Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino takes place every year in the period running between April and June in Florence. It is a prestigious artistic festival with a program packed with events: operas, concerts, ballets and prose performances. The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was founded in 1933 through the initiative of the patron Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano and the conductor Vittorio Gui, with later support from the official Alessandro Pavolini, Ridolfi’s successor.  

Originally, this important musical festival was designed specifically to celebrate the old-style “joie de vivre” in a sort of rebirth associated with springtime. Dancing, music and theatrical performances were a way of paying tribute to a season of blossoming, of feeling carefree, a far cry from the sadness and grayness of winter.

Indeed, in the past, the Calendimaggio was also celebrated – not just in Florence but in all of Tuscany. This was a recurrence that fell on the first day of May and included parades, courts and banquets throughout the city streets. The songs, known as “maggi”, were sung by groups of young men and women who would wear floral accessories for the occasion. Accompanying the “operatic maggi” were “theatrical maggi,” which consisted in proper plays and theatrical bits. In our contemporary era, this performance maintains its exceptional quality and is held in the main theatres of Florence throughout the duration of the Maggio Musicale.

The 87ᵗʰ edition of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival will be held from April 13 to July 1, 2025.

The Program:

• April 13 to 27
  Opera
  Richard Strauss - Salome
• April 18
  Concert
  Zubin Mehta, Conductor
  Giuseppe Verdi - Requiem Mass
• April 26
  Concert
  Alexander Soddy, Conductor
  Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra
• May 3
  Concert
  Diego Ceretta, Conductor
  Benjamin Britten - War Requiem
• May 8
  Concert
  Michele Mariotti
• May 9 to 11
  Dance
  Ballet by Mauro Bigonzetti
  Roberto Bolle in “Caravaggio”
• May 11
  Concert
  Daniele Gatti
• May 15
  Concert
  Timur Zangiev, Conductor
  Tchaikovsky No. 6 - Pathétique Symphony
• May 25 to 31
  Opera
  Hans Werner Henze
  Der Junge Lord
• May 30
  Concert
  Cornelius Meister, Conductor
  Berio - Folk Songs
• June 5
  Concert
  Thomas Guggeis, Conductor
  Mozart No. 41 - Jupiter
• June 10
  Concert
  Antonio Pappano/London Symphony Orchestra
• June 16
  Concert
  In collaboration with the Amici della Musica di Firenze
  Grigory Sokolov
• June 19 to July 1
  Opera
  Giuseppe Verdi
  Aida
• June 21
  Concert
  Zubin Mehta

For information and ticket purchases, please refer to the Teatro del Maggio website.