In the imposing Arena di Verona, soprano Sonya Yoncheva and tenor Vittorio Grigolo present with dramatic and passionate synergy an evening of the most beautiful operatic love arias and duets in opera history. Passion that burns, consumes and sometimes kills is the central theme of this concert including arias from Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod as well as from Puccini´s Tosca, La bohème, Madama Butterfly and Verdi´s La traviata, all conducted by Plácido Domingo. Sonya Yoncheva has the full and vibrant timbre of a true lyrical soprano while Vittorio Grigolo, like Cavaradossi and Rodolfo, plays the cards of ardor and passion, with sweet and affectionate colors. An overall successful evening.
Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo – Opera in Love
The setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet – the most famous of all love stories – is Verona. Here, in the Arena di Verona, Plácido Domingo, Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo put on an evening of the most magnificent arias of love, with pieces from operas by Puccini, Verdi and Gounod. In historical costume, the singers also re-enact scenes from Romeo And Juliet. A concert evening of love, lust and turbulent passions, with some tempestuous weather included in the price of the ticket.
Plácido Domingo at Arena di Verona
Opera legend Plácido Domingo returns to the spectacular Arena di Verona with a programme dedicated to the great Italian composers Verdi and Giordano. Jordi Bernàcer conducts the orchestra of the Arena di Verona from the center of the Arena, which creates an incredible surround sound, embedded in a perfectly staged light show. The musical heart of the evening are long excerpts from La Traviata, where Domingo’s dark voice fits wonderfully for the role of Germont. An extraordinary evening, culminating in long applause for the charismatic singer. “Domingo performed with bravura, alternating with the spectacular Saioa Hernández” (operaactual.com).
Sonya Yoncheva & Vittorio Grigolo at Arena di Verona – Love Duets
Passion that burns, consumes and sometimes kills – it’s the central theme of this concerto lirico, which marks the finale of a very special summer festival at the Arena. The two star singers Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigolo present “with dramatic and passionate synergy” (OperaClick) some of the most beautiful love duets of opera history. Accompanied by Plácido Domingo as conductor, they combine French repertoire (Gounod, Massenet, Bizet) with famous Italian pieces by Verdi and Puccini, like “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca, “Un bel di vedremo” from Madama Butterfly or “Mimì?!…Speravo di trovarvi qui” from La Bohème.
Arena di Verona Festival 2023: Tosca
It is an event that attracts thousands of music lovers to Verona every summer: the opera season in the ancient Roman Arena. Nearly 22,000 spectators regularly fill the mphitheater for the performances. The dream couple of opera, Sonya Yoncheva and Vittorio Grigòlo, returns to the breathtaking open-air stage, to perform Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva is “one of the best Toscas currently singing” and Vittorio Grigòlo “the most Italian Cavaradossi we know. With lots of wonderful melting, elegant and nonchalant full of triumphant greatness a triumph all along the line” (Online Merker). The captivating staging by Argentine director Hugo de Ana, who masterfully exploits the amphitheatre’s vast space by placing huge elements on the stage that are reminiscent of or borrowed from the locations of the action, makes the opera a “spectacle of monumental opulence” (Online Merker). “A Tosca to relish!” Artesnews.it
Arena di Verona Festival 2021: La Traviata
With a spectacular new production, the Arena di Verona is celebrating its restart after the forced Corona break. La Traviata is a story of great emotions in the unique setting of the ancient amphitheatre of the Arena di Verona and with a star cast: Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo and George Petean offer a feast for the ears – and the new production is great theatre for the eyes. The action takes place in the golden Parisian era, the time of the world exhibition of 1889. On the huge stage, an LED wall measuring over 400 square meters unleashes impressive virtual imagery with a selection of paintings. These images from the Uffizi in Florence add additional perspectives to the concept of the mise-en-scene by creating a synergy between the arts of opera and painting.
Arena di Verona Festival 2022: Turandot
The Arena di Verona honours Italian stage director and filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli and his legendary production of Turandot. His imposing cinematographic production reproduces imperial China thanks to its impressive scenery and scenes, enriched by the sumptuous costumes of the Oscar-winning Japanese costume designer Emi Wada. Everything helps to highlight the atmosphere of the drama of enigma per excellence, where life itself is in danger and the answer lies in love, which melts the protagonist’s icy heart. “Netrebko does not merely sing it: she interprets it. What emerges is a character much more human and ultimately truer than usual” (La Stampa)
Verdi, Un Ballo in Maschera
The 2014 Festival of the Arena di Verona is opened by the new stage design of the Verdi’s opera Un ballo in maschera by one of Italy’s great directors, Pier Luigi Pizzi, and conducted by Andrea Battistoni, a rising young talent in the intenational classical music scene.