Tuesday, 16 June 2026 at 8 p.m., Francesco Meli and Luca Salsi star in a compelling vocal recital.

A concert dedicated to the arias of Giuseppe Verdi, featuring two of the greatest interpreters on the international opera scene.

At the piano, Nelson Calzi.

Illustration © Gianluigi Toccafondo

Florence, 15 June 2026 - A new event enriches the programme of the 88th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival.

On Tuesday, 16 June at 8 p.m., in the Mehta Hall of the Teatro del Maggio, tenor Francesco Meli and baritone Luca Salsi, leading artists on the international opera scene and among the most authoritative interpreters of Verdi’s repertoire, will be the stars of a vocal recital dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi, accompanied at the piano by Nelson Calzi.

An event that brings together on the Teatro del Maggio stage two absolute protagonists of Italian opera, who have been acclaimed for years in the world’s leading opera houses and at the Maggio, where they have frequently illuminated the stage with their performances. Both artists return to the Maggio following their recent and highly engaging public masterclasses for the young talents of the Maggio Academy, where they demonstrated and conveyed their extraordinary attention to the text, their constant stylistic refinement, their interpretative rigour, and their profound knowledge of Verdi’s musical language, in exactly the same way as when they embody their various operatic characters - performances that have made them ambassadors of the excellence of Italian opera throughout the world.

The evening offers a varied journey through Verdi’s music. The programme opens with “Io la vidi e al suo sorriso”, “È lui!... desso... l’Infante!”, and “Son io, mio Carlo... Per me giunto è il dì supremo... Io morrò ma lieto in core”, all taken from Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi. The recital then continues with arias from two other masterpieces by the Swan of Busseto: “La vita è inferno all’infelice... O tu che in seno agli angeli”, “Morir!... tremenda cosa!... Urna fatale del mio destino”, and “Invano Alvaro ti celasti al mondo” from La forza del destino, together with “Dio! Mi potevi scagliar” and “Credo in un Dio crudel” from Otello. The concert concludes with another excerpt from Otello: “Non pensateci più... Ora e per sempre addio... Era la notte... Sì, pel ciel...”.

Nelson Calzi, at the piano, will accompany the entire concert, while also taking the spotlight in two solo moments. In the first, he will perform Widmung, S. 566, by Franz Liszt, a devoted admirer of Verdi’s operas who transcribed numerous paraphrases based on his works, among the most famous being those inspired by Il trovatore, Aida, and Rigoletto. It is from the latter that Calzi’s second solo performance is drawn: the celebrated Rigoletto. Paraphrase de concert, S. 434, composed in 1859 on themes from the great quartet of Act III of Rigoletto, “Bella figlia dell’amore”.