Presentata al Ministero della Cultura la nuova edizione del Festival dei Due Mondi
This morning, the sixty-eighth edition of the Festival dei Due Mondi was presented at the Ministry of Culture. The festival will take place in Spoleto from Friday, June 27, to Sunday, July 13, 2025. As Italy's oldest performing arts festival, it features 60 performances across Opera, Music, Dance, Theatre, Art, Performance, and Installations, involving more than 60 international companies and a total of 700 artists from 13 countries.
Under the artistic direction of Monique Veaute, the festival continues its interdisciplinary dialogue, offering a diverse program aimed at redefining artistic languages. The 68th Festival dei Due Mondi radiates from a "song of the earth," with the music of Gustav Mahler serving as a central theme, appearing both directly and indirectly throughout the programming. Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde embodies multiple meanings of contemporary existence, reflected in various forms—Lieder in the expanded midday concert series, chamber and symphonic performances by visiting ensembles, as well as in dance, theatre, and visual arts.
Art serves as a lens to interpret the present, exemplified by artists such as William Kentridge, who also designed this year’s official poster, Ersan Mondtag, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Clément Cogitore. These artists challenge traditional formats—opera, musical theatre, drama, or concert—experimenting with new connections and intersections.
The festival opens on Friday, June 27, at the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti with the opera Hadrian by New York composer Rufus Wainwright, accompanied by images from Robert Mapplethorpe. The festival features a wide range of musical theatre experiences: The Great Yes the Great No, a multidimensional production by William Kentridge blending chamber opera, oratorio, and theatre; Ersan Mondtag and Berliner Ensemble’s staging of Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck with live musicians; and Alessandro Baricco’s original adaptation of Novecento, performed with Stefano Bollani and Enrico Rava. Cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton collaborates with visual artist and opera director Clément Cogitore to bring her memories to life.
Chamber music concerts will double in number, with new afternoon performances added to the traditional midday sessions. A special series dedicated to voice and piano repertoire will feature internationally acclaimed performers such as Sandrine Piau, Benjamin Appl, Matthew Rose, Lea Desandre, Raffaele Pe, and La Lira di Orfeo. Resident orchestras include the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Budapest Festival Orchestra, which will perform Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Schönberg’s chamber orchestration and his Symphony No. 5 at the festival’s final concert in Piazza Duomo, conducted by Iván Fischer.
For the first time in Spoleto, the Teatro alla Scala String Quartet and Percussion Ensemble will perform. Western classical music will meet ancient traditions with the debut of China’s Amber Quartet and a concert in Piazza Duomo by sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar. The festival will also host the highly anticipated Italian debut of Japanese pianist Hayato Sumino. Besides opening the festival with Hadrian, Rufus Wainwright will give a solo concert in Piazza Duomo.
Gustav Mahler’s music will also inspire performances by contemporary circus company Circa. In celebration of Maurice Ravel’s 150th birth anniversary, choreographer Shahar Binyamini will reinterpret Boléro. The Sydney Dance Company, under Rafael Bonachela, will present a new work set to original music by Grammy-winning The Nationalfrontman Bryce Dessner. Choreographer Blanca Li returns to Spoleto with Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell, following the success of Le Bal de Paris. Fattoria Vittadini will create an immersive, sensory experience at the Complesso Monumentale di San Nicolò.
Theatre remains at the heart of the festival, with a focus on transcending linguistic, philosophical, and expressive boundaries while maintaining a strong literary dimension. Luca Marinelli returns to Spoleto as both director and actor in a stage adaptation of Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Federico Tiezzi and Sandro Lombardi will revive Giovanni Testori’s Edipus. Massimo Popolizio will direct a world premiere starring Umberto Orsini and will also lead graduates of the Accademia Nazionale Silvio d’Amico in a collection of texts inspired by notorious literary criminals. Piero Maccarinelli will direct a new production based on Giovanni Grasso’s novel L’amore non lo vede nessuno, conceived for the unique spaces of San Simone. The company #SIneNOmine will present a new work developed from their residency at the Spoleto Correctional Facility.
Beyond the official program, collateral events and special initiatives will turn Spoleto into a vibrant hub for contemporary artistic creation. These include artist talks, awards, art installations, and exhibitions. The Carla Fendi Foundation, in collaboration with Mahler & LeWitt Studios, will host William Kentridge’s Centre for the Less Good Idea in Spoleto. The Musica da Casa Menotti series by Fondazione Monini and the “Una Finestra su Due Mondi” prize will continue. The festival will once again welcome productions and workshops by the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico, as well as La MaMa Spoleto Open, showcasing emerging talent in acting, directing, and performance. This year’s La MaMa program will include special content for young audiences.
The festival also renews its partnership with Rai Per la Sostenibilità-ESG, supporting projects focused on social, economic, and environmental sustainability initiated by the festival’s foundation. Throughout the festival, visitors can explore an exhibition dedicated to the festival’s historic costumes on Via Saffi and a retrospective on William Kentridge at Palazzo Collicola.
William Kentridge, one of today’s most influential artists, designed the official poster for the 68th edition. Born in Johannesburg in 1955, Kentridge is internationally renowned for his ability to merge drawing, writing, film, performance, music, and theatre into a unique artistic language that blends political reflection with poetic and aesthetic sensibilities. Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, he studied art before moving to Paris to train at Jacques Lecoq’s mime school, deepening his expertise in acting and theatre direction. Since the 1970s, his fusion of visual and performing arts has become a defining feature of his work, exhibited at prestigious institutions such as MoMA in New York, the Louvre in Paris, and the Reina Sofia in Madrid. In 2016, he founded The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg, a space for artistic experimentation and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The 68th edition of the Festival dei Due Mondi is promoted by the Ministry of Culture, the Umbria Region, and the Municipality of Spoleto. It is supported by the Carla Fendi Foundation (Main Partner), Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto, and Banco Desio. Special thanks to Intesa Sanpaolo (Premium Supporter), Monini (Official Sponsor), and additional sponsors and technical partners. Media Partners include RAI (Main Media Partner), la Repubblica, and Il Messaggero. APA Roma is the festival’s advertising partner.