Opera, Love – Metaopera in One Act returns to the stage with a new European tour supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture and SIAE as part of the “Per Chi Crea” program

From May 13 to 24, 2026, the production will stop in Brussels, Edinburgh, Berlin, Vienna, and Bucharest.

Created through the collaboration between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera, Love continues its international journey, bringing the spirit of Italian opera to some of Europe’s leading cities, including a stop in the United Kingdom.

Florence, May 11, 2026 – Following the success of its first performances in March 2025 at the “Luca Giordano” Hall of Palazzo Medici Riccardi and a subsequent African tour, Opera, Love – Metaopera in One Act, with music by Federico Gon, directed by Francesco Micheli, and libretto and dramaturgy by Alberto Mattioli, continues its successful international path.

The tour, scheduled from May 13 to 24, 2026, is organized with the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture and SIAE as part of the “Per Chi Crea” program, and will visit several prestigious European cultural venues:

• May 13, 8:00 PM – Theatre of the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels
• May 17, 4:30 PM – Ladies Baths in Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• May 19, 7:00 PM – Auditorium of the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin
• May 21, 7:00 PM – Auditorium of the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna
• May 23, 7:00 PM – Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest

Alongside the tour supported by the Ministry of Culture and SIAE, the project also includes additional European performances:

• May 15, 6:30 PM – Sala Verdi of the Italian Cultural Institute in Budapest
• June 3 – “Dimitris Mitropoulos” Auditorium in Athens
• June 5 – Courtyard of the Castle of Rhodes

Designed to travel lightly — with sets and costumes fitting into four trolleys carried by the performers themselves — Opera, Love is a “pocket opera” that encapsulates more than four centuries of Italian melodrama, from Monteverdi to Puccini, introducing the bel canto tradition to new audiences while also celebrating the recognition of Italian opera singing as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The commitment to bringing the production to Italian Cultural Institutes reflects a clear educational and outreach mission, promoted and championed by the Accademia and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre.

The tour stars Maria Rita Combattelli as Music; Paolo Nevi as Love; Giulia Alletto as Theatre (disguised as Hatred); Romolo Saccomanni on piano; and Francesco Moretti on accordion. In Greece, the cast will also include Julian Davidson on violin, Giulia Bridelli on viola, and Simone Stefanello on cello.

At the heart of the production lies opera’s traditional love triangle — her, him, and the other — intertwined with the great masterpieces of the operatic repertoire. Music (soprano) and Love (tenor) find their relationship obstructed by Hatred (a mezzo-soprano en travesti, who is in fact Theatre in disguise), in a dynamic that runs throughout the entire history of opera. The story unfolds through musical and textual quotations that guide the audience on a journey through the operatic tradition, culminating in a final trio celebrating Opera as a magical place where everything is fiction and nothing is false.

“With this production,” says Mario Curia, President of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, “the Accademia strongly renews its vocation: to preserve, promote, and keep alive the great tradition of opera, recognized worldwide as one of the highest expressions of art, where music, theatre, performance, and staging merge into a single experience. Since its foundation, the Accademia has built cultural bridges with the most prestigious national and international institutions, creating pathways of growth and collaboration of the highest level.”

OPERA, LOVE

A meta-opera in one act

Based on an idea by Marco Maria Cerbo and Francesco Micheli

Music by Federico Gon
Libretto and dramaturgy by Alberto Mattioli
Directed by Francesco Micheli
Sets and costumes by Chiara Taiocchi

Piano: Romolo Saccomanni
Accordion: Francesco Moretti

Music: Maria Rita Combattelli
Love: Paolo Nevi
The Theatre (disguised as Hatred): Giulia Alletto

A project conceived by Marco Maria Cerbo and Francesco Micheli, produced by the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino on commission from the Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale, in collaboration with the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

With the support of MiC and SIAE, within the framework of the “Per Chi Crea” program.