Goddess Anna Caterina Antonacci takes the “Sophia Loren” starring role in La Ciociara, a new work premiering at San Francisco Opera in June, 2015. The Marco Tutino/Fabio Ceresa melodrama is based on the novel that also inspired the 1960 film Two Women, the one that won Loren the Academy Award. Francesa Zambello, sigh, directs.

Antonacci also stars that summer in Les Troyens opposite Susan Graham and Bryan Hymel in a David McVicar staging conducted by Donald Runnicles. Further highlights of the season include Norma (Sondra Radvanovsky), Partenope (Danielle de Niese, David Daniels) and Susannah, with Patricia Racette as the teenaged heroine.