Architectural jewel of the Roman Empire, historic temple of Italian opera, the Verona Arena will host a prestigious concert on Friday June 7, 2024 under the direction of Riccardo Muti.
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On stage, international stars from the opera world such as the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, the French baritone Ludovic Tézier, the Italian soprano Eleonora Buratto, his compatriots Luca Salsi and Francesco Meli, will perform great Italian opera arias . More than 10,000 music lovers are expected at this great celebration of classical music in the north of the peninsula, in the largest open-air theater in the world.
Under the baton of maestro Riccardo Muti, some 160 orchestral musicians and more than 300 choristers from prestigious Italian stages, including La Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice, open the ball with tunes by the greatest Italian composers of the 19th century . On the bill in the second part of the evening, there are tunes from Madame Butterfly, La Bohème And Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, whose work is celebrated on the occasion of the centenary of his death, but also La Traviata and of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, or even by Norma by Vincenzo Bellini…
Italian Bel Canto was included in UNESCO’s cultural heritage in December 2023, a decision hailed by Rome as recognition of a brand of“Excellency” planetary. It is unanimous among opera singers around the world. “Italian opera, historically, is the oldest of us all, opera is an Italian invention which has spread all over the world”, explains Ludovic Tézier to AFP.
After various experiments in musical theater in the 16th century, opera was born around 1600 in Florence, where an academy was founded promoting an innovative association of sung text and music. The first great composer was Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) whose legendary Orfeo, performed at the court theater of Mantua in 1607, is considered by musicologists to be the founding work of modern opera.
“There is a real vocal pleasure in Italian singing because the Italian language itself is extremely musical and sonorous,” underlines Ludovic Tézier. For him, the Arena of Verona offers the ideal setting to celebrate Italian singing. “There is something warm, conducive to opera, we experience truly magical moments”, he assures. “When you enter the arena, with this huge audience in front of you, you have a feeling of humility, you have the impression of being very small, but at the same time you feel like a gladiator going to the fight because there is an exceptional energy that emanates from this place.”
The evening of June 7, broadcast live by RAI television, kicks off the 101st edition of the Verona Arena Opera Festival, which will continue until September 7 and is expected to welcome a total of more than 500 000 spectators. The festival was created on August 10, 1913 by the Veronese tenor Giovanni Zenatello who performed there Aida by Verdi and discovered the miraculous acoustic qualities of the stone amphitheater.
On August 2, 1947, Maria Callas, then unknown and a beginner, played the title role of La Gioconda by Almicare Ponchielli, under the direction of the legendary conductor Tullio Serafin who, dazzled by his vocal abilities, launched his career. A star is born in Verona. Callas, the greatest lyrical icon of the 20th century, returned to sing in the Arenas in 1948, 1952, 53 and 54. More The Arenas were built in the first century AD to host gladiator fights, shows with wild beasts or even naval battles, long before turning into open-air opera.