2025 Florence New Year’s Day Events
New Year’s Day in Florence offers two traditional concerts: one in the morning by the Fiesole Music School orchestras (11 am) at the Teatro del Maggio, and the other in the afternoon by the Orchestra della Toscana (5 pm) at Teatro Verdi.
In addition to the two performances, for museum-lovers, the Medici Chapels will be exceptionally open from 11:15 am to 6:50 pm.
Three ensembles will take the stage in the morning concert. The young musicians of the Orchestra dei Ragazzi, conducted by Antonino Siringo, will present two South American compositions: España, Waltz op. 236 by Émile Waldteufel and the lively Danzón, an orchestral composition by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. The rest of the program, mainly dedicated to the music of eastern Europe, will be interpreted by the Galilei Orchestra and the Italian Youth Orchestra, with conductors Edoardo Rosadini, Davide Sanson and Alexander Lonquich alternating on the podium. The program includes Ligeti’s Concert românesc, inspired by his childhood in Romania; a country also paid homage by Enescu’s exotic Romanian Rhapsody. In honor of the Johann Strauss Jr.’s 200th birth anniversary, Csárdás, a piece from the composer’s lyric opera Ritter Pásmán op. 441 will be played in addition to the overture of his operetta The Gypsy Baron and Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 18 in D major (orchestration by Dvorak. The concert will close with with the symphonic poem From My Fatherland (La Moldava), written by Smetana in 1874.
Conducted by Gianna Fratta, the Orchestra della Toscana’s performance will showcase opera and operetta compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, Jacques Offenbach, Tchaikovsky, Franz Lehár, Leonard Bernstein, Luigi Boccherini and Luciano Berio. Also spotlighted is the talent of soloists Daniela Cappiello (soprano) and Reinaldo Droz (tenor).
