How to photograph an opera dress rehearsal

The dress rehearsal is the only moment when a production exists in full, but not yet for the audience. For the photographer it is the decisive evening: the images made there reach the papers before the reviews, the programme, the theatre’s social media and the production archive.

We are the official photographers of Teatro Regio di Torino, a theatre with a long history and a very recognisable auditorium. Opened in 1740 and destroyed by fire in 1936, it was rebuilt to a design by Carlo Mollino and reopened in 1973. This is how the work on a production unfolds, step by step.

One or two weeks before

We study the libretto, the staging and the music. We talk with the press office about what they need: the scenes not to miss, the singers to portray, any alternate casts. Knowing the score matters as much as knowing the camera: knowing when an aria is coming means already being in the right place.

Stage rehearsals

Whenever possible we attend a stage rehearsal or the pre-dress. It is how we see the lighting, understand the movement, choose positions in the hall and lenses. It is also when we film footage for the trailer, if the production includes one.

The evening of the dress rehearsal

I puritani, May 2026. Dress rehearsals are shot with stage light, never flash: it is part of the performance.

We work in silence, from agreed positions, without disturbing singers, orchestra or director. No flash. Every production poses a different problem:

• in Macbeth conducted by Riccardo Muti and directed by Chiara Muti, the stage pictures were very dark, and the challenge was holding the blacks without losing the faces;
• in Hamlet, which won the 2025 Premio Abbiati for sets and costumes, what mattered was rendering the costumes’ colours as Giada Masi designed them;
• in Pierre-Emmanuel Rousseau’s I puritani figures emerge from the darkness of vast spaces, and the choice was between the close-up and the whole stage.

The chorus of I puritani. Ensemble scenes are prepared by choosing the position in the hall before curtain up.

That same night

When the rehearsal ends, the selection begins. From the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of frames of an evening we get down to a few dozen images, corrected and ready to publish. It is the most delicate step: choosing also means deciding how the production will be remembered.

The next morning

The press office receives the photographs, already in formats for print, web and social media, with captions and credit. The first articles often appear the same day.

After opening night

The full production archive follows. It will serve future revivals of the production, later seasons, exhibitions and publications.

What to ask a stage photographer

• Experience in theatre and opera, with productions like yours.
• Clear delivery times for the press office.
• The ability to work silently, without flash and without interfering.
• Defined usage rights for communication, press and archive.

If you are preparing a production, tell us your dates and needs.