The Teatro Comunale di Bologna opened as the Nuovo Teatro Pubblico on 14 May 1763 with Gluck's Il trionfo di Clelia, composed for the occasion. Designed by Antonio Galli Bibiena, it was the first major opera house built with public funds and owned by the city. The facade was not completed until 1936. After a fire destroyed much of the stage area in 1931, the auditorium was rebuilt and reopened in 1935 as a horseshoe seating 1,034. Bologna was a centre of Wagner in Italy: in 1871 Lohengrin became the first Wagner opera staged in the country, and the Italian premiere of Parsifal followed in 1914. The orchestra, placed on a permanent footing in 1956, has been led by Sergiu Celibidache, Riccardo Chailly and Daniele Gatti, among others; in 2022 Oksana Lyniv became the first woman music director of an Italian opera company.
The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is one of the oldest opera houses in Italy — Wagner's Tannhäuser had its Italian premiere here in 1872, one of the first Wagner performances in Italy.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Bologna, Italy
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