On Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 8 p.m., the Mehta Hall of the Teatro del Maggio will host the first scheduled event after the summer break.
Maestro Salvatore Percacciolo takes the podium of the Orchestra del Maggio, conducting a program featuring works by Gioachino Rossini, Franz Joseph Haydn, and Sergej Prokof'ev.

Drusilla Foer makes her debut at the Maggio as the narrator in Peter and the wolf.

Foer will also return for the second symphonic appointment on September 13 at 6 p.m., conducted by Timothy Brock, for a performance of Kurt Weill’s Songs.

Florence, September 4, 2026 – Following the summer hiatus, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino resumes its concert season with two upcoming performances. The first event is scheduled for Thursday, September 10 at 8 p.m. in the Theater’s Mehta Hall. This will be followed by a second concert on September 13 at 6 p.m., also held in the Mehta Hall. Both performances will feature the Orchestra del Maggio, highlighting the highly anticipated debut of Drusilla Foer at the Maggio.

On Thursday, September 10 at 8 p.m., maestro Salvatore Percacciolo returns to the podium of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino to conduct a program dedicated to Rossini, Haydn, and Prokof'ev.

The evening opens with the overture to Gioachino Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri, the brilliant introduction to the opera buffa composed by the Pesaro-born musician in 1813. This will be followed by Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 94 in G major, Hob:I:94, universally known as the Surprise symphony. The second half of the program features Peter and the wolf, one of Sergej Prokof'ev’s most beloved and renowned compositions, set to a libretto written by the composer himself.

The role of narrator in this celebrated symphonic fairy tale will be performed by Drusilla Foer in her debut at the Maggio. She takes center stage in a lively and colorful musical narrative designed to introduce the audience - especially its youngest members - to the world of the orchestra and its instruments.

Composed in 1936, Peter and the wolf was born from the idea of creating a work that could bring young people closer to symphonic music through a simple yet engaging story, where each character is paired with a specific orchestral instrument. Thus, the flute gives voice to the bird, the oboe to the duck, the clarinet to the cat, and the bassoon to the grandfather; the horns represent the wolf, while the strings are entrusted with the character of Peter. Disobeying his grandfather, Peter ventures into the forest, where he encounters a variety of animals and, ultimately, the fearsome wolf. The narration unfolds alongside the music in a continuous dialogue between the spoken word and the orchestra, making each character instantly recognizable and transforming every orchestral section into an integral part of the storytelling.

"I am stepping onto the stage of the Maggio for the very first time, which will be immediately followed by a second concert on September 13 featuring Kurt Weill’s Songs ['they must be out of their minds at the Maggio,' Drusilla Foer remarks with a laugh, ed.], and I am deeply honored by these two invitations, which also mark the resumption of the season after the summer break. For me, I must say, it feels like a baptism, and I am thrilled by the idea of performing with a magnificent symphonic orchestra like the Orchestra del Maggio and being guided by two exceptional conductors like Salvatore Percacciolo and Timothy Brock. I am equally honored to lend my voice, in the first concert, to a fairy tale that has been performed over time by so many artists - including one to whom I feel very close and to whom I dedicate this performance: the great Paolo Poli. In approaching it, I will inject a bit of my own aloofness, a bit of my pretentiousness, we shall see...". Foer continues: "This musical fairy tale is somewhat part of my DNA. It features highly noble music, which Prokofiev wrote upon his return to the Soviet Union after years of self-imposed exile in the West. Peter and the Wolf was written for children, yet even today it attracts an adult audience. Who knows why? Perhaps because we are all children? I would say not! Perhaps because we are all those characters? Probably yes, because it is a depiction that, if you look beyond the story itself, is deeply socially engaging - far more than one might think. In this musical tale, there are many characters, and Peter is the hero of the story: a child without a smartphone and without artificial intelligence who faces the wolf. There is the bird, the grandfather, a duck... and although I am in love with the wolf, the duck is perhaps the character I feel closest to. The duck is the silly one in this situation because as soon as the wolf arrives, she steps out of the pond - which was her only safe haven! I am fond of the duck: she is someone who gets everything wrong! However, Peter also leaves his safe haven, his home; he ventures out to encounter something very important to face: his own courage. And that is what I wish for all children - to discover their own courage, just like Peter."

With Drusilla Foer as the narrator, the Maggio offers the audience a fresh interpretation of one of the most celebrated titles in the musical repertoire dedicated to audiences of all ages, entrusting her unique personality and interpretive brilliance with the task of guiding spectators into Prokof'ev’s fairy tale.