Arena Opera Festival 2022
Arena Opera Festival 2022
46 evenings, 5 opera productions and 3 special events: the magic of the world’s largest open-air theatre returned from June 2022 with the most popular operas. A year from the eagerly expected 100th edition, with the 99th Arena di Verona Opera Festival, large-scale events are finally returned, on stage for 46 evenings with 5 opera productions and 3 special events from 17th June to 4th September 2022. The magic of the world’s largest open-air theatre was back thanks to the artists and technicians of the Fondazione Arena with international conductors and artists in the most important and popular operas.
The following are the shows programmed for the 2022 Festival:
Carmen by Georges Bizet, Direction Franco Zeffirelli
The curtain rised on the 2022 Festival on 17th June with a spectacular historic return: the Carmen by Georges Bizet in the legendary production which was in fact the 1995 Arena debut of Franco Zeffirelli, which will be proposed in the best synthesis of the various editions, narrating the strongest passion with the background of a breathtaking Seville, and featuring a convincing realism. Including the inauguration, the French masterpiece was staged for 9 exceptional evenings.
Aida by Giuseppe Verdi, Direction Franco Zeffirelli
As is the tradition, the Festival’s second opera is Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, the top-ranking opera and symbol of the Arena right from the first edition of 1913, which also has the honour of bring staged on the last evening. Aida was performed from 18th June on 11 dates in the classic production also conceived by Franco Zeffirelli which recreates a glittering dreamlike Ancient Egypt, enriched by the costumes of Anna Anni.
Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi, Director Arnaud Bernard
The third production being staged on the immense Arena stage is another Verdi masterpiece, an epic choral drama, scheduled for 8 performances from 25th June, Nabucco, proposed in the imposing cinematographic production inspired by the Italian Risorgimento which inaugurated the 2017 Festival, with direction and costume design by Arnaud Bernard and set design by Alessandro Camera.
La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, Direction Franco Zeffirelli
The fourth opera of the 2022 Festival was expressly conceived as the artistic synthesis of its creator, his artistic legacy dedicated to the Arena di Verona, La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi; opera’s most popular love story returns on 2nd July for 8 performances with the marvellous production created for the 2019 Festival by Franco Zeffirelli, who was responsible for the direction and set design, and costumes by prize-winning designer Maurizio Millenotti.
Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, Direction Franco Zeffirelli
The last debut of the Festival is the return of the spectacular “China in the days of fables” in Turandot by Puccini, on-stage for 7 performances from 4th August. The ideal production for this captivating fable is the magnificent one by maestro Franco Zeffirelli (direction and set design), with the sumptuous costumes by Academy Award winner Emi Wada.
The Special Events: Roberto Bolle, Placido Domingo and Carmina Burana
The 99th Festival will also was further enriched by three unique special events: the first is Roberto Bolle and Friends, a true celebration of Dance in all its forms, which returned for an unmissable appointment on 20th July at the Arena di Verona; this was followed by the monumental symphonic and choral concert of Carmina Burana on 12th August, a tribute to Ezio Bosso, and lastly, for a single extraordinary date, the return of the highly acclaimed Plácido Domingo in an opera gala in scenic form dedicated to the principal roles of the Busseto genius, on 25th August, for the gala Domingo in Verdi Opera Night.
About the Arena Opera Festival
Arena di Verona is a Roman amphitheater, one of the most remarkable archaeological monuments in Europe. It was built in the I century. our era, in the last years of the reign of Emperor Augustus. Today "arena di Verona" is known all over the world thanks to the annual summer Opera festival taking place within its walls. The festival was opened on 10 August 1913 with a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Opera Aida. On the stage of the arena di Verona performed outstanding artists such as Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Mario Del Monaco, Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti, Tullio Serafin, Riccardo Muti.
The Opera season annually attracts more than half a million spectators from all over the world. The repertoire of the festival is mainly mass, large-scale works ("Nabucco", "Troubadour", "Aida", "Carmen", "Turandot").
Although the Arena di Verona has always maintained its vocation as a performance venue throughout its millenary history: from the naumachie or staged naval battles of ancient Rome to the jousts of the Middle Ages, and on to Rossini in the early 1800s, it was not until 1913 that it became the true home of great open-air opera performances, with an Aida that epitomised the Art Nouveau trend of the time, reconstructed from original sketches and still beloved of audiences today.
Always true to its traditional role as democratic propagator of musical culture in Europe, as well as popular, accessible and universal home to musical theatre, loved by opera stars, crowned heads, Hollywood actors and audiences from all over the world, the Arena di Verona has always been one of the most influential locations for inclusiveness in art.