Italy’s Arena Di Verona Opera Festival Reveals 2026 Season

Hosted since its founding in the 10,000-seat, open-air Roman amphitheater at the heart of the Italian city of Verona, the Arena di Verona Opera Festival is the largest, oldest, and most international opera festival in the world. The festival's 103rd season takes place over 50 nights this summer (June 12–Sep 12). Central to the 2026 offerings are six classic Italian operas by Verdi and Puccini: a new production of La traviata, two contrasting treatments of Aïda, and stagings of Nabucco, Turandot, and La bohème. These will be complemented by a performance of Orff's Carmina Burana, two evenings of ballet, and a pair of immersive multimedia concerts. Roberto Alagna, Erin Morley, Anna Netrebko, Lisette Oropesa, and Ludovic Tézier are among the host of returning stars, while those making festival debuts include Operalia winner Mihai Damian, “indomitable force” Annalisa Stroppa (OperaWire), and LA Opera's James Conlon. As Opera Today writes, “Opera in the Arena di Verona is simply one of the wonders of the modern world.”
 
The 2026 festival follows on the heels of a banner season. Last year's festival made Arena history, with box office revenue of $41.79 million (€35.619 million) – $2.35 million (€2 million) more than the previous year – and 404,715 audience members, 61% of whom were international visitors from 130 different countries.

Verdi: La traviata (June 12–Sep 12)

The Arena summer opens with a new production of Verdi's La traviata. Mounted in eleven performances, this 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); Italian mezzo-soprano Annalisa Stroppa, whose “warm mezzo impresses as Fenena” (Gramophone), in her house debut (June 26; July 4 & 18; Sep 9); and American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn, winner of both the Richard Tucker Award and Metropolitan Opera National Council competition, as Zaccaria (July 23 & Aug 1).

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.”

Verdi: Turandot (Aug 7–Sep 11)

The festival's final operatic presentation is Verdi'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

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