On Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM, in the Zubin Mehta Hall of the Teatro del Maggio, Michele Mariotti returns to the podium for a new symphonic concert.

The program includes Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”.

The piano soloist is Andrea Lucchesini.

Florence, May 1, 2026 – Nearly a year after his last appearance in Florence, Maestro Michele Mariotti returns to lead the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino for a new symphonic concert, scheduled in the Mehta Hall of the Teatro on Sunday, May 3 at 5:00 PM. Joining Maestro Mariotti is pianist Andrea Lucchesini.

This new symphonic event, part of the 88th edition of the Maggio Musicale Festival, opens with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23. One of the Russian composer’s most famous works, it was written between late 1874 and early 1875. It was initially dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, director of the Moscow Conservatory and a pianist, with the intention that he would give its first public performance. However, Rubinstein’s reaction was entirely negative: he harshly criticized the concerto. As a result, Tchaikovsky decided to withdraw the dedication. The work was later published with a new dedication to Hans von Bülow, who performed it during an American tour in Boston in October 1875, achieving immediate success.

After the intermission, the program continues with Dvořák’s celebrated Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World”. Composed during his stay in the United States in 1893, it is Dvořák’s final symphony. Just two years earlier, the Bohemian composer had accepted the position of director of the New York Conservatory. During his three years in the United States, Dvořák developed a deep interest in local musical traditions, listening to and studying African American spirituals and Native American songs, drawing inspiration from them for his Ninth Symphony. In this work, the many elements recalling American folk traditions are integrated into a distinctly European symphonic language.

Maestro Mariotti made his debut at the Maggio Festival with Snow White by Luigi Zaninelli in spring 2006. He graduated in composition from the Rossini Conservatory in his hometown of Pesaro, where he studied conducting under Manlio Benzi. Awarded the 36th Abbiati Prize as Best Conductor, he has appeared at major Italian and international theaters and festivals, including La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and the Salzburg Festival. Since 2008, he has served as Principal Conductor and later Music Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, where he has conducted numerous symphonic concerts and dozens of opera productions, including La bohème directed by Graham Vick, which won the “Franco Abbiati” Critics’ Prize for Best Production of 2018.