Italy’s Arena di Verona Opera Festival opens this Friday, June 5
(June 2026) — The Arena di Verona Opera Festival opens this Friday, June 5 for the first of 50-plus nights this summer (June 5–Sep 12). Central to the 2026 offerings are six productions of classic Italian operas by Verdi and Puccini – a new production of La traviata from Abbiati Prize-winning director Paul Curran, two contrasting treatments of Aïda, and stagings of Nabucco, Turandot, and La bohème – complemented by a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana, two evenings of ballet, a pair of immersive multimedia concerts, and a star-studded season-opening event. Roberto Alagna, Plácido Domingo, Erin Morley, Anna Netrebko, Lisette Oropesa, and Ludovic Tézier are among the host of returning stars, while those making festival debuts include Mihai Damian, Annalisa Stroppa, and James Conlon. Hosted since its founding in the 10,000-seat, open-air Roman amphitheater at the heart of the Italian city of Verona, the festival remains the largest, oldest, and most international opera festival in the world.
“Campioni del Mondo. Italia Loves Unesco” (June 5)
The festival opens on June 5 with a special event: “Campioni del Mondo. Italia Loves Unesco.” Featuring more than 500 artists, including the Orchestra and Chorus of Fondazione Arena, Plácido Domingo, Vittorio Grigolo, Patti Smith, and other special guests, this unique concert will celebrate Italy as the country with the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, pay tribute to UNESCO’s recognition of the Art of Italian Opera Singing in 2023 and Italian Cuisine in 2025, and launch the candidacy of Classical Neapolitan Song for World Heritage status.
Verdi: La traviata (June 12–Sep 12)
The summer continues with a new production of Verdi’s La traviata that marks the Arena debut of International Opera Award-nominated Scottish director Paul Curran, who previously served as Artistic Director of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Bringing La traviata’s action forward to the Paris of the Belle Époque, Curran’s production showcases sets by Juan Guillermo Nova and costumes by Stefano Ciammitti, whose designs graced this year’s Winter Olympic ceremonies. Mounted in eleven performances, their original Arena staging will feature rotating casts under the baton of Michele Spotti, Musical Director of the Marseille Opera and Philharmonic (until Aug 22), and Francesco Ivan Ciampa, winner of Italy’s National Arts Award (from Aug 29). Key cast members include Italian soprano Martina Russomanno, winner of the Paris Opera’s Cercle Carpeaux Award, making her house debut in the title role (June 12 & 20; July 5 & 9); Azerbaijani tenor Yusif Eyvazov, winner of Austria’s Grand Prix de la Culture, in his house role debut as Alfredo (June 12 & 20); and Romanian baritone Mihai Damian, winner of Operalia 2025, in his house debut as Germont (June 20 & 27).
Verdi: Aïda, dir. Poda (June 19–July 24)
Next follows the first of two contrasting takes on another beloved Verdi favorite: the “crystal” Aïda that opened the Arena’s centenary festival in 2023. Directed, designed, and choreographed by Italy’s Stefano Poda, whose honors include the Roman Theatre of Volterra’s Lifetime Achievement Award, this uses dazzling lights, transparent elements, massive set pieces, and dance to create a spectacular unified vision that has consistently sold out the venue. Israeli conductor Daniel Oren, former music director of Rome Opera, leads all six performances, again with multiple casts. Featured artists include Uruguayan soprano Maria José Siri, “a favorite of the Arena audience and a veteran of the role” (OperaLibera, Italy), reprising her star turn as Aïda (except July 19); America’s Gregory Kunde, “a phenomenon in the tenor firmament” (Oper-Aktuell, Germany), as Radamès (July 2 & 10); and the Ramfis of Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov (July 19 & 24), who recently impressed Metropolitan Opera audiences with his “chilling charisma” (The New York Times).
Verdi: Nabucco (June 26–Sep 9)
Verdi’s Nabucco is also directed, designed, and choreographed by Stefano Poda, whose “visually stunning Nabucco … absolutely delivered” (The Stuart Review) when it premiered last season. This summer’s ten performances present rotating casts under the leadership of Michele Spotti (until Aug 1) and Sebastiano Rolli, music director of Milan’s UNIMI Orchestra, in his Arena debut (from Aug 8). The featured singers include two-time International Opera Award-winning Mongolian baritone Amartüvshin Enkhbat in the title role (June 26 & July 4) and Italian mezzo-soprano Annalisa Stroppa, whose “warm mezzo impresses as Fenena” (Gramophone), in her house debut (June 26; July 4 & 18; Sep 9).
Puccini: La bohème (July 3–25)
Next up is La bohème in the “exquisitely romantic version of the Puccini masterpiece” (Ópera Actual, Spain) by Italian director and television personality Alfonso Signorini. This summer’s four performances will be led, in his Arena debut, by Italian maestro Francesco Lanzillotta, whose credits include the Vienna State Opera and Teatro Real Madrid. Among the opera’s stellar vocal lineup are Abbiati Prize-winning soprano Eleonora Buratto as Mimì (July 3 & 11) and La traviata’s Yusif Eyvazov (July 3, 11, & 17), whose Rodolfo has been called “both authentic and effortless” (Opera Diary, Switzerland).
Verdi: Aïda, dir. Zeffirelli (July 30–Sep 10)
Verdi’s Aïda returns for seven performances, now in the production hailed as “a pageant of music and spectacle” (British Theatre Guide) by trailblazing Italian director Franco Zeffirelli. Led by resident conductor Francesco Ommassini, the Arena’s rotating casts include International Opera Award-winning Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak in the title role (July 30; Aug 9 & 23), opposite the Radamès of tenors SeokJong Baek (July 30) and her off-stage partner, Roberto Alagna (Aug 9 & 23). South Korean baritone Youngjun Park sings Amonasro except on August 30, when, for one night only, French baritone Ludovic Tézier graces a topflight cast showcasing superstar soprano Anna Netrebko, in a reprise of the title role in which, as The Observer put it, “she came, she sang and she conquered.”
Puccini: Turandot (Aug 7–Sep 11)
The festival’s final operatic presentation is Puccini’s Turandot in the Zeffirelli production, heralded as “Turandot in its full glory” (Opera Today), that holds the Arena’s box-office record. Boasting costumes by Oscar-winning designer Emi Wada, the opera’s six performances will be conducted by Verona native Andrea Battistoni, who serves as Music Director of Opera Australia, Music Director of Turin’s Teatro Regio, and Chief Conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic. The rotating casts feature three American vocalists. Dramatic soprano Lise Lindstrom undertakes the title role (Aug 21 & 27), in which she “seizes attention with the first notes … and then never lets go” (The Guardian); Brian Jagde sings Calaf (Aug 7, 14, 21; Sep 11), the role in which he “clearly arrived as a world-class heroic tenor (Parterre); and Lisette Oropesa brings a “brightly crystalline and arrestingly powerful” coloratura soprano (The New York Times) to her role debut as Liù (Aug 14, 21, & 27).
Carmina Burana and more
Rounding out the festival are three concerts and two ballets. James Conlon, who assumes the title of Conductor Laureate at LA Opera later this year after two full decades as its Music Director, makes his Arena debut with a star-studded performance of Orff’s first and best-known choral cantata, Carmina Burana (Aug 13). He and the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra and Chorus will be joined by a stellar trio of vocal soloists: Opera News Award-winning American soprano Erin Morley; Abbiati Award-winning Italian countertenor Carlo Vistoli, in his house debut; and La traviata’s Mihai Damian.
The amphitheater hosts two innovative multimedia concerts in collaboration with the Balich Wonder Studio and Marco Balich, the Emmy-winning director behind a record 16 Olympic Ceremonies. Complementing music by two great Italian composers with three-dimensional video projections and lighting effects, these are the world premiere of “Paganini Paradise”: Superlive Immersive Concert (Aug 18) and the return of “Viva Vivaldi”: The Four Seasons Immersive Concert (Aug 19) led from the violin by National Arts Award winner Giovanni Andrea Zanon.
In the first of two dance events, Roberto Bolle and friends (July 21) celebrates the star principal dancer of Milan’s La Scala Theatre Ballet in a co-production with ArteDanza SRL. The second takes place at an alternative venue, Verona’s Teatro Romano, where the festival presents two performances of Zorba the Greek (Aug 25 & 26). Set to Michail Theodorakis’s Golden Globe-winning film score, this was the ballet whose 1988 premiere at the Arena first brought American choreographer Lorca Massine to international notice.
About the Arena di Verona Opera Festival
The Arena di Verona Opera Festival is held each summer in the Roman amphitheater that, together with the legend of Romeo and Juliet, has made Verona one of Italy’s best-loved and most visited cities. Every year, the Arena brings together vast international audiences between June and early September, to watch some of the world’s most distinguished artists in almost 50 operatic performances, galas, and concerts under the stars.
The annual open-air festival first came into being on August 10, 1913, with an inaugural production of Aïda to celebrate the first centenary of the birth of Verdi, whose work continues to be a primary focus. Learn more about the Arena di Verona and about the Arena di Verona Opera Festival.
Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2026
Except where noted, all productions take place at the Arena di Verona.
Cast details are provided here.
June 5
“Campioni del Mondo. Italia Loves Unesco.”
Orchestra and Chorus of Fondazione Arena
Plácido Domingo, Vittorio Grigolo, Patti Smith, and other special guests
June 12, 13, 20, 27; July 5, 9, 16, 31; Aug 6, 22, 29; Sep 5, 12
VERDI: La traviata (new production)
Director: Paul Curran
Conductor: Michele Spotti (June 12–Aug 22); Francesco Ivan Ciampa (Aug 29–Sep 12)
June 19, 25; July 2, 10, 19, 24
VERDI: Aïda (dir. Poda)
Director: Stefano Poda
Conductor: Daniel Oren
June 26; July 4, 12, 18, 23; Aug 1, 8, 20, 28; Sep 9
VERDI: Nabucco
Director: Stefano Poda
Conductor: Michele Spotti (June 26–Aug 1); Sebastiano Rolli (Aug 8–Sep 9)
July 3, 11, 17, 25
PUCCINI: La bohème
Director: Alfonso Signorini
Conductor: Francesco Lanzillotta
July 21
Roberto Bolle & friends
Ballet; co-production with ArteDanza SRL
July 30; Aug 9, 15, 23, 30; Sep 4, 10
VERDI: Aïda (dir. Zeffirelli)
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Conductor: Francesco Ommassini
Aug 7, 14, 21, 27; Sep 3, 11
PUCCINI: Turandot
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Conductor: Andrea Battistoni
Aug 13
ORFF: Carmina Burana
Conductor: James Conlon
Aug 18
“Paganini Paradise”: Superlive Immersive Concert (world premiere)
PAGANINI: various
Director: Marco Balich
Aug 19
“Viva Vivaldi”: The Four Seasons Immersive Concert
VIVALDI: The Four Seasons (with Giovanni Andrea Zanon, violin)
Director: Marco Balich
Aug 25 & 26
Venue: Teatro Romano
THEODORAKIS: Zorba the Greek
Ballet; choreographer: Lorca Massine