Arena di Verona News Archive

2020 SUMMER FESTIVAL

In the Heart of the Music

With an impressive all-Italian cast on the inaugural night of July 25 th and great international stars for the month of August, with gala events and symphony concerts, the 2020 Summer Festival at the Arena di Verona is ready to start with its new format with an in-the-round (central) stage and reduced seating capacity, but stimulated by the desire to support the revival of the local area, under the banner of quality and the age-old tradition that have made it world-famous.

It is thanks to this spirit of safeguarding artistic quality that the sponsors, starting with major partner Unicredit, have confirmed their commitment, making this edition feasible, in spite of the serious penalization of ticket sales.

Following months of continuous commitment to avoid the Arena being silent in this difficult year for the cultural sector, the Arena season is finally starting again with a new stage set-up that makes this edition truly historic and unrepeatable.

On 25 th July the 2020 Summer Festival “In the heart of the Music” begins with a great tribute to Italian art and artists: Francesco Meli , Saimir Pirgu , Fabio Sartori , Roberto Aronica , Fabio Armiliato , Barbara Frittoli , Eleonora Buratto , Luca Salsi , Leo Nucci , Daniela Barcellona , Michele Pertusi , and Katia Ricciarelli for a total of 31 all-Italian artists. The inaugural evening is set to be a tribute to the wounded country of Italy, its great bel canto tradition, the quality of its great school, whose solidity was put to the test by the challenges imposed by the pandemic. Fondazione Arena di Verona therefore wants to give a very strong message of hope by means of art, with a moral and aesthetic initiative, which just had to originate in the world’s largest open-air theatre.

General Manager and Artistic Director Cecilia Gasdia comments the choice, “I consider it a rightful act to safeguard our heritage which, as is the case with all performing arts, consists above all in people, their dedication, continual study for the highest possible quality and, honestly, since facing audiences is no easy task, also their psychological resistance.”

Then, on 31 st July an absolute “first” follows, with Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Marco Armiliato with Vittoria Yeo , Sonia Ganassi , Saimir Pirgu and Alex Esposito , in an ideal bow to the numerous victims of the pandemic and their families.

On Saturday 1 st August, Anna Netrebko , Yusif Eyvazov , Ekaterina Gubanova and Ambrogio Maestri will be on the Arena’s huge central stage in what will be a true celebration of re-birth in the name of art, returning to breath that international creative inspiration that has always made the Arena a goal for fans from all over the world.

On Friday 7 th August on the other hand things starts to look ahead, to the star-studded 2021 edition, with a unique all- Wagnerian gala with a view to the debut of Jonas Kaufmann and his promise to partially bring back the great Leipzig composer to the Arena stage, a truly historic rarity.

For the Verdi and Puccini galas, on August 8 th and 22 nd August, Daniel Oren and Andrea Battistoni will make a welcome return to the podium and singers will include the great tenor Marcelo Alvarez . Between these prestigious nights, on 14 th August, the programme includes an important gala dedicated to Rossini – a real innovative feature – whose protagonist will be soprano Lisette Oropesa, an esteemed singer of Rossini repertoire, young South African tenor Levy Sekgapane , baritones Alessandro Corbelli and Marco Filippo Romano and bass Roberto Tagliavini , with Jader Bignamini on the podium.

In the heart of the program, on August 13 th , a unique event is scheduled at the Arena: Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the eagerly awaited return of young Veneto violinist Giovanni Andrea Zanon along with the Arena Orchestra’s strings.

Then on 21 st August, Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi will be staged in semi-scenic form, an opera never staged at the Arena, with Leo Nucci in the leading role. Then no less than two appointments with icon Plácido Domingo , a milestone in the Arena program, firstly with a show on August 28 th in which he will be the undisputed star performer alongside the beautiful Spanish voice of Saioa Hernández supported by Saimir Pirgu , then on the conclusive night of 29 th August, with the international diva Sonya Yoncheva and Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo .

For the well-known safety reasons, Fondazione Arena di Verona has only put numbered seats on sale, while setting prices lower than those foreseen for the previous 2020 program. Tickets vary in price from 34 to 199 euros.

To emphasize the sense of being spectators in a 1,000-strong Arena audience, a unique event in the venues’ history, there are two new prices for those who want to become donors and show their support for the project in such a delicate moment. Seats reserved for donors will have prices of between 300 and 500 euros.

The advantages of becoming donors include the possibility of reserving one’s seat in the first sector from today, by just writing to donors@arenadiverona.it . Seats will be allocated according to order of precedence. For all the other sectors, ticket sales will begin on 19th June.

We once more wish to thank our sponsors for their closeness and support and for having believed in this project along with us: as well as Unicredit, our Major Partner for over 20 years, the Calzedonia Group with the Falconeri brand, Volkswagen Group Italia, Deutsche BAHN and Veronafiere, as well as Air Dolomiti, Casa Vinicola Sartori, GrandVision, Metinvest, SDG Group, SABA parcheggi, Vicenzi and A4 Holding.