Remembering Richard Wagner

As part of an international event, a series of opera performances at Palermo's Teatro Massimo commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Richard Wagner, who composed his last work in this city.

Wagner and his contemporary rival Giuseppe Verdi, both born in 1813, are closely linked to Sicily. Each was, in his own way, a nationalist supportive of a newly-united country - Italy in 1861 and Germany ten years later - with which he became closely identified, and each developed a distinctive kind of opera.

For ticket information, visit the site of the Teatro Massimo opera house. Our article on Wagner and Verdi discusses their Sicilian connections.