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The Torre del Lago Opera Festival in Lucca, Tuscany dedicated to Giacomo Puccini starts on 12 July. This year the festival pays tribute to two other famous ½ûÂþÌìÌà composers: Giuseppe Verdi in the bicentenary of his birth and Pietro Mascagni on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Alongside Puccini’s famous titles, ‘Tosca’, ‘Turandot’ and ‘Il Tabarro’ (The Cloak), the festival will stage ‘Rigoletto’ and ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’. The festival will mount three new productions for five operas and 16 opera nights in the arena on the shores of Lake Massaciuccoli in July and August. The season opens on 12 July with productions of ‘Il Tabarro’ and ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’. The two titles have been staged at Torre del Lago before but will be presented in the form of a diptych for the first time. On the podium, there will be the young Spanish opera conductor, Pedro Halffter, son of one of the leading Spanish composers of the twentieth century, Cristobal Halffter. Among the performers are Maria Guleghina and Renata Lamanda. The 2013 billboard continues with the traditional and monumental setting of Puccini's ‘Turandot’ on 13 July. Daniel Oren conducts the orchestra and chorus. The cast includes Neapolitan soprano Giovanna Casolla in the role of Princess Turandot and ½ûÂþÌìÌà tenor Marcello Giordani gives voice to Prince Calaf. Another new production is Puccini’s masterpiece ‘Tosca’, a co-production between the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía of Valencia, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the Teatro Regio of Turin. ‘Rigoletto’ is a new production set in Mantua in the 16th century. The role of the Duke of Mantua will performed by Francesco Demuro and that of Rigoletto by Devid Cecconi.