It was a contest between titans. One stood for Italian opera, the other for the reinvention of the German Singspiel. Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner were both born in 1813, both fought for the democratic nation state of their countries - but they remained musical antipodes all their lives. In Trieste, Petr Popelka and the Wiener Symphoniker contrast excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi's operas Macbeth, Aida and Don Carlo with the first act of Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre. All of the works deal with power and powerlessness, jealousy and love - but all deal with these themes in very different ways. All of this is interpreted by a world-class ensemble of singers including Michael Spyres, Sarah Wegener and Georg Zeppenfeld.

Tickets

• Tickets for the concert on Friday 11 April are available via Vivaticket and TicketOne (both English/Italian) and on site at Politeama Rossetti, Trieste.
• Seats for people with special needs are available directly from the Politeama Rossetti.