This year the Arena di Verona Opera Festival celebrates its first century of existence. In fact, it was in 1913 that the first edition was held in the city of Verona. An event that has attracted audiences from all over the world every year since its inception, interrupted only by the war and the recent pandemic. On the occasion of its centenary, the 2023 program is as rich as ever, with 50 evenings alternating between 8 operas, 4 gala evenings, and an extraordinary concert with the orchestra and choir of the Teatro alla Scala until 9th September.
The world premiere will take place on Friday 16th June and will be attended by the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella. Aida will open the Arena’s 100th season in a new production designed by Stefano Poda. The event will take place both in the Arena and on television and will be broadcast live on Rai1.
Aida is by far the most performed opera at the Arena di Verona. In 1913, tenor Giovanni Zenatello chose Aida to celebrate the centenary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth. For the centenary of the opera festival, Stefano Poda makes his debut at the Arena di Verona with a multidisciplinary performance designed to appeal to everyone, for which he is responsible for the direction, sets, and costumes. Poda is a multifaceted artist who, for more than twenty years, has been staging productions with great attention to detail in theatres all over the world, documenting them on video. The protagonists of the opera will be soprano Anna Netrebko in the role of Aida and tenor Yusif Eyvazov, leading international artists and the ‘golden couple” of opera and life.
The 100th edition of the Festival will be exceptional, not only for the quality of the performers but also for the incredible range of events on offer, including eight different operas and five special gala evenings. In addition to Verdi’s Aida, the program includes practically all the most popular titles, from Carmen to Il Barbiere di Siviglia, from Rigoletto to La Traviata, and including Nabucco, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The gala schedule is also not to be missed: the magic of “Roberto Bolle and Friends” will return to the Arena with Italy’s greatest dancer, but there will also be spotlights for another Verona amphitheatre regular, Placido Domingo. A date also for Juan Diego Florez, one of the world’s most acclaimed tenors of recent years, in his absolute debut in the Arena, with a special evening entrusted to the star Jonas Kaufmann. The season will close with an extraordinary event: for the first time, the choir of the Teatro alla Scala, conducted by maestro Riccardo Chailly, will take to the Arena stage.
More information, in English, here: https://www.arena.it/en/arena-di-verona
