Muti opens the Arena Festival, on the podium on Saturday for Aida

(ANSA) - VERONA, 18 JUN - A concert and an exception 'wand' on 19 June in Verona, for the opening of the 98th Arena Opera Festival: maestro Riccardo Muti on the podium, 41 years after his first direction in the amphitheater, in the air of the Arena the notes of Verdi's Aida, 150 after the first performance in Cairo, in 1871. On the stage some of the most acclaimed Verdi artists: Buratto, Rachvelishvili, Zada, Maestri, Pertusi, Zanellato and the young Torre and Rados.

    The inauguration is close to sold-out, while - informs the Arena Foundation - some places are available for the rerun on June 22 A return of the Opera Festival with the public in attendance, limited to 6,000 spectators, the highest number for an open-air theater in Europe, thanks to the strict protocol of health measures proposed by the Arena and approved by the authorities. The expected return of Maestro Muti coincides with a symbolic date, in which the progressive numbering of the festival, interrupted by the pandemic emergency, resumes.

   Muti will lead the Verona Arena Orchestra and the Coropreparato by Vito Lombardi. Soprano Eleonora Buratto will make her debut as Aida, alongside tenor Azer Zada ​​as Radamès and mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris. "We have been waiting for this moment for a year, since the pandemic forced us to postpone the Arena festival already scheduled for summer 2020 - says Mayor Federico Sboarina - On that occasion, despite the drama of the moment and uncertainty, we promised that 98 / or the Arena festival was only postponed. So it was, Verona hosts an international artist like Riccardo Muti on the podium and the public will be able to enjoy an evening of great music ". (HANDLE).