By Francesca Romana Riello
More than 20 performances, seven distinct series and six months of programming, running from October 27 to April 30: this is the new 2026/27 season at Verona’s Teatro Ristori.
The programme ranges from drama and jazz to literary encounters, Baroque music and performances for younger audiences. But this year there is a significant new departure: the theatre is taking its name and its programme beyond its own walls, culminating in the travelling Calici di Jazz series, which will bring music to some of the region’s wine estates in the summer of 2027.
Teatro Ristori and the adjacent Spazio San Pietro in Monastero are managed by CREA Impresa Sociale, an instrumental company of Fondazione Cariverona. Alongside its traditional programme, CREA develops educational projects, cultural initiatives and activities designed to extend the theatre’s reach across the wider territory.
The new season combines familiar names with less conventional formats. The return of the theatre programme brings Neri Marcorè to the Ristori on November 4 and 5 with Mi fa male il mondo, a tribute to Giorgio Gaber and Sandro Luporini, directed by Giorgio Gallione.
On February 4 comes The Wall_Dance Tribute, a reinterpretation of Pink Floyd’s celebrated masterpiece through dance, theatre, music and video projection. Alessandro Bergonzoni follows on April 3 with Arrivano i Dunque.
FROM JAZZ TO MERCALLI, VIA OLIVETTI
Jazz opens the season on October 27, when the guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel takes to the stage with The Remedy Tour. He will be followed on November 13 by Armenian pianist and composer Tigran Hamasyan.
The programme continues with Emma Smith on January 29, Michael Mayo on February 13, and Puerto Rican saxophonist Miguel Zenón on March 20. Zenón will appear with Chico Pinheiro in a concert marking the centenary of Antônio Carlos Jobim’s birth.
The season closes on April 30, International Jazz Day, with GeGè Telesforo and Jazz Radio, a production that sits somewhere between a concert and a radio talk show.
The Serate d’Autore, meanwhile, begin on October 28 with Luca Mercalli and a question of unmistakable contemporary urgency: what risks are we running with the climate crisis, and how much room remains to limit its consequences?
On March 16, art historian Jacopo Veneziani brings illusions, visual tricks and art history to the stage. Then, on April 14 and 15, two consecutive evenings will be devoted to Camillo and Adriano Olivetti, featuring Laura Curino and Lucilla Giagnoni.
December sees the return of the theatre’s Dinner Shows. Sarah Jane Morris performs on December 5, followed by tango stars Miguel Angel Zotto and Daiana Guspero on December 12, and the Keynotes Gospel Choir on December 18.
Sundays, meanwhile, belong to the Ristori Jazz Club, where tables and bar service transform the auditorium into something closer to an intimate jazz club than a conventional theatre. Olivia Trummer performs on December 6, Dario Deidda on December 13 and Accordi Disaccordi on December 20.
TAKING THE SEASON BEYOND THE THEATRE
The summer of 2027 will see the return of Calici di Jazz, this time in a travelling format through some of the region’s wine estates, taking part of the theatre’s programme out of its traditional setting.
The Ristori Baroque series, too, will change location as it unfolds. Its fifth edition opens at the Ristori on February 17 with Jordi Savall, the celebrated viola da gamba player and founder of Hespèrion XXI.
Subsequent concerts will move to the Spazio San Pietro in Monastero, in Via Garibaldi. The programme includes Zefiro, Ensemble Locatelli, Seicento Stravagante, Elisa Citterio and Alessandro De Marchi, before concluding with I Virtuosi Italiani.
“This season is born from the conviction that a theatre must be a living organism, capable of preserving tradition while at the same time generating new visions,” says artistic director Alberto Martini.
His ambition is for the Ristori to become a space that is “increasingly open, inclusive and recognisable”.
That openness also extends to younger audiences. Ristori Young, an evolution of the theatre’s family programme, makes its debut in January.
On January 17, Macbeth – Atto di Sangue, created with Casa Shakespeare, places Shakespeare’s tragedy in the intensely private setting of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s bedroom. On February 21, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, aimed at children aged six and above, brings Jules Verne’s adventure to the stage with live music.
The first day of the year remains firmly rooted in tradition. The New Year’s Concert will be performed by I Virtuosi Italiani under the direction of Alberto Martini, with music by Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Donizetti, as well as a journey through Verdi’s music as adapted by Nino Rota for Visconti’s The Leopard.
A THEATRE TO KEEP ALIVE ALL YEAR ROUND
Beyond the programme itself, CREA Impresa Sociale’s work around the Ristori continues long after the curtain has fallen.
Training, public engagement, collaborations with institutions and businesses, school programmes and initiatives across the region all form part of a wider cultural project.
“Teatro Ristori and the Spazio San Pietro in Monastero are two fundamental centres of this journey,” says CREA’s general director, Valeria Bosco, for whom culture remains a powerful instrument of participation and regional development.
The organisation’s board accompanies this work throughout the year. Alessandro Mazzucco, who was absent from the presentation, sent his greetings, while public thanks were also extended to the trainer Massimo Vignoni, whose mention was met with warm applause from the audience.
The 2026/27 season will therefore unfold across Teatro Ristori, the Spazio San Pietro in Monastero and, through Calici di Jazz, the wine estates of the surrounding region.
Subscription renewals open on September 1, while new subscriptions and individual tickets will go on sale from September 14.
