Seat of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century and of Byzantine Italy until the 8th century, ancient Ravenna was a melting pot of cultures thanks to its strategic position on the Adriatic coast and its passage across the Mediterranean to both East and West. And so when Cristina Mazzavillani Muti founded the Ravenna Festival in 1990 she made it a premise that the programme should reflect the core of the city’s identity by presenting performing arts across all genres and cultures.
Staged throughout the city, including in many of its UNESCO World Heritage monuments and basilicas, the Ravenna Festival features both a two month summer festival and an autumn Opera trilogy.
Since 1997, the year of the first historic concert in Sarajevo, the path of the Ravenna Festival has been closely intertwined with “The Roads of Friendship”, a series of lay pilgrimages touching on cities wounded by war, which re-establish ancient ties to places that have made history by building ‘bridges of brotherhood’. Leading on these paths as cultural ambassadors are Riccardo Muti and an ensemble of Italian musicians who perform each year with local musicians at symbolic sites such as Beirut, Jerusalem, Moscow, Yerevan, Istanbul, Damascus, Nairobi, Tehran, Kyiv and Yerevan.
33rd edition: BETWEEN FLESH AND HEAVEN. Summer Programme: 1 June – 21 July / Autumn Trilogy: 31 October – 6 November …
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Dedicated to Dante – commemorating the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death in the city where he spent his last years and completed his Commedia. Highlights include three new commissions by Valentin Silvestrov, Tigran Mansurian, and Giovanni Sollima …
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This month the doors of Ravenna’s Alighieri Theatre will be opened digitally for two special concerts with Riccardo Muti and the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra, which will be streamed worldwide for free …
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Following the success of this year’s summer festival, which went ahead against all odds and welcomed 15 000 guests in person and 45 000 viewers online from around the world, plans for the Ravenna Festival’s Autumn Trilogy have now been announced …
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The Ravenna Festival is live streaming the majority of this year’s 40 programmes, starting with the opening concert this Sunday at 21.30 CET, performed by Riccardo Muti, the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and soprano soloist Rosa Feola …
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Over 40 public events in a newly imagined five-week programme, in keeping with the Ravenna Festival’s spirit. A vibrant array of artists and genres, including theatre, dance and film …
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The Ravenna Festival brings live concerts back to Italy for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, offering much needed cultural hope from the country which suffered so badly at the outbreak of the current crisis …
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The Ravenna Festival now reaches its 31th edition. In addition to a vibrant six week summer programme that includes the annual Roads of Friendship (3 July), Ravenna’s long season of music also encompasses Riccardo Muti’s Italian Opera Academy (18 to 31 July), the opening concert of the Celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death (4 September), and the Autumn Trilogy (6 to 15 November) …
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The main theme of this year’s festival is “On the High and Open Sea”, a quote from Dante’s Inferno referring to the Greek hero Ulysses which reminds us of the crucial role the sea has played in Ravenna’s long history …
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“A Long Season of Music in Ravenna”
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“We have a Dream”: From the great melting pot of cultures in the USA to a celebration of music and its ability to flourish under political and religious oppression, this year’s Festival presents over 50 performances with guest artists ranging from Wayne Marshall to David Byrne, Valentyn Sylvestrov, Valery Gergiev, Opera North, Ensemble Heinavanker and Bill T. Jones. …
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On July 6 and 8, over 200 Italian and Iranian musicians will make history with two concerts, performing together on stage in Tehran and Ravenna led by Italian cultural ambassador, Riccardo Muti. The project, instigated and curated by the Ravenna Festival …
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May 25 – July 11 “The Noise of Time” …
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Home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, Ravenna has historically been a crossroads of people and culture - the gateway between the East and West - and it is the city’s rich history which is the inspiration for a multi-faceted festival, now celebrating its 28th season …
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The project “Roads of Friendship” was launched on 14 July 1997 by building a bridge between Ravenna and the opposite shores of the Adriatic Sea. Ravenna Festival carried the strains of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eroica andFranz Schubert’s Spirit song over the waters to Sarajevo, at the Skenderija Centre. Conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti, music became the spark that reawakened the pride and vitality of Bosnia’s martyr city …
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