event

Eight hundred years after the death of Francis of Assisi, Ravenna Festival dedicates the title of its 37th edition to the patron saint of Italy, borrowing Dante’s verse Nacque al mondo un sole (Par. XI, v. 50). The program opens on May 21 with a concert by Anne-Sophie Mutter and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Vasily Petrenko, and continues until July 11. The Franciscan thread also runs through the concert in which Riccardo Muti conducts Hindemith’s Nobilissima visione, followed by a conversation with Massimo Cacciari on the influence of Saint Francis on Dante and Giotto; Muti will also appear on June 1 and 2, leading choir singers from across Italy in two days of lessons and rehearsals for the second edition of Cantare amantis est. Guests include Kent Nagano, Nicola Piovani and Toni Servillo, the Münchener Kammerorchester with Enrico Onofri, Stefano Bollani, Enrico Rava, Pat Metheny, Jeff Mills, Emma Nolde, Sadeck Berrabah, Yoann Bourgeois… More than one hundred performances and over one thousand artists will take part in Ravenna Festival 2026, made possible by the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Municipality of Ravenna, the main partner Eni, and the sponsors