10 events that add to the 14 titles of the Prose Season and Other Paths, already presented in recent weeks: the 2025-2026 Theater Season of the Donizetti Theater Foundation is confirmed to be rich and multifaceted, covering a time span that “overall goes from December 2025 to May 2026. The OperaConcerts section, Family Opera, the Operetta Season, and the year-end Musical complete a” varied offer, involving the main theatrical spaces of the city, the Donizetti Theater and the Teatro Sociale.
“With its substantial Theater Season, the Donizetti Theater Foundation occupies a prominent position in the framework of ‘our city’s cultural offer’, comments Sergio Gandi, Councilor for Culture of the City of Bergamo, ‘Spoken theater, music in its many forms, events related to the Christmas holidays, end of the year and new year: all this, together with other festivals and international events such as Donizetti Opera and Bergamo Jazz, contributes to a proactive vitality, which has the merit of covering a wide time span throughout the year, shared by the’ city administration”.
For Giorgio Berta, President of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, “The Theater Season reflects the variety and breadth of interests and orientations that we pursue with constant commitment. A commitment comforted by unequivocal positive results, which are the fruit of valuable teamwork, to which is added the fundamental support of the City of Bergamo and numerous other public and private entities. To all of them goes the most heartfelt thanks, mine personally and of the entire Board of Directors of the Foundation”.
“The Theater Season is a now widely tested and recognized format, within which different proposals coexist in perfect harmony, from Prose in its most classic sense to the branches of experimental theater embodied by Other Paths, from concert music to ‘opera, from’ operetta to musical”, adds Massimo Boffelli, General Director of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, “The Theater Season is also the result of synergies with important regional institutional and associative realities. My thoughts go first of all to OperaLombardia, whose circuit we have always been part of and of which we will host a new production. And then to the I Piccoli Musici Choir, which is about to reach an important milestone, to ‘the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra and the’ Ensemble Locatelli, all now well-established partners of our Foundation”.
OperaConcerts
OperaConcerts is the Section of the Theater Season that, Thanks to Specific Projects and Repertoires, Spans Different Musical Genres, Connecting Them “one to” another, Fostering Collaboration with Important Institutional and Associative Entities in the Lombardy Region.
Transversality already distinguishes the first event on Saturday, December 13, with the emblematic title Disney In Concert: the voice of Giorgia Semeraro, accompanied by seven musicians from the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, will reproduce the Disney magic in a musical key, which for over a century has made both adults and children dream with its now classic film creations and unforgettable melodies, revised and arranged for the occasion by Domenico Clapasson.
On Saturday, December 20, the Ensemble Locatelli directed by Thomas Chigioni will tackle the complete performance of one of the greatest masterpieces of the Baroque repertoire: The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach. A dive into the past with the energy of the present.
On Sunday, December 21, the traditional Christmas Concert will have a special meaning: it will coincide with the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Music School and Choir “I Piccoli Musici“, directed by Mario Mora. The anniversary will be celebrated with several events: in particular, the Christmas Concert for the city of Bergamo will see the participation of a choir composed of current treble voices and former choristers who, with enthusiasm and gratitude, have prepared to return to sing in the choir that helped them grow, artistically and humanly. The choir will be accompanied by a string quintet and will perform the most beautiful Christmas melodies written for this ensemble.
Another unmissable moment of OperaConcerts, the New Year’s Concert will see in action, on the morning of Thursday, January 1, the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra at full strength, on the famous notes of waltzes and polkas that bear the seal of the Strauss family.
All concerts are scheduled at the Teatro Sociale. Tickets available from October 14.
“Opera will return to Teatro Donizetti on Friday, January 30 (8:00 PM) and Sunday, February 1, 2026 (3:30 PM), with a new production of Bizet’s Carmen, co-produced by Teatri di OperaLombardia, conducted by Sergio Alapont, a specialist in French repertoire, and directed by Stefano Vizioli. The artistic cast will feature the voice of Emanuela Pascu, a talented Romanian mezzo-soprano who will interpret the title role alternating with Emilia Rukavina. Roberto Aronica will play Don José, sharing the role with Egyptian tenor Ragaa El Din, while Rocio Faus and Alessia Merepeza will alternate in the role of Micaëla, and Pablo Ruiz will be Escamillo. Completing the cast are the voices of Aoxue Zhu (Mercédès), Soraya Mencid (Frasquita), Matteo Torcaso (Moralès), Nicola Ciancio (Zuniga), and Edoardo Milletti (Remendado). The” opera will be sung in the original language with Italian supertitles.
Opera Family
For Opera Family, at Teatro Sociale on Sunday, March 1 (5:00 PM), the performance will be Rigoletto: The Mysteries of the Theater , a show inspired by Verdi’s masterpiece that demonstrates how, through theater, magic can be created with a simple play of lights, just as a firefly illuminates the darkness. Dramaturgical adaptation and direction by Manuel Renga. The show, intended for children and teenagers aged 6 to 14, will be preceded by a workshop (3:30 PM).
Tickets for Carmen available from June 21.
Tickets for Rigoletto: The Mysteries of the Theater available from October 14.
New Year’s Eve Musical: The Dream Factory
On the night of Wednesday, December 31, at Teatro Donizetti (10:00 PM), the performance will be The Dream Factory, a musical staged by Compagnia Bit: an exciting show, suitable for all, marked by enchanting costume changes, danced, acted, and sung strictly live. The audience will be swept away to distant lands, enchanted castles, and stormy seas where powerful waves crash against cliffs of wonderful mermaids.
The Dream Factory is the factory that everyone always dreams of. It’s the factory where imagination is produced to give life to what has always been alive inside each of us but that we often forget. In the dream factory, building dreams costs nothing: in this magical place, work is done to give dreams to those who have stopped dreaming. And so you can climb on Aladdin’s flying carpet towards the East, or traverse enchanted woods and kingdoms, enter the Lion King’s forest, or fly with Mary Poppins.
Tickets available from October 14.
Season of Operettas
Three titles proposed by as many companies specialized in a genre of “light” musical theater loved by many. A winning formula that every year attracts a large audience of enthusiasts to Teatro Donizetti who never fail to applaud stories with fairy-tale twists and dreamy, often exotic settings.
One of the titles most loved by the audience is certainly The Merry Widow, presented again at the opening of the 2026 Season, on Sunday, January 11, by the Compagnia Corrado Abbati. If one of the most performed shows in the world continues to fill theaters and if even today the audience enjoys and applauds warmly, it must have something special: The Merry Widow is indeed a myth that despite its age shows no wrinkles. Built on a very fertile musical inventiveness, with iconic pieces like the march “Women, women eternal gods…“, The Merry Widow rests on the likeability of a text imbued with themes that are still very dear to the public: power, money, jealousies, love. The Compagnia Corrado Abbati gives it a modern reading thanks to a colorful and current staging that highlights the elegance of Lehár’s music with its iridescent and romantic hues and the frenzied rhythmic jubilation.
The second title on the program, Sunday, March 29, The Bayadere, in the production by Compagnia Teatro Musica Novecento, is an operetta with an exotic-Indian flavor that literally drove Vienna crazy. The libretto is based on a sentimental plot, set in Paris, while a happy compositional vein animates the choruses, romances, dance tunes, comic duets, very pleasant, colorful, rich in originality, vivacity and variety, but at the same time full of sentiment.
Finally, on Sunday, April 26, another title sure to attract: The White Horse Inn. This operetta, presented by the Elena D’Angelo Operetta Company, competes with The Merry Widow for the title of most successful operetta. An interesting fact: its music, although generally attributed to Ralph Benatzky, is actually the work of five different composers. It is this peculiarity that makes it so fresh, varied, and joyful.
Subscriptions on sale from October 21. Tickets available from October 28.
