Verdi

Verdi is the central figure of Italian opera, with a career spanning over 50 years and producing masterpiece after masterpiece: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff. His music combines theatrical instinct, vocal beauty, and psychological depth in a way that keeps audiences riveted. Verdi's early operas became anthems of Italian nationalism during the struggle for unification — the chorus Va, pensiero from Nabucco was practically an unofficial national anthem. His late masterpieces Otello and Falstaff, composed in his seventies, show a composer still innovating and deepening his art. Verdi remains the most performed opera composer in the world.