text Julia Zanetti

November 15, 2024

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre: the season program

The best operas and concerts to mark in your diary until January 2026

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino season continues: from September to December 2024. Here are the next events to mark in your diary.

Operas

2024

Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, directed by Renato Palumbo, directed by Stefania Grazioli, on Nov. 19, 21, 24, 26, 30 at 8 p.m.; Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m.

A new production by Maggio Musicale Fiorentino featuring the Bolivian-Albanes soprano born and raised in Germany Carolina Lopez Moreno debuting in the role of Violetta, fresh from the very recent triumphant success of Madama Butterfly, acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. In the Nov. 21 and 26 performances and in the Dec. 1 performance, the part is borne by Julia Muzychenko - making her Maggio debut overall - but in her 11th career performance of Violetta.

Igor Stravinskij’s Mavra, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta, directed by Denis Krief, December 15, 18, 20 at 20 pm; December 22 at 15.30 pm.

Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta, directed by Denis Krief, December 15, 18, 20 at 20 pm; December 22 at 15.30 pm.

2025

Feb. 16 (with repeats on the 18th, 20th and 23rd ) Rigoletto, by Giuseppe Verdi, on podium Stefano Ranzani and directed by Davide Livermore.

March 9 (three successive performances: March 11, 14, 16) Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, on the podium, Michele Spotti. The direction marks the debut of French-Belgian duo Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, who transpose the story from Roman-occupied Gaul to Nazi-occupied France, with cinematic flair and a narrative full of twists and turns. Leading performers include Jessica Pratt, Maria Laura Iacobellis, Mert Süngü, Riccardo Zanellato.

After the 87th Festival and summer programming, the playbill resumes with:

Sept. 16 with three performances on the 19th, 21st and 23rd, of Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles; on the podium the Frenchman Jérémie Roher, another rising conductor, and the evocative and “hieratic” direction of Wim Wenders in the staging by Berlin's Staastoper Unter der Linden; performers include Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Lucas Meachem.

On Oct. 12, with three more performances on Oct. 14, 17 and 19, another major Verdi title after Aida, Verdi's Macbeth under the baton of Alexander Soddy and directed by Mario Martone, who returns to the Maggio after an almost 20-year absence. The opera's sets are designed by Mimmo Paladino. The cast includes Luca Salsi, Antonio Di Matteo, Vanessa Goikoetxea, Antonio Poli.

Nov. 9 ( repeats: Nov. 11, 14, 16) Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa and directed by Andrea Bernard; in the principal parts Mirco Palazzi, Jessica Pratt, René Barbera, Laura Verrecchia.

Dec. 4 with repeats on Dec. 6 and 7, in a special arrangement that will see the audience seated on stands built on the stage of the Great Hall, Johann Sebastian Bach's Matthäus Passion will be staged under the baton of Kent Nagano and directed by Romeo Castellucci both for the first time at Maggio; the part of Evangelist is borne by tenor Ian Bostridge.

Dec. 20, the revival of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème under the baton of Diego Ceretta and directed by Bruno Ravella; there will be seven repeats after the premiere in total: Dec. 21, 23, 28, 30 and 31 and will also lap up the first days of the new year with performances on Jan. 2 and 4, 2026.

Concerts

2024 concerts include:

September 7, at 20 pm, conducted by Dmitry Matvienko, sala Zubin Mehta. (Rachmaninov, Concert n. 3 in D minor op. 30 for piano and orchestra; Prokof'ev, Romeo et Juliette, suite).

September 12, at 20 pm, “Delirio” conducted by Riccardo Frizza, sala Zubin Mehta. (Bellini, I Capuleti e Montecchi, symphony, From La sonnambula: "Ah! non credea mirarti... Ah! non giunge uman pensiero"; Donizetti, From Emilia di Liverpool: "Ecco miratela... Madre! Deh placati!... Ah! of contentment..."; Devereux, Da Lucia di Lammermoor: "Il dolce suono... Ardon gl'incensi... Spargi d'amaro pianto"; Bellini Da I puritani: "O rendetemi la speme... Qui la voce sua soave... Vien diletto è in ciel la luna"; Donizetti La Favorite, overture, Da Linda di Chamounix: "Nel silenzio della sera... No, non è ver, mentirono").

September 19, at 20 pm, conducted by Alessandro Bonato, sala Zubin Mehta. (Rachmaninov, Concerto No. 2 in C minor op. 18 for piano and orchestra, Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake Suite op. 20a, Italian Capriccio op. 45).

September 26, at 20 pm, conducted by Luciano Acocella, sala Zubin Mehta. (Rachmaninov, Concerto No. 2 in C minor op. 18 for piano and orchestra, Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake Suite op. 20a, Italian Capriccio op. 45).

September 29, at 17 pm, conducted by Matteo Parmeggiani, Teresa Iervolino mezzosoprano, sala Zubin Mehta. (Rossini, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, symphony, From Semiramide: "Eccomi alfine in Babilonia"; Verdi, Luisa Miller, From Ernani: "Oh, de' verd anni miei," Giovanna d'Arco, symphony; Rossini Giovanna d'Arco, cantata for voice and orchestra, orchestration by Luca Giovanni Logi).

October 26, to 20 pm, conducted by Daniele Gatti, sala Zubin Mehta. (Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major op. 73, Symphony No. 4 in E minor op. 98).

November 3, at 17 pm, conducted by Matteo Parmeggiani, sala Zubin Mehta. (Donizetti, Da Alahor in Granata: "Ombra del padre mio", Parisina, symphony, Da Parisina: "Che mi rechi? Per veder su quel bel viso... Dall'Eridano si stende", Da Maria di Rohan: "Parti brev'ora, ed egli fia lontano... Bella e di sol vestita... Ogni mio bene in te sperai", Rosmunda d'Inghilterra, Torquato Tasso, Act III).

November 8, at 20 pm ; November 9, at 18 pm, conducted by Glass Mercano, sala Zubin Mehta. (Bernstein, West Side Story, symphonic dances, From West Side Story: "I feel pretty," Candide, overture, From Candide: "Glitter and be gay"; Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 in E minor op. 95, From the New World).

November 15, at 20 pm, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli, sala Zubin Mehta (Filz, Symphony Op. II, No. 2 in G minor; Mozart, From Mithridates, King of Pontus: "Far from thee"; Cherubini, From Il Mesenzio, King of Etruria: "Seek not for now... The great vengeance yet"; C.P.E. Bach, Symphony in D major Wq 176, H 651; Mozart, Exsultate, jubilate K. 165, Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major K. 543).

November 29, at 20 pm, Puccini Racconta Puccini for the centenary of the death of Giacomo Puccini, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta, sala Grande.

December 5, at 20 pm, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, sala Zubin Mehta. (Bruckner, Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major).

December 13, at 20 pm; December 14 at 18 pm, conducted by Michele Spotti, sala Zubin Mehta. (Bartholdy, Die erste Walpurgisnacht, cantata for soloists, chorus and orchestra op. 60; Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 in E minor op. 64).

Decmeber 21, at 20 pm, conducted by Ivor Bolton, sala Zubin Mehta. (Mozart, Symphony No. 38 in D major K. 504, Prague; Stravinsky, Pulcinella, concert suite, Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra).

December 22, Christmas Concert, sala Zubin Mehta.

2025

Jan. 3, 4 and 5 Fantasia Live in Concert from Walt Disney's famous film. The cartoon will be projected on a large screen while music performed by the Maggio Orchestra will be conducted by Timothy Brock.

Jan. 24 concert conducted by Giulio Prandi, with compositions by Niccolò Zingarelli and Mozart, solo voices by Nikoletta Hertsak, Giuseppina Bridelli, Krystian Adam, Alessandro Ravasio.

Feb. 7 Alejo Pérez conducts Rachmaninov, and Falla, Rave.

Feb. 21 soprano Anna Netrebko returns to Florence accompanied on piano by Pavel Nebolsin and mezzo-soprano Elena Maximova for a singing concert offered in the Sala Grande.

Jan. 22, also in the Great Hall Bertie Baigent will conduct music by Dukas, Ravel, Mozart; at the piano Cédric Tiberghien.

March 21 in the Great Hall, conductor Dame Jane Glover in an all-Bach concert focusing on the Brandenburg Concertos for the first time performed in May in a single evening.

After the festival, the symphonic season resumes with:

Sept. 20 with Jérémie Rhorer (also engaged to conduct the opera Les pêcheurs de perles) and soprano Elizabeth Llewellyn for a concert featuring music by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky.

Sept. 26 Min Chung conducts compositions by Olivier Messiaen and Camille Saint-Saëns.

Oct. 18 Marc Minkowski conducts Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio Die Jahreszeiten; the Maggio Chorus is conducted by Lorenzo Fratini.

Nov. 21 Pietari Inkinen conducts music by Jean Sibelius and Maurice Ravel.

Nov. 23 a singing concert is scheduled on the occasion of the release of his CD, with baritone Marco Filippo Romano; the Maggio Orchestra is conducted by Christopher Franklin; music by Gaetano Donizetti,Gioachino Rossini, Domenico Cimarosa by whom Il maestro di cappella will be performed; the Maggio Chorus is conducted by Lorenzo Fratini.

On Dec. 12 conductor Bar Avni will take the podium in the Mehta Hall for a concert featuring music by Unsuk Chin, Ludwig van Beethoven,Antonín Dvořák; soloists on violin Anna Tifu.

Closing out the 2025 symphonic programming is Riccardo Muti, who will dedicate a choral symphony concert to the memory of Maestro Vittorio Gui on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death; the program includes Schubert's Incompiuta and Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C minor. Choir director Lorenzo Fratini.

The traditional Christmas concert, scheduled for Dec. 21 in the Mehta Hall at 11 a.m., will feature the VociBianche Choir of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino conducted by maestro Sara Matteucci with the participation of the “L'Astrolabio” Association of Florence.

Ballet

Two ballet titles, are scheduled in January 2025 and will see the company perform

Jan. 10, 2025 with two performances Les ballets de Monte-Carlo in Roméo et Juliette with choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot, and direction by Garrett Keast to music by Sergei Prokofiev.

Jan. 16 with duerepliche successive Lac, from Swan Lake to music by Tchaikovsky and Bertand Maillot, choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot, and on the podium rises Garrett Keast. In the pit is the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.