2013 is a special year for fans of Verdi. Opera houses and philharmonic orchestras around the world are paying tribute to the Italian master.
Verdi was a musical and theatrical genius. Today, 200 years after his birth, he remains not only the most critically renowned Italian composer, but the most frequently performed in opera houses around the globe. Only Puccini comes close to his popularity.
With a list of compositions including "Nabucco", "Rigoletto", "Aida" and "Otello", Verdi revolutionized the world of musical theatre by creating orchestral innovations, while maintaining the high standards of classical artistic composition.
Verdi was primarily inspired by dramatists, adapting three of Shakespeare’s plays, and four of Friedrich Schiller’s works, into operas.
2013 has witnessed the revivial of a multitude of Verdi’s operas, including the first ever performance of "Rigoletto" in Bahrain, and a series of acclaimed productions by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. London’s Royal Opera House, the Sydney Opera House, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing have all paid tribute to the composer. Italian conductors Daniele Abbado, Ricardo Muti and baritone Leo Nucci are all revisiting Verdi’s in celebration of the 200th anniversary of one of Italy’s most famous sons.