Photos: MARINA, Umberto Giordano's Lost Opera, Receives World Stage Premiere at GIO Festival

Director Giandomenico Vaccari and conductor Matteo Dal Maso led a production set during the First World War era.

By: Chloe Rabinowitz Aug. 21, 2026

BroadwayWorld has exclusive photos from the world staging premiere of Marina, the first opera by Italian composer Umberto Giordano, presented at Teatro Umberto Giordano in Foggia, Italy, on June 5 as the opening event of the inaugural GIO Festival – Giordano International Opera Festival.

The performance marked the first time Marina had received a fully staged production, 138 years after Giordano composed the work in 1888.

With a libretto by Enrico Golisciani, Marina is a melodramma in un atto written when Giordano was 21 years old. The opera was entered into the second edition of the Sonzogno Competition in Milan in 1888, receiving an honorable mention. The competition would famously award Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana its top prize two years later.

Although Marina did not win, the score attracted the attention of Amintore Galli, music advisor to publisher Edoardo Sonzogno. Giordano was subsequently signed by Sonzogno, beginning the composer's path toward works including Andrea Chénier, Fedora and Siberia.

The manuscript of Marina eventually entered the Frederick R. Koch Collection at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The opera received its first concert performance at Milan's Teatro Dal Verme earlier in 2026, using a critical edition prepared by musicologist and conductor Andreas Gies.

For its first staging, director Giandomenico Vaccari transposed the action to the First World War era, with sets and costumes by Alfredo Troisi and lighting by Massimo Russo.

Set against Serbian-Montenegrin hostilities, the opera centers on Marina, a young woman who falls in love with Giorgio Lascari, a wounded soldier from the opposing side. Their relationship unfolds amid a patriarchal family structure and escalating jealousy and violence.

Matteo Dal Maso conducted the Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio Umberto Giordano di Foggia. The cast was led by soprano Valeria Sepe in the title role, alongside tenor Samuele Simoncini as Giorgio Lascari, baritone Elia Fabbian as Lambro and baritone Cüneyt Ünsal as Daniele. The Coro della Fondazione Teatro Petruzzelli performed under the direction of Marco Medved.

The performance sold out Teatro Umberto Giordano, with additional spectators able to follow the event outside the theater on a large screen installed for the occasion.

The GIO Festival was promoted by the Camera di Commercio di Foggia in partnership with the City and Province of Foggia, with support from Regione Puglia and Puglia Culture. Gianna Fratta and Dino De Palma served as artistic directors.

Additional festival programming included the International Convegno di Studi, Il Giordano da scoprire e il pianoforte all'opera, at the Auditorium del Conservatorio on June 16. Participants included pianists Giorgio Trione Bartoli and Osvaldo Nicola Ettore Fatone, mezzo-soprano Angela Bonfitto and tenor Luigi De Luca.

The festival concluded June 20 with an open-air production of Giordano's Andrea Chénier in Piazza Cavour. Fratta conducted the Coro and Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli, with Spanish tenor Jorge de León in the title role and soprano Maria Agresta as Maddalena. The production was based on Mario Martone's staging of the opera for Teatro alla Scala.

The inaugural GIO Festival establishes a festival in Giordano's birthplace dedicated to the composer's music and legacy, beginning with the first staging of the opera that launched his career more than a century ago.

Check out the exclusive photos from the historic world staging premiere of Marina below.

Production Information

Marina (1888)
Melodramma in un atto
Music by Umberto Giordano
Libretto by Enrico Golisciani
World Staging Premiere – June 5, 2026
Teatro Umberto Giordano, Foggia, Italy

Director: Giandomenico Vaccari
Conductor/Maestro Concertatore: Matteo Dal Maso
Sets & Costumes: Alfredo Troisi
Lighting: Massimo Russo
Marina: Valeria Sepe
Giorgio Lascari: Samuele Simoncini
Lambro: Elia Fabbian
Daniele: Cüneyt Ünsal
Chorus: Coro della Fondazione Teatro Petruzzelli, directed by Marco Medved
Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio Umberto Giordano di Foggia

Photos courtesy of GIO Festival / Giordano International Opera Festival.