Kraft Hotel Florence · MAGGIO MUSICALE FIORENTINO

Music has played a very important part in the artistic life of Florence; the very first opera was in fact created here at the end of the 16th century, based on the theories and the experiences of the Camerata dei Bardi. The temple of Florentine music today is the Teatro Comunale, home of the Maggio Musicale, which, like its twinned city Salzburg - and also Bayreuth - holds the oldest and most important Festival in Europe, further supported by concert and opera seasons of the highest quality. Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

The Teatro Comunale was originally the Politeama Fiorentino, designed by Telemaco Bonaiutiin 1862, an open air arena which was to give birth to the conformation of the theatre as we see it today. At present the Comunale is formed of a huge auditorium, a single tier of boxes and two large amphitheatre-like semicircular galleries that can seat about 2000 people. The Piccolo Teatro of the Comunale, situated on one side of the main auditorium; is a really up-to-date "small theatre", capable of seating about 600 spectators.

Partially destroyed twice, by an air raid in 1944 and by the flood in 1966, the Teatro Comunale has always been immediately restored and has come to symbolize the city's sense of responsibility and will to start again, ( as expressed in the wonderful concert in Piazza della Signoria after the bomb attack on the Uffizi in 1993 ).

Indispensible elements behind the organization of the performances are the scene dock and costume shop while the technical staff (electricians, stage hands, sound technicians etc.) has always won the praise of the various artists with whom it has worked.
The stage of the Comunale has borne witness to the triumph of some of the most famous names in music of our times, among them conductors like Vittorio Gui, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Zubin Mehta, Von Karajan and Muti; the wonderful voice of Maria Callas made its debut here,while Pietro Mascagni, Richard Strauss, Paul Hindemith, Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, Luigi Dalla Piccola, Luigi Nono, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio and many others came to interpret their own compositions. Some of the exceptional directors and set designers include Max Reinhardt, Gustav Grundgens, Luchino Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Luca Ronconi, Bob Wilson, Giorgio De Chirico and Oskar Kokoschka.

The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was founded by Vittorio Gui in 1933 and immediately became one of the most important music festivals in the world. The Festival itself has always been characteristic for the originality of some of its basic cultural choices: one of these is the close attention given to the problems connected with the "visual aspect " of opera, thus some of this century's finest theatre and film directors have been called in to collaborate in the Festival as well as many famous painters and sculptors for the design of the sets and costumes. This has meant an almost constant exploration of Twentieth century music, from historic avant-garde compositions to more recent experiences, accompanied by the rediscovery of compositions and authors of the past that have fallen into oblivion.

The Maggio Musicale is normally held during the month of May and June but the activity of the Teatro Comunale continues all the year round, except for a short interlude in August, with the Summer Season, the Autumn Opera and Ballet Season ( September - December ) and the Symphonic Season ( January - April ); it offers an incredibly wide choice of music in various forms, capable of suiting all the different tastes of a huge public.