Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Here is the program of the season 2020-2021

Great conductors and international performers among unmissable opera titles and symphonic concerts. In compliance with the Prime Ministerial Decree issued on 24 October, all the shows mentioned in this article are suspended until 24 November

The artistic activity of Maggio Musicale Fiorentio (the main Opera House and Concert Hall of Florence) solemnly restarts again on 30 and 31 August 2020 with two important and significant performances (in memory of the victims of the pandemic) of the Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi conducted by Zubin Mehta at the Cavea with a cast of formidable voices.

OPERA SEASON 2020-2021

Then the opera curtain rises on 7 September with Rinaldo by Händel (other performances 9, 10 and 13 September) on the 2020-2021 opera season. The opera is directed by a recognized specialist such as the Tuscan Federico Maria Sardelli.

It continues on September 22 with Puccini's La Rondine (replicas on September 25, 27 and 29) directed by Denis Krief, directed by Maestro Marco Armiliato. In the role of Magda sings Ailyn Pérez, the famous American soprano who, after La Scala, the Metropolitan, the Covent Garden, makes her debut in Florence.

The third title to go on stage, on October 4, is Verdi's Nabucco (repeated on October 7, 10 and 13) directed by Leo Muscato and some opera superstars including Placido Domingo in the role of Nabucco. On the podium Maestro Paolo Carignani, conductor of the Frankfurt Opera, was present on the billboards of the Vienna Staatsoper, the Staatsoper Berlin, the New York Metropolitan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bastille in Paris.

Back on October 23 (other performances on 25, 27 and 29) Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia in the now classic May staging directed by Damiano Michieletto. The Maggio Orchestra will be conducted by the young conductor Michele Gamba. Among the main performers there is the amazing Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya as Rosina; the star of the Spoleto Festival, Ruzil Gatin, debuts as Conte d'Almaviva.

The first new production of the program is Puccini's Madama Butterfly from November 12 (other performances 15, 23, 26, November 28 and December 1, the direction is signed by Chiara Muti. On the podium Francesco Ivan Ciampa, on stage Sergej Skorokhodov star of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, as Pinkerton.

On November 27th is the moment of an eagerly awaited Otello by Verdi. On the podium, Zubin Mehta. Three debuts: from Fabio Sartori's long-awaited debut as Otello, to Marina Rebeka the famous Latvian soprano and already a guest on the most important international stages, who will be Desdemona and Ludovic Tézier the famous French baritone superstar, like the perfidious Jago. New staging directed by actor and film director Valerio Binasco (performances on November 30, and on December 3, 6, 15, 19).

On December 23rd (reruns on December 27th and 29th; January 3rd, 5th and 10th) is the moment of Linda from Donizetti's Chamounix directed by Michele Gamba, one of the most promising young Italians already assistant to Daniel Barenboim and Antonio Pappano. Among the protagonists some virtuosos with the queen of the belcanto Jessica Pratt, Francesco Demuro and the great bass Michele Pertusi.

New Year's Eve: it's up to maestro Marco Armiliato to close 2020 and to toast to 2021 with a Verdi Gala on December 31. On stage the amazing voices of Saioa Hernández, Marcelo Álvarez, Ludovic Tézier and Ferruccio Furlanetto with the Maggio Choir and Orchestra.

On January 11, 13 and 16 La damnation de Faustdi Hector Berlioz will be performed in concert form, with the extraordinary presence on the podium of James Levine, American conductor and one of the most famous in the world, for 41 years leading the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

On February 21, Davide Livermore, an established opera director, directed the new production of Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto (repeated on February 23, 26 and 28, March 3 and 7) with Riccardo Frizza, one of the most important Italian conductors. Among the performers: Leo Nucci, baritone with an extraordinary career and the soprano Enkeleda Kamani in the role of Gilda, who sang with Nucci recently at La Scala and was a great personal success.

The last opera scheduled for the 2020-2021 season is Così fan tutte by Mozart, from March 28 (performances on April 1, 6, 8 and 11) with maestro Zubin Mehta on the podium.

DANCE

On 30 December (repeats on 4, 8, 9 and 14 January 2021) a ballet is scheduled at the Teatro Goldoni: a new staging with choreographies by Massimiliano Volpini and the dancers of the Nuovo BallettO di ToscanA (directed by Cristina Bozzolini), with chamber music by Franz Schubert and Anton von Webern.

SYMPHONIC SEASON 2020-2021

The concert season starts on September 12 with maestro Daniele Gatti and a choral symphonic program with music by Stravinsky, Maderna, Hindemith and Bach.
On October 11 there will be an appointment with the famous Israeli conductor Eliahu Inbal who will lead the orchestra in Anton Bruckner's fifth symphony.

On October 15 Adam Fischer, a great and refined Mozart specialist, will conduct a programme with music by Mozart and Haydn and soloist on the piano as well as conductor.

October 22 is the first date of the Beethoven cycle (in the year of 250 years since its birth) conducted by Zubin Mehta:

The first concert on October 22 is dedicated to Symphonies n.1, n.2 and n.4.
on October 28th, it is the turn of Symphony n.7 (together with Symphony n.2 D125 by Franz Schubert and Kammersymphonie n.9 by Schönberg).

on 31 October the Symphonies n.3 and n.5

on November 25th the Symphony n.6 (together with Symphony n.1 by Franz Schubert and the Five Pieces for Orchestra op.16 by Arnold Schönberg)

on December 5th the symphonic choral concert with Symphonies n.8 and n.9. This concert will also include the first performance of Prometeo, or the silence for choir and orchestra by Salvatore Sciarrino, a commission from the Maggio.  

Then, on December 11, Lorenza Borrani will conduct the Orchestra del Maggio, at the Teatro Goldoni in a programme with music by Haydn, Ades, Schubert.

On December 22 in the choral symphony concert Manfred Honeck, principal conductor of the Pittsburg Orchestra, he performs Haydn's Symphony No. 93 in D major, James McMillan's Miserere and Haydn's Missa in tempore belli.

On January 17 and 21, James Levine will conduct a double concert: Johannes Brahms' monumental Ein deutsches Requiem on the evening of January 17 with the solo voices of Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and Thomas Hampson, among the most celebrated baritones on the world stage; and Mozart's last three Symphonies n.39, n.40 and n.41 on the evening of January 21.

On 26 January it is the turn of the young Lahav Shani to take the podium of the May Orchestra.

On February 20 Christoph von Dohnányi, one of the most acclaimed conductors of the great German and romantic repertoire, is expected to perform The unanswered question by Charles Ives, the Double concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra by György Ligeti and Symphony n.6 by Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij.

On February 27 James Conlon, conductor of the Rai National Symphony Orchestra, will return to Florence to conduct the Orchestra del Maggio in two symphonies by Antonín Dvořák, No. 5 in F major, Op. 76, B. 54 and No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70, B. 141.

On March 6 Zubin Mehta resumes the podium for a concert on compositions by Schönberg, Mozart and Mendelssohn with Rudolf Buchbinder at the piano.

On March 14 Ingo Metzmacher, a versatile conductor who ranges with flexibility from classical to contemporary repertoire, will conduct the Orchestra in Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8.

The symphonic season continues with Maestro Mehta who on March 27 will play Franz Schubert's Symphonia n. 3 in C major D 200, Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto for violin and orchestra with the soloist Vilde Frang, and Ottorino Respighi's I pini di Roma. The "end" of the symphonic calendar is entrusted on April 15 to Christoph Eschenbach, a great pianist and conductor requested and present by the most important orchestras and musical institutions in the world from Vienna, Paris, London, Munich and New York, with a program that includes Haydn's Symphony n. 49 "La passione" and the Concerto for violin and orchestra in C major, with cellist Bruno Philippe and FelixMendelssohn's Symphony n. 5 op. 107 "Riforma".