The cast of the 102 Arena di Verona Opera Festival 2025 is revealed

July marks the 150th anniversary of Carmen and the death of Georges Bizet, as well as the 30th anniversary of Zeffirelli's Arena production.

From Anna Netrebko, appearing in Nabucco and Aida, to the premiere of Marina Rebeka, and great return appearances from the likes of Jonas Kaufmann, Nadine Sierra, Luca Salsi, Francesco Meli, Ludovic Tèzier, Yusif Eyvazov, Amartuvshin Enkhbat, Anna Pirozzi, Aleksandra Kurzak, Roberto Alagna, Luca Micheletti, Aigul Akhmetshina, Brian Jagde, Mariangela Sicilia, Piotr Beczała, Anita Rachvelishvili, Maria José Siri, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Christian Van Horn, Gregory Kunde, Rosa Feola, Erwin Schrott and Vasilisa Berzhanskaya. These are some of the great stars of the next Arena summer programme, which from 13 June to 6 September 2025 offers 5 operas and 8 events including gala concerts and ballets, for 51 performance evenings. There are also many debuts for prestigious artists such as Angel Blue, Pene Pati, Enea Scala, Erin Morley. On the podium can be found Pinchas Steinberg, Andrea Battistoni, Francesco Ivan Ciampa, Daniel Oren, Michele Spotti, Speranza Scappucci (for the first time in an opera) and Francesco Ommassini in his first-ever appearance.

Thus, for all the productions of 2025, the biggest international opera stars are coming back to the Amphitheatre, making every evening unique. More than 100 participants will arrive from all over the world to sing, conduct, and dance, with welcome returns among the most sought-after performers today and the best emerging young talent.

THE FIVE OPERAS The inauguration places the spotlight on a new production of Verdi's Nabucco, the third best-loved title ever in the history of the Arena. Stage direction, scenes, costumes, lights and choreography are entirely curated by Stefano Poda, already noted for his ‘crystal’ Aida of 2023 and returning again in 2025, from 20 June. Giuseppe Verdi is again protagonist with La Traviata, in the elegant production by Hugo De Ana, and Rigoletto, in the historical stage set by Guerra and Del Savio, based on drawings by Fagiuoli made for the Arena premiere one century ago. Not-to-be-missed in 2025 is Carmen in the classic production by Zeffirelli, celebrating 30 years in the Arena and paying tribute to Georges Bizet both on the 150th anniversary of his death and the debut of his masterpiece.

NABUCCO. On 13 and 14 June, the protagonist of the double inauguration with the new Nabucco is Amartuvshin Enkhbat, today's great Verdi baritone, with two different casts, comprising respectively: Anna Pirozzi, Roberto Tagliavini, Francesco Meli, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya and Maria José Siri, Alexander Vinogradov, Galeano Salas and Francesca Di Sauro, also alternating in the following performances. Thirty-five years after his debut, the magnificent Pinchas Steinberg returns to lead the Orchestra and Chorus of the Fondazione Arena. The visionary director Stefano Poda curates every aspect of the new production, with Paolo Giani Cei. For all the performances, today's greatest performers take to the Arena stage: Anna Netrebko plays (for the first time in Italy) the part of Abigaille, villain of the opera, for three nights (17, 24, 31/7), with Olga Maslova (from 9 August) alongside Aigul Akhmetshina's Fenena. The baritones will be Luca Salsi, Youngjun Park and Igor Golovatenko, while Christian Van Horn and Simon Lim also take turns as Zaccaria.

AIDA. Directed by Daniel Oren, the ‘queen’ of operas of the Arena features Maria José Siri, Luciano Ganci, Clémentine Margaine, Igor Golovatenko and Alexander Vinogradov from 20 June to 4 September, as well as debut appearances in various roles by Marina Rebeka, Brian Jagde, Aleksandra Kurzak and Roberto Alagna, and the return of artists such as Anna Netrebko (10 and 17/8), Gregory Kunde, Ludovic Tézier, Ekaterina Semenchuk, and Agnieszka Rehlis.

LA TRAVIATA. From 27 June to 2 August, La Traviata returns to the Arena in the elegant set-up by Hugo De Ana created for the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy and not presented at the amphitheatre since 2016. On the podium is Speranza Scappucci, principal guest conductor at the Royal Opera House in London, a musician appreciated worldwide and also a well-known face in Italy as co-host of the TV programme La gioia della musica. In the Arena, she conducted on one single date, four years ago: the Verdi Requiem Mass. She is, therefore, making her debut here now in an opera production. Alongside her is an exceptional cast: Violetta is sung by American soprano Angel Blue, who makes her debut in Arena, with whom Rosa Feola and Nadine Sierra take turns. In the role of Alfredo, Galeano Salas, Enea Scala and Dmitry Korchak alternate with the Germont performers Enkhbat, Salsi and Tézier. For two performances, and one of Aida, Francesco Ommassini makes his debut at the Arena. This Venetian conductor in high demand in top Italian theatres, in Moscow and Seoul, has already led Arena artist groups in the opera and symphony seasons at the Teatro Filarmonico.

CARMEN. Bizet's opera brings Franco Zeffirelli's vivid and cinematic Seville back to the Arena, from 4 July to 3 September. Protagonist Aigul Akhmetshina, an iconic Carmen of our time, returns following last season's triumphal performances. Alisa Kolosova and Anita Rachvelishvili alternate with her. Alongside them is the Kurzak-Alagna couple (in art and life), as well as tenors Meli, Beczała, De Tommaso and Eyvazov (in his debut as Don Josè), the sopranos Mariangela Sicilia and Daniela Schillaci, and baritones Erwin Schrott, Luca Micheletti, and Giorgi Manoshvili. On the podium is Francesco Ivan Ciampa and on stage over 500 choruses, white voices, mimes, extras, dancers and the Antonio Gades dance company.

RIGOLETTO. From 8 August to 6 September, Rigoletto returns in the historic setting which, with scenes by Raffaele Del Savio, reconstructs the opera’s premiere at the Arena in 1928, as created by Ettore Fagiuoli, architect and leading set designer of the Amphitheatre for over twenty years. After the success of the inaugural Turandot in 2024, conductor Michele Spotti returns to lead the Arena orchestras and great artists, including Enkhbat, Salsi and Park as the protagonist. The sopranos Nadine Sierra, Erin Morley and Rosa Feola bring to life Gilda, seduced by the Duke of Mantua; the latter is played by Samoan tenor Pene Pati, in his debut at the Arena and alternating with the Mexican tenor, Salas. The cast is rounded off by Gianluca Buratto and, in this opera and others of the Festival, established performers and emerging young talent from all over the world also in supporting roles. These include: Sofia Koberidze, Jan Antem, Carlo Bosi, Nicolò Ceriani, Francesca Maionchi, Vincent Ordonneau, Abramo Rosalen, Daniela Cappiello, Matteo Macchioni, Gabriele Sagona, Riccardo Rados, Ramaz Chikviladze, and Giulio Mastrototaro.

In addition to the 5 operas, there are 8 event evenings of dance and concerts. Many varied events are proposed on a single date.

JONAS KAUFMANN IN OPERA. The tenor returns to Arena as protagonist of a grand gala on 3 August: an evening entirely dedicated to Italian opera, of which Kaufmann is one of the most sought-after performers worldwide.

CARMINA BURANA Orchestra and full chorus are called to perform Orff's Carmina Burana on 15 August, conducted by Andrea Battistoni with the participation of Erin Morley, Ludovic Tézier and countertenor Raffaele Pe.

VIVA VIVALDI. In co-production with Balich Wonder Studio, Giovanni Andrea Zanon conducts the Four Seasons in Viva Vivaldi as violin soloist. The Four Seasons Immersive Concert, on August 27, exactly 300 years after the publication of the famous concerti, in a multimedia show that was welcomed this year in the recently-concluded Arena Festival by thousands of young people and a standing ovation at its world premiere.

ROBERTO BOLLE AND FRIENDS. A strong focus on dance in the 2025 programme. Double date on 22 and 23 July for Roberto Bolle and Friends, a show co-produced with Artedanza; this entirely new programme expertly combines classic, modern and contemporary forms, with La Scala’s étoile Bolle and principal dancers from top theatres around the world.

ZORBA THE GREEK. In 2025, Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis would have turned 100 years old; the Fondazione pays homage to him with his most famous work, a symbol of dance at the Arena di Verona, for which it was expressly written. After the sell-outs of the single date in 2023 and the two dates in 2024, Zorba the Greek returns to the Teatro Romano, this time for three dates: 26, 27 and 31 August.

The show start times already established last summer have been confirmed: performances in June start at 9.30 pm, those in July at 9.15 pm and in August and September the curtain rises at 9.00 pm.

Tickets for all dates are already on sale on arena.it, on the social channels of the Arena di Verona and on Ticketone, ticket office manager with UniCredit, major partner of the Fondazione Arena. Special reductions are reserved for those under 30 and over 65.