Opera concert in Florence

The short answer

Book the Nessun dorma concert if you want famous tenor music in a single evening, in a building with centuries behind it. It is sold as “The Three Tenors in Florence - Nessun Dorma”. The booking page describes opera arias and traditional Neapolitan songs sung by tenors with a chamber ensemble, in the Cattedrale dell’Immagine, which stands in Piazza di Santo Stefano. It does not describe a staged opera with a plot, sets and a full cast. The sections below explain the title, the music, the building and the other ways to hear opera in Florence, so you can choose on facts rather than on a name.

What the title does and does not mean

The title echoes a famous evening. Wikipedia dates the first appearance together of Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras to 7 July 1990, at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, the night before the World Cup final, with a television audience of about 800 million. The recording of it went on to outsell every other classical album. The Florence concert says it is inspired by that show. The performers are other singers, and nothing on the booking page promises those three. Wikipedia adds that the trio mixed opera with Neapolitan songs, and that ’O sole mio was the song all three sang together, which is the same mix this concert offers. What you buy is the format: tenors, famous arias and Neapolitan songs, in one sitting.

The music you may hear

The booking page names arias based on La traviata, Rigoletto and Tosca, and Neapolitan songs including ’O sole mio and Funiculì, Funiculà. The title adds Nessun dorma, the best-known tenor aria from Turandot. A reviewer noted that the recital departed from the printed programme, and another was thrilled to hear Nessun dorma and ’O sole mio. Treat any list as pointers for your ears, not a running order. ’O sole mio dates from 1898 and Funiculì, Funiculà from 1880, says Wikipedia, so the Neapolitan half of the programme is as old as many of the arias and just as loved.

• Arias based on La traviata, Rigoletto and Tosca
• Neapolitan songs: ’O sole mio and Funiculì, Funiculà
• Nessun dorma, from Turandot
• A programme that can change from night to night

Read next: Nessun dorma, explained

Who sings and plays

The booking page says tenors perform with a chamber ensemble of piano, double bass and mandolin, and that choreographies are performed by dancers. Casts change: one reviewer who had read of many dancers saw one. Reviewers praise the tenors and the musicians, and one calls the tenors entertaining as well as talented. A tenor, says Wikipedia, is the highest male chest-voice type, and composers typically write for it from the B-flat below middle C to the C above it. That is the voice you will hear for most of the evening, so expect a high, bright sound in a tall stone room.

The building

The concert is held in the Cattedrale dell’Immagine, inside the former church of Santo Stefano al Ponte. The Italian Ministry of Culture’s page says the church was built in the 11th and 12th centuries in the Romanesque style, that its interior was reworked between 1631 and 1655 into a single space with a crypt and a choir, and that in 2015 it was reborn as Italy’s first permanent centre for immersive art. It also serves as an auditorium for classical and contemporary concerts. Wikipedia adds that in 1373 the church was used for Boccaccio’s lectures on the Divine Comedy. Reviewers praise the resonant acoustics, and some say the hall gets warm near the front.

Read next: The Cattedrale dell’Immagine

Where it is and how to arrive

The address is Piazza di Santo Stefano, 50122 Florence. Wikipedia places the church a short distance from the Ponte Vecchio, and the booking page puts the concert a few steps from Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi Gallery. The Ponte Vecchio spans the Arno at its narrowest point and, says Wikipedia, was rebuilt in 1345. It is the only bridge in Florence spared destruction in the Second World War. Piazza della Signoria, says Wikipedia, is still the political focus of the city, with the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia dei Lanzi and a copy of Michelangelo’s David. Enter the address in a map app before leaving, and allow a few minutes to find your seat.

Florence and the first operas

Opera began here. Wikipedia places its origin in Italy in the late 1500s, with Jacopo Peri’s Dafne, staged in Florence in 1598 and now mostly lost. Peri’s Euridice, first performed on 6 October 1600 at the Palazzo Pitti for the marriage of King Henry IV of France and Maria de Medici, is called the first such musical drama to survive. The arias in this concert are from the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the form was born in the city, a point the guide on Florence and the first operas develops.

Read next: Florence: where opera began

Other opera evenings in Florence

A different format is the immersive opera concert at the Teatro Nazionale Firenze: the booking page describes a pianist and two opera soloists, a host who tells the stories behind the arias, and projections on a large LED wall. For a complete staged opera, look to the city’s opera house. Wikipedia says the new Teatro dell’Opera di Firenze was inaugurated in 2011 and that the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival, which runs under its auspices and usually stages four operas from late April into June, is the city’s opera festival. Both concerts are short enough to combine with dinner or a museum day, and the Uffizi Gallery and the climb of Brunelleschi’s Dome appear among the booking options on the home page.

Read next: Tenor concert or full opera?

How the evening runs

The booking page gives about 1.5 hours. Every date on the calendar has its own start time, and the confirmation email gives it once more. There is no specific dress code, and pictures and videos are allowed without flash. The concert is listed as wheelchair accessible. A reviewer who bought the most expensive seats wrote that the cheapest would have been fine for hearing and viewing. The ticket is for the concert alone, so plan dinner and the walk home separately. Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio are both close by, which makes a stroll before or after the music a natural way to frame the evening. The booking page shows a rating of 4.6 from 177 reviews, and its summary of reviews calls the concert enjoyable and worthwhile.

Who this isn’t for

Skip it if you want a whole opera: there is no single plot to follow, only separate arias and songs. Skip it if you hope to hear the 1990 trio, or any one named singer, because casts change. Skip it if you want a hushed, formal hall: reviewers describe a lively, entertaining concert, and some find the room warm near the front. In each case a full opera at the opera house, or the Teatro Nazionale concert, is the better fit, and the comparison guide on this site sets them side by side. If you are unsure, the guide’s one-minute checklist at its close settles the choice quickly.

Read next: Tenor concert or full opera?

Choosing a date and booking

Start from the calendar: pick the evening that suits you and note the start time and language shown with it. Booking is a matter of choosing a night, not a seat category, because the concert is sold as one product with one stated length. Cancel 24 hours or more ahead for a refund; payment can also wait until later. Plan dinner around the start time and leave some slack for the walk through the old centre. The terms belong to the GetYourGuide booking, so read them at checkout, and keep the confirmation email, which repeats the date and the address.