What to do this week in Florence and surroundings

Events, exhibitions and must-see events from 6 to 12 May

Art, concerts, shows and good food. Here are the events not to be missed this week in and around Florence.

• PESSOA. SINCE I'VE BEEN ME BY ROBERT WILSON AT THE PERGOLA THEATRE

From Thursday 2 to 12 May, at 9 p.m., at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence, the world premiere of the play "essoa. Since I Have Been Me from texts by Fernando Pessoa, dramaturgically written by Darryl Pinckney and directed by Robert Wilson. Cast: Aline Belibi, Maria de Medeiros, Rodrigo Ferreira, Klaus Martini, Sofia Menci, Gianfranco Poddighe and Janaina Suaudeau. Robert Wilson enthusiastically welcomed the idea of a show dedicated to Pessoa launched by the Teatro della Pergola in Florence and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, and the Pergola has already hosted the first phase of rehearsals in January. The performance is in English, Portuguese, French and Italian, idioms also reflected by the different origins of the cast.

Pessoa. Since I Have Been Me (ph. Filippo Mazzini)

• OPENING OF THE IRIS

The Iris Garden at Piazzale Michelangelo opens from 25 April to 20 May. Some 3000 varieties of irises from all over the world bloom in the over two hectares of land.

Giardino dell'Iris (ph. Pasquale Paradiso)

• 86TH MAGGIO MUSICALE FIORENTINO

On Sunday, May 5, at 8 p.m., maestro Daniele Gatti on the podium of the Sala Grande for his second symphonic concert as part of the 86th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival, which runs through June 13. A program dedicated to Goffredo Petrassi Magnificat for light soprano, mixed choir and orchestra and Dmitrij Šostakovič Symphony No. 10 in E minor Op. 93.

Daniele Gatti (direttore) © Marco Borggreve

• PINGUINI TATTICI NUCLEARI CONCERT

From Thursday 2 to Saturday 4 May, at 9 p.m., the Nelson Mandela Forum hosts a triple date with music for the Pinguini Tattici Nucleari concert.

pinguini tattici nucleari

• MOLIÈRE AT THE PERGOLA THEATRE

On Monday 29 April, at 8 p.m., the Teatro della Pergola will be staging Venti Lucenti's play Molière, directed, scripted and costumed by Manu Lalli, with free admission by reservation (subject to availability).

• NOTTE BLU

The Notte Blu, the event organised by Europe Direct Firenze on the occasion of Europe Day, returns on 4 May at the Limonaia di Villa Strozzi. The theme selected for the fifteenth edition is digital transition, with a focus on how artificial intelligence affects the creative sector. Starting at 6.30 p.m., creatives, jurists, professors, artificial intelligence experts and philosophers will talk about it. The talk 'To infinity and beyond - The impact of artificial intelligence on the creative sector' sees the interventions of Lorenzo Ceccotti (visual artist and designer), Francesco 'Checco' Draicchio (Lo Stato Sociale), Teresa Numerico (lecturer in logic and philosophy of science at the Roma Tre University), Giovanni Maria Riccio (lecturer in Comparative Private Law, University of Salerno) and Adriana Peduto (lawyer, partner in the E-Lex law firm) coordinated by Matteo Flora (lecturer in AI and superintelligence security at Ese - European School of Economics). The evening will end, starting at 10.30 p.m., with Lo Stato Social DJ Set.

• BAROQUE FESTIVAL FLORENCE

From Friday, May 3 to Sunday, June 30, the eighth edition of Baroque Festival Florence, the only Baroque music festival in Florence, comes to life. 16 concerts with internationally renowned musicians, in a place of great artistic value normally closed to the public: the Sala Capitolare of Santa Felicita, with frescoes of the Giotto school, as well as in other places of great historical-artistic interest in Florence, such as the Church of Santa Felicita, and the Marucelliana Library; two will be outdoors in the cloister of Santa Felicita (in case of rain, they will pass in the adjoining Sala Capitolare). Among the concerts not to be missed: Friday, May 3, 9 p.m. Sala capitolare di Santa Felicita Johann Sebastian Bach: Italian Style, German Style. Wednesday, May 8, 9 p.m. Sala capitolare di Santa Felicita Divine beauties. Neapolitan motets for solo voice and continuo. Wednesday, May 29, 9 p.m. - Admission free of charge - Church of Santa Felicita The Golden Age of the Baroque Trumpet, from Fantini to Händel. Friday, June 28, 6 p.m. - Admission free of charge -Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence The golden age of the mandolin in Florence.

the concert, oil on canvas nicolas tournier

• LA TRAVIATA IN IMMERSIVE VERSION AT THE CATHEDRAL OF THE IMAGE

The Cathedral of the Image hosts every Thursday at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., until Sept. 26, the world's most performed opera La Traviata, for the first time in an unprecedented immersive, semi-staged version produced by Opera Laboratori, Sillabe Editore, Modigliani Productions and Crossmedia. A narrator, Paolo Noseda, accompanies the audience (in Italian and English) through the most poignant love story of all time.

• CELESTIAL DIALOGUES: PLANETARIUM MEETINGS

In the dome of the Digital Planetarium of the Science and Technology Foundation in Florence, the rich program of meetings continues, which for six Wednesdays, at 9 p.m., allow visitors to learn more about the Universe. Astrophysicists guide the visitor's gaze in space and time through astronomy, astrophysics, history, literature, and music, to bring an audience of young people and adults closer to the knowledge of the Heavens, with the illustration of the most recent scientific discoveries, in an unprecedented and multidisciplinary perspective. Wednesday, May 22 at 9 p.m. Ruggero Stanga presents additional methods of observing the Universe that Physics provides. On Wednesday, June 5 at 9 p.m., Alessandro Marconi in the meeting ELT and ANDES: new frontiers of optical and infrared astronomy, and finally, on Wednesday, June 19 at 9 p.m., astrophysicist Emiliano Ricci journalist and science author in the meeting Harmonic Spheres: a journey between astronomy and music.

• THE PANPERS AT THE PUCCINI THEATRE

Friday 3 May, at 9 p.m., the Puccini Theatre hosts Body Scemi, the show by the comedy duo PanPers formed by Andrea Pisani and Luca Peracino.

• OMER KLEIN IN CONCERT AT FLORENCE'S CATHEDRAL OPERA MUSEUM

On Thursday, May 9, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo will host the inaugural concert of "I Poeti del Piano Solo," the Festival dedicated to the emotions of the piano in purity, Omer Klein's concert, on his only Italian date, in the Sala del Paradiso. Admission is free with mandatory reservations from 9 a.m. Thursday, May 2, at the following link: https://duomo.firenze.it/it/eventi/11109/omer-klein-in-concerto-nel-museo-dell-opera-del-duomo. The event is streamed live on the You Tube channel of the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore.

Modello dell'antica facciata del Duomo di Firenze di Arnolfo di Cambio, Museo dell'Opera del duomo, foto Antonio Quattrone

• STARRY NIGHT, IMMERSIVE CONCERTS AT THE CATHEDRAL OF THE IMAGE

The immersive concerts of the Starry Night initiative continue at the Cathedral of the Image, featuring pop music reinterpreted in a classical key with a starry sky enveloping the audience in the deconsecrated church of Santo Stefano al Ponte. The program: May 12 Tribute to Michael Jackson; Saturday, June 1 Tribute to Lady Gaga.

 Starry Night alla Cattedrale dell'Immagine

• PIANO SOLO WITH A VIEW OF FLORENCE

Concert with a view of Florence in one of the city's most beautiful locations. It happens on the evening of May 12 when Stefania Tallini's piano solo will resound, from 6 p.m., on the Belvedere Terrace of the Bardini Garden. Tallini is among the most appreciated Italian pianists and composers, with her eclectic style mixing jazz, classical music and Brazilian influences. She has performed several times as part of the Concerti del Quirinale as well as at major international festivals in Italy, France, Germany, Lithuania, the United States and Israel. In her solo piano performances she best expresses her peculiar compositional world, now increasingly mature and personal.

Giardino Bardini

• EXHIBITIONS NOT TO BE MISSED

There are many exhibitions around the city not to be missed in these first months of the year: let's discover them together!

“Anselm Kiefer. Angeli caduti”, Palazzo Strozzi. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio Ⓒ Anselm Kiefer