The fortune-teller Ulrica foretells an astonishing death for Riccardo, Count of Warwick and Governor of Boston: he will be murdered by a friend. The prophecy begins to unfold when his secretary Renato discovers the Count’s secret passion for his wife Amelia. The masked ball provides the perfect cover for the injured Renato to carry out his plan of revenge. Themes of personal jealousy, mysterious forebodings and the conflict between love and duty emerge in Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera, which premiered in Rome in 1859.

This production by director Marina Bianchi, with set design by Leila Fteita and costumes by Lorena Marin, premiered on 12 January 2019 at the Teatro Regio in Parma, Italy. It incorporates historical scenery created by set designer Giuseppe Carmignani for a 1913 staging of Un ballo in maschera that marked Giuseppe Verdi’s centenary.