The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's summer season opens to jazz and cinema

The Teatro del Maggio announces its 2026 Summer Season in July in the Cavea

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's summer season brings to the Cavea "Bohème," a concert by Paolo Fresu, freely adapted from Puccini's opera, with the Maggio Orchestra and the Devil Quartet.

A screening of the film "A Fistful of Dollars" with a live performance of Morricone's score with the Maggio Orchestra and Chorus.

And the opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia" by Gioachino Rossini, directed by Damiano Michieletto.

Added to these events is the return of Stefano Massini, who, after last summer's success, offers two evenings on the theme of happiness.

Florence, February 11th, 2026 – Following the success of last summer's performances, the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino announces the program for its new 2026 Summer Season, taking place from July 11 to 25, 2026, in the theater's evocative Cavea, which, in addition to opera, also features jazz and cinema.

"The opening to new languages ​​such as jazz and cinema represents the main innovation of the May 2026 Summer Season, a choice that marks the desire to broaden the horizons of the programming and to dialogue with increasingly diverse audiences. The programming was created with the intention of speaking to Florence and its citizens, but also to the many visitors who choose to experience the city in the summer - says Superintendent Carlo Fuortes - for this reason we propose a program capable of combining the great operatic tradition with projects that open to a wider audience. Within this framework, we find an unprecedented project such as the jazz tribute by Paolo Fresu inspired by Puccini's "Bohème", and the concert screening of Sergio Leone's "A Fistful of Dollars" with the music of Ennio Morricone performed live by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus, events that strengthen the dialogue between music, cinema and new audiences. Alongside these proposals, the season confirms its roots in the operatic tradition with the staging of "Il Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" in Damiano Michieletto's production, now a true Maggio Musicale Fiorentino classic. Added to this is the return of "Liberamente... sotto le stelle" with Stefano Massini, this year dedicated to the theme of happiness and produced in collaboration with the Teatro della Pergola, which finally demonstrates the quality of the dialogue between Florentine cultural institutions and the construction of an increasingly open, inclusive, and transversal summer cultural program.
 

The Program

The summer program opens with an opera that needs no introduction: "Il barbiere di Siviglia" staged by Damiano Michieletto, on July 11th, 14th and 18th, 2026, at 9pm. Originally conceived for outdoor performances (the production was conceived for the Teatro Romano in Fiesole in 2005), this show is characterized by freshness, irony, and modernity, elements that have made it a timeless production at the theater. The direction focuses on the comic gags and the characters' gestures, transforming the opera into an imaginative theatrical journey, accompanied by evocative costumes and bright colors reminiscent of the world of commedia dell'arte. On the podium, leading the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, will be Maestro Riccardo Bisatti. On stage, in the leading roles, a young cast composed largely of artists trained at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Academy: Alexandra Meteleva (Rosina), Gonzalo Godoy Sepúlveda (Fiorello/An Officer), Min Kim (Figaro), Roberto De Candia (Don Bartolo), Aloisia De Nardis (Berta), Marco Ciaponi (Lindoro/Count Almaviva), and Giorgio Caoduro (Don Basilio). The chorus master is Lorenzo Fratini.

On July 16th, at 9pm, a unique concert based on Puccini's "La Bohème" will take place, a new project conceived by Paolo Fresu and his Devil Quartet. Featuring an original blend of jazz and opera, the project offers a contemporary reinterpretation of Puccini's universe through acoustic instruments and a musical dialogue of great expressive intensity. The quartet, in addition to Fresu (trumpet and flugelhorn), includes Bebo Ferra (guitar), Paolino Dalla Porta (double bass), and Stefano Bagnoli (drums), who will perform with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, conducted by Paolo Silvestri, who also handled the arrangements.

On July 23rd at 9pm, the summer season closes with a screening of Sergio Leone's Per un pugno di dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) the first installment of the so-called Trilogia del dollaro (Dollars Trilogy), which also includes Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More) and Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). The movie will be screened with its soundtrack—composed by Ennio Morricone and a firm fixture in the collective imagination—performed live by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and Chorus. The restored version of the film was curated by the Cineteca di Bologna; the artistic production is by Fabio Venturi, Morricone's longtime sound engineer. Pietro Mianiti will conduct, and Lorenzo Fratini will direct the chorus.

These shows are joined by a double date with Stefano Massini who, following last summer's success, returns to offer the event "Liberamente...sotto le stelle" on July 13th and 25th, both at 9 pm. The LIBERAMENTE Popular Writing School is a program that will once again foster the dialogue and encounter between words and music in the Cavea del Maggio, a formula that has proven to be a winning formula and deeply felt by the city of Florence. Reflections, passions—in 2025 it was "anger," this year the theme will be "happiness"—and new imagery will once again be stimulated, creating opportunities for everyone to experience culture in an innovative and participatory way, returning to the original meaning of theater: a living, shared place of community and listening, an open space that welcomes, challenges, stirs enthusiasm, and provokes thought without barriers.