Marseille – The first chapter of Wagner’s famous tetralogy Das Rheingold will open a month of major debuts for Michele Spotti. Today, May 5, the 33-year-old conductor, current music director of the Opéra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Marseille, returns to the podium of his French ensemble to tackle the German composer’s work for the first time, presented until May 13 in a new production directed by Charles Roubaud. Two weeks later comes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York: on this occasion, he will conduct Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata for three performances – May 28 and 31, and June 6 – staged by Michael Mayer and featuring Rosa Feola (Violetta Valéry), Liparit Avetisyan (Alfredo Germont), and Amartuvshin Enkhbat (Giorgio Germont). “At Marseille I am approaching Wagner’s Das Rheingold for the first time,” the conductor from Cesano Maderno explains. “It is a step I face with great respect and a strong sense of responsibility. The Metropolitan is also a fundamental debut, and doing it with La traviata, such an iconic title for us Italians, makes it even more significant”. Designated as next principal guest conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin starting from the 2026/27 season – where he will conduct Lucia di Lammermoor, La traviata, and Don Carlo – Michele Spotti has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. In the summer he will return to the Arena di Verona to conduct La traviata and Nabucco, and in November to the Bayerische Staatsoper for Die Zauberflöte, while his next Wagnerian debut has already been announced: Lohengrin, scheduled at the Opéra de Toulouse in January 2027. (9colonne)