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 88ᵗʰ edition of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival will be held from April 19 to July 1 2026.

The program:

• from April 19 to 26
  John Adams
  The Death of Klinghoffer
• April 23
  Zubin Mehta, conductor
  Mahler - "Das Lied von der Erde"
• April 29
  On the occasion of maestro Zubin Mehta's 90th birthday
  Beethoven - Symphony No. 9
• May 3
  Michele Mariotti, conductor
  Dvořák - "From the New World"
• May 12 to 24
  Giuseppe Verdi
  Un Ballo in Maschera
• May 16
  Myung-Whun Chung, conductor
  Mahler - Symphony No. 5
• May 23
  Dmitry Sinkovski, conductor and violinist
  Rimsky-Korsakov - "Sheherazade"
• May 28
  Philippe Jordan, conductor - Beatrice Rana, piano
  Beethoven & Bruckner
• June 6
  Asmik Grigorian, soprano
  Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninov
• June 9
  Diego Ceretta, conductor
  Beethoven, Mendelssohn & Schubert
• June 14 to 25
  Georg Friedrich Händel
  Giulio Cesare
• June 16
  Francesco Meli, tenor - Luca Salsi, baritone
  Verdi & Liszt
• June 18
  Daniele Gatti, conductor
  Beethoven - Symphonies No. 1, 4 and 7
• June 23
  Daniele Gatti, conductor
  Beethoven - Symphonies No. 5 and 6
• June 28
  Daniele Gatti, conductor
  Beethoven - Symphonies No. 2 and No. 3
• July 1
  Daniele Gatti, conductor
  Beethoven - Symphonies No. 8 and 9

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