The 101st Opera Festival at the Arena di Verona kicks off

The 101st Opera Festival at the Arena di Verona kicks off with a gala celebrating the inclusion of Italian opera singing in the Unesco World Heritage List with Riccardo Muti. In the enchanting Miramare Castle in the Gulf of Trieste the Musica con Vista Festival begins, open-air chamber music in the most evocative locations in Italy. In London, an occasion not to be missed with a classic musical 'Kiss Me Kate' by Cole Porter.

On the 7th at the Arena Gala opening of the 101st Opera Festival, celebrating the recent inclusion of Italian opera singing in the Unesco World Heritage List. Riccardo Muti opens the evening, broadcast live on RaiUno; during the course of the evening numerous opera stars will take the stage.

On the 8th the first opera, "Turandot", by Puccini, kicks off, with the voices of Semenchuk (whom the Arena audience will remember in Aida), Eyvazov (Aida and Rigoletto last year), Sicilia (Carmen in '23); the young Michele Spotti conducts in his Arena debut; direction and sets are the celebrated ones by Franco Zeffirelli. Repeats on 15-22-29 June. Other titles this month are "Aida", by Verdi (from the 14th) and "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", by Rossini (from the 21st). The Festival continues until 7 September.

On the 8th at the Miramare Castle with a concert by the Goldberg Quartet, the fifth edition of the Musica con Vista festival opens, with over 30 concerts and more than 300 collateral activities along the entire peninsula until 21 September, enlivening gardens, cloisters and historic residences - an integral part of Italy's identity and cultural heritage - from Trento to Palermo, in a musical journey and more. A slow, passionate and curious tourism, discovering a hidden Italy, creating an ecosystem made up of cultural operators, bodies that preserve historical heritage and local communities, within which resources and needs interact in a circular economy. Together with music, the initiatives proposed by the project partners offer the public numerous opportunities to get to know the territory; thanks to the extraordinary opening of historical residences, craftsmen's workshops, tastings, and much more, it is possible to visit places not always open to the public.

From 4 June to 14 September at the Barbican Theatre one of the great classics of the musical, 'Kiss me Kate', music and words by musical theatre giant Cole Porter. New production, with a great company of 50 members, full live orchestra, directed by Bartlett Sher, whose recent shows include 'The King and I', 'South Pacific' and 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. We follow the tumultuous relationship of the protagonist couple, on stage in Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' - and previously a couple in life too. And this between immortal songs such as 'So in Love', 'Always True to You in My Fashion', 'Brush Up Your Shakespeare', 'Why Can't You Behave', 'From This Moment On'.