Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 2018

Launch of the 81st edition of the Florence Opera Festival with concerts, operas and many side shows

From 05 May 2018 to 11 July 2018

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Lovers of classical music and bel canto, take pen and paper and make a note of these dates in your diary: from 5th May to 11th July Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival 2018 will host the highly anticipated opera in Florence! The music festival of Florence will host classical music concerts, ballet, opera and theatre works while numerous side events will take place at other theatres, music halls and other locations in the historic centre.

This prestigious event, founded in 1937 by composer and orchestra conductor Vittorio Gui, is one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals in Europe, thanks to the cultural and stylistic choices of the organizers, that each year attract thousands of spectators in the Tuscan capital. First among these, the great importance given to visual exposure in the operas, which has led to a valuable partnership with the most famous film and theatre directors in the world.

We should also underline the constant presence of great performers who, year after year, have contributed to the prestige of this great and highly anticipated event.

Are you ready to discover the rich program of the 81st  Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival?

OPERA. The biggest surprise this year is certainly the engagement of the great master Fabio Luisi who, until 2023, will conduct the Orchestra of the Music Festival in Florence, Italy. He will also take the role of artistic director of the opera that will open the 2018 Maggio Musicale Fiorentino: 'Cardillac' by Paul Hindemith, the story of an artist obsessed with his works to the point of relegating himself to marginalization and then madness (5-9-12 and 15 May).

To be staged at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 2018 there will be an additional four operas in Florence:

• ‘La Battaglia di Legnano’ by Giuseppe Verdi – 22/25/27/31 May
  Written in the period of the proclamation of the Roman Republic, this work marks a moment of great patriotism during which people took to humming songs from this opera as a tribute to Verdi and Italy.

• ‘Infinita tenebra di luce’ by Adriano Guarnieri – 3/5/8 June
  Four imaginary faces to reveal the deeper side of the human spirit. Freely based on Rainer Maria Rilke's 'Night Poems', this splendid work awaits you at the Florence Opera Festival 2018 with a brand new setting in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts.

• ‘Il prigioniero/Quattro pezzi sacri’ by Dallapiccola and Giuseppe Verdi – 19/21/23 June
  Staged for the first time at the festival of the Opera di Firenze in 1950, this composition had the audience divided on the meaning of the libretto transposed to the post-war political situation of that period. Do not miss it in the new staging, with the Orchestra conducted by the great Zubin Metha.

• ‘La Dafne’ by Marco da Gagliano – 25/27/29 June
  Opera in two acts that opens the way to a new programme dedicated to opera in Florence and focusing on a historically important repertoire that in Florence, where it was born, is charting a new course. 

• ‘Macbeth – In forma di concerto’ by Marco da Gagliano – 11/13 July
  A great show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the debut in Florence of the great maestro Riccardo Muti who remarked on the event by saying: 'The words of Shakespeare and the music of Giuseppe Verdi fill me with gratitude towards these two geniuses from the world of arts'. 

CONCERTS. During the program of the festival of opera in Florence, 22 concerts will take place that range from classical to contemporary music up to the so-called 'open music', a new way of thinking and composing music using new digital technologies and improvisation on stage. Among the concerts in the Opera Florence 2018 program, do not miss those directed by the Italian maestro Fabio Luisi on 29th May, the Russian composer Mikhail Jurowski on 7th June and, last but not least, Zubin Mehta and Simone Rubino’s concert, which awaits you on 22nd June in the new Maggio Musicale Fiorentino program for 2018!

FLORENCE, OPERA ... AND MORE! As mentioned above, every year the main event is enriched by a substantial program of collateral events and shows taking place during the 81st edition of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino at different locations throughout the region. Among these, it is worth mentioning 'Maggio Metropolitano', a project involving the Municipalities of the Metropolitan City of Florence with the aim of rejuvenating the area’s rich historical and cultural tradition. Theaters, associations and music ensembles will take on the role of coveted and thought-provoking spaces where culture will be on centre stage.
Another very important initiative is 'Educational': a series of theatrical performances and shows dedicated to schools and, last but not least, the possibility to attend the rehearsals of some of the great concerts in the program of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

You will also find book presentations, screenings, talks... in short, there is so much on offer at the festival of opera in Florence in 2018: the choice is yours!

What’s more, this year for the first time you will be able to buy the tickets for your favorite show... directly on our website! Visit the page dedicated to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino 2018 and send us your request, choosing the event and your desired date. We will reply immediately after checking the actual seat availability. We are here for you!