World-class soprano, Liudmyla Monastyrska is set to headline the massive cast of Giuseppe Verdi's operatic masterpiece La Forza del Destino - the opening night of opera-in-Gozo, set to take place at the Aurora Opera House on Saturday 11 October 2025. This was announced by the Aurora production team as the islands' largest opera house heads into the final production month.
Born in Ukraine, Monastyrska's fame has been taking her to the world's most egregious opera stages, such as New York's MetOpera where she performed the title role in Tosca and Turandot, Munich, Verona Arena, Naples' San Carlo, the Royal Opera in London's Covent Garden, and of course, Milan's La Scala. She will appear alongside another A-rated opera star, tenor Stefano Secco, in the role of Don Alvaro. He has graced the stages of Teatro alla Scala, Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Vienna State Opera, and more. His international reputation brings credibility and a loyal fanbase of opera aficionados who know their tenors. The main trio is completed with Dimitris Tiliakos who returns to the Aurora after a very successful Nabucco which local opera audiences are sure to remember.
The cast list continues with the Italian mezzo Cristina Melis as the incendiary Preziosilla and Fabio Capitanucci as Fra Melitone. Francesco Napoleoni returns as Mastro Trabuco (after last year's double role as Il Tinca in Il Tabarro and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi).
Securing Monastyrska and her counterparts has not been an easy task, but it signals the Aurora's commitment to consistently taking the level of opera-in-Gozo, indeed opera the Aurora, one or two notches up at a time. Indeed, being the complex and expansive opera that it is - requiring no less than 10 leading roles and a voluminous chorus - La Forza is not quite the most performed operas for a reason that doesn't have to do with its musical beauty, and putting together a creditable cast for it can be quite challenging, not to mention costly.
But the Aurora's not trying to pull this one off with just the cast. It's an never-ending quest to give the audience something new, something fresh, something not quite seen before, but credible, respectful to the plot and, above all, aesthetically beautiful. In this, stage director Riccardo Buscarini has proved himself twice on end, with Madama Butterfly (2023) and Il Trittico (2024). This time round, he has teamed up with Mara Pieri for costumes, and Giammaria Farina - an Italian architect and set designer whose portfolio includes massive outdoor stages and indoor opera sets for the big guns. His active collaborations with David Livermore and the biggest Italian opera houses, bring a wealth of experience and the assurances of a top-notch spectacle for which the Aurora has grown to be renowned.
As ever, Colin Attard, at the helm of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Aurora Opera Chorus binds all these elements together and translates them into the one lavish opera-night no one should miss.
Tickets are now out on sale at €90, €75 and €55, with a limited number of premium boxes available for €500-for-4-seats, including champagne and butler service; vin d'honneur tokens for an intermission wine-and-canapes reception are being sold at €35; all from www.teatruaurora.com or +356 79045779.
La Forza del Destino is being supported by Arts Council Malta in collaboration with the Ministry for Gozo through the Investment in Cultural Organisations Gozo programme, with the generous sponsorship of Bank of Valletta.