The Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino along with the Fondazione “Musica per Roma” announce the important commission for a new opera: Romanzo criminale from the best seller by Giancarlo De Cataldo. The opera, with music and direction by Nicola Piovani, libretto by De Cataldo and directed by Massimo Popolizio, is scheduled at the Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino in October 2026, while in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica “Ennio Morricone” it will be staged in 2027.

"I am absolutely enthusiastic, excited and immensely happy about this project" so Giancarlo De Cataldo debuts to the announcement of the new opera from his novel, "It’s almost like living in a dream" - continues the writer - "An opera from "Romanzo criminale" is for me a dream come true. It is thanks to Carlo Fuortes that I got closer to the world of opera and was seduced and in love. Thanks to him I started to attend it on tiptoe, and now I consider myself a neo-melomane; knowing that now from my work even an opera is born for me is a real conquest. "Crime novel" is a popular genre novel that has become a monumental novel over time so much that its value has been recognized even by the academies; it has introduced literary elements into the noir genre; has given birth to a film and two television series in this way opening tracks and even entering the language by translating the original title in ways of saying: "Romanzo Quirinale", for example; now I think even more reckless the idea of opening a track in opera and I love doing it with Nicola Piovani and to do it at Maggio Fiorentino and then, obviously, also in Rome. Piovani is also an artist who crosses the various musical forms and - I have to say - specifies De Cataldo - Nicola has a historical show, born his book with the same title, which is called "Music is dangerous"; as they always accused "Romanzo criminale" to be dangerous, seems to me a fair meeting between those, him and me, who "hurt". Teatro del Maggio is also the place of choice where, as said by Superintendent Fuortes, always "the tradition of the new" is its distinctive figure, where experimentation and contaminations between arts have home and where a similar project, which can become as much a trailblazer, as the book was before and then the film and the two series, can therefore take shape with concreteness and credibility." 

Nicola Piovani, the famous musician and composer, Academy Award winner, echoes his words about his third opera: "Designing a new musical work is an exciting and joyful idea, but full of many questions and a little bit of fear. I consider musical theatre one of the highest forms of art invented by men over the centuries. The intersection of poetry, song and stage action, combined with the colors of the orchestra, has for me a celestial and feverish fascination. I am happy to have accepted Carlo Fuortes' invitation to work at the glorious Teatro del Maggio and I am delighted that the opera will also be performed in Rome at the Ennio Morricone Park Auditorium of Music. A strong plot and a good librettist are prerequisites for building a musical work, and in this case they are both: Giancarlo De Cataldo is not only a great novelist but also an opera connoisseur with whom I have had the pleasure of working. We embark on this theatrical journey together with great enthusiasm, and enthusiasm often helps.  Criminal novel is the title of a great book and a great film. Trying to make it a worthy work will not be easy: but the difficult bets fascinate me".

New commission of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and “Musica per Roma”
New staging
More characters TBD (updated: June 30, 2025)

Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo