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Verdi's opera of passion, blood, fire and vengeance comes to the stage in an atmospheric production by David Bosch. A quartet of world-class singers bring the principal characters of this searing opera to life. Gregory Kunde stars as the troubadour Manrico, with Lianna Haroutounian as his courageous lover Leonora. Vitaliy Bilyy is the tyrannical Count di Luna, the man who wants Leonora for himself.

Riccardo Muti conducts a group of excellent singers for a memorable Trovatore. In 2001, the centenary of Verdi's death was commemorated all around the world and of course in Italy, his homeland, where he died on January 27th 1901. The Scala of Milan, where Verdi saw many of his works premiered, marked this anniversary by giving a new production of Il Trovatore, even through this opera was performed for the first time on 19th January 1853 in Rome at the Teatro Argentina and not in Milan. The conductor, Riccardo Muti, who was the musical director of the Scala, decided to present a new critical version of the score, closer to the composer's first intentions. This version, which was controversial at the time, contributed to the interest shown in this performance in which the orchestra plays a key role. Muti provides a rendition of Il Trovatore that is full of ardour. Like a painting that has regained its colours after having been restored, conducted in this way Il Trovatore sounds brand new. In the principal roles, Barbara Fritolli, Leo Nucci, Violetta Urmana and Salvatore Licitra (Toscanini said that to succeed Il Trovatore, all that was needed was four good singers) are equal to the conductor's ambitions whereas the stage production by Hugo de Ana, which plays with shadows and obscurity, transports the spectator into a dream world.