Verdi's final opera returning to Shanghai Grand Theatre

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)'s final opera Falstaff will open Shanghai Grand Theatre's 2025/26 Performance Season from Sept 5 to 7.

Created by British director Harry Fehr, the production featuring modern interpretation and brilliant stage design premiered at Shanghai Grand Theatre in 2016 as part of events marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare.

The revived production will be performed by Shanghai Opera House and feature artists from China, Italy and Spain. Conductor Xu Zhong, president of Shanghai Opera House, said at an open rehearsal on Tuesday that the musical fabric of Falstaff is like a kaleidoscope.

"It is the ultimate test of the singers' vocal technique, and also a microscope for the myriad aspects of human nature," Xu said.

Verdi chose to bid farewell to the operatic stage with a comedy at the age of 80 and in Falstaff he "shed the weight of tragedy, and yet with lighter, swifter and more precise notes, constructed a high mountain filled with laughter and rich philosophical thoughts," he added.

Sun Li, one of China's most renowned baritone singers, will take the title character of Falstaff. Sun has collaborated with Shanghai Opera House several times in the past few years, playing Scarpia in Tosca, Marcello the painter in La Boheme and Tonio in I Pagliacci.