The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an annual opera and arts festival held in Florence at two exciting venues; The historic Teatro Communale and the brand new Teatro dell’Opera di Firenze. This year the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival will take place from the 2nd of May to the 25th of June.
The first Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was held in 1933 and was created by conductor Vittorio Gui. Gui wished to revive little known and neglected operas and present them to public in a visually dramatic way. The very first performance was of Guiseppe Verdi’s now iconic opera, Nabucco.
The first festival was a huge success and with little interruption has now become an highly anticipated annual event. It has expanded to now include not just opera but classical musical performances and ballet.
Always attracting some of the most well known names and personalities the 2013 festival is no different. The festival opens with Verdi’s opera Don Carlo, directed by Zubin Mehta, with Massimo Giordano and Kristin Lewis in the starring roles. The three other operas to be performed are The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten, Il Farnace by Antonio Vivaldi and Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi.
This year the festival will host 12 concerts with conductors including Claudio Abbado and Markus Werba who will conduct works by Marino Moretti Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Hector Berlioz just to name a few!
There will be two Ballets; one particularly a delight for children is Peter Pan By Francesco Ventriglia and a compilation of dances choreographed by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián and Andonis Fonidakis.
Venues
The many musical events of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino are held in three venues all located in the historic center of Florence
The Teatro Communale has been at the heart of Florentine artistic and musical life since the 16th century. It’s modern structure, once an open air arena, was constructed in 1862 . It has has been been partially destroyed twice. First in 1944, Word War II bombing and by the terrible flood that occurred in 1966. After both events the theater was quickly restored and came to symbolize rebirth and a civil commitment of the city of Florence.
The Teatro della Pergola was established 350 years ago with the performance of the comic opera Colognole di Giovanni Andrea Moneglia. The theater was designed by Ferdinando Tacca and modeled after the Pitti Palace, under the patronage of Cardinal Gian Carlo de’ Medici. The theater only has opera performances during the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival.
The Teatro Goldoni is another of the historical theaters in the center of Florence.
