The renowned Italian lighting designer Vinicio Cheli has recently passed away. A major figure on the lyrical and choreographic scene since the 1970s, he had worked with notable names including Giorgio Strehler, Rudolf Noureev, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Luca Ronconi, Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Werner Herzog, and Andreï Kontchalovski, across locations from Milan to Paris, Salzburg to Aix-en-Provence, New York to Tokyo. At the Paris Opera, he designed the lighting for Troyens by Pizzi, the inaugural production at Bastille, as well as for La Bayadère, La Belle au bois dormant, Samson et Dalila, De la maison des morts, Mireille, and La Dame du lac. A close collaborator of Ezio Frigerio, he had also contributed to some of the productions that have marked the recent history of many European theaters. He was deeply attached to the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, where his name will remain most intimately linked. Since Falstaff in 1991, he had accompanied Nicolas Joel and the Frigerio-Squarciapino team, lighting productions such as Lucia di Lammermoor, Otello, Tristan et Isolde, La Femme sans ombre, Le Chevalier à la rose, and many others. His last creation was Salomé, performed in May last. His close ones, the teams of the Capitole and the Paris National Opera in the person of Alexander Neef, salute a man of rare elegance, charm, and kindness.