the Rome debut of director Rafael R. Villalobos. Music director Michele Mariotti conducts, and rising soprano Rosalia Cid makes her house debut as Anne Trulove (Sky TG24).
The season takes its title, Il dolce suono mi colpì, from a line in Lucia di Lammermoor. It includes 12 new productions across 11 opera titles and 7 ballets (Turismo Roma). Highlights:
- Robert Carsen returns with Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride.
- Barrie Kosky directs Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
- Mario Martone stages a new Cenerentola at the historic Teatro Valle.
- John Neumeier’s ballet to Mahler’s Third Symphony opens on 4 February 2027.
- A world premiere, Nicola Sani’s Code: Unknown, arrives from 19 May 2027 (Eroica Fenice).
Milan: La Scala’s Otello — 7 December
On the feast of Sant’Ambrogio, Milan’s patron saint, La Scala opens its season with Verdi’s Otello. It’s a night of firsts. Myung-Whun Chung conducts his first opening as music director, succeeding Riccardo Chailly, and Damiano Michieletto directs his first Scala premiere (Il Giorno).
The choice carries history. Otello premiered at La Scala in 1887, and exactly 50 years ago a Carlos Kleiber–Franco Zeffirelli Otello began the tradition of televising the opening night. This time, for the first time at La Scala, the title role will be sung without blackface. Brian Jagde and Arsen Soghomonyan alternate as Otello, with Luca Salsi and Roberto Frontali as Iago and Eleonora Buratto and Roberta Mantegna as Desdemona.
The rest of the Scala season is just as eye-catching: John Adams’ Nixon in China arrives for the first time, with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, and Chung returns to Verdi with Macbeth from 4 May (Sky TG24).
How to be there
The Scala opening is already sold out. The good news: it airs live on Rai 1 from 17:45 CET, as well as on Radio3, and on ARTE in France (Pixidia). In Rome, tickets for the season are on sale through the theatre’s box office and website. If you can’t make opening night, later performances are easier to get and often cheaper.
Why it matters: Opera was born in Italy, and these two nights are when the whole country remembers it. Whether you’re in a velvet box or on your sofa, it’s one of the great cultural rituals of the European winter.