Verdis Macbeth goes on stage at Teatro Comunale in Florence (28 Nov-5 Dec). The work has become a feature of the repertoire of many Italian opera houses; the most recent production dates back to the Spoleto festival in June. In this Florentine production, Eimuntas Nekrosius makes his dbut as a director of lyric opera. In his prose productions Nekrosius has always generated amazement because he requires his actors not only to act but also to sing, jump, run and twist. He understands theatre to be a global discipline uniting prose, opera and dance. What better way to start in lyric opera than with Macbeth, in which Verdis operatic genius and Shakespeares drama combine? The music has been entrusted to Julia Jones, a woman conductor of English origin who is a fixture at the Basle Opera. She made her Italian dbut in Florence in 1999 with Lohengrin by Wagner.