The Festival dei Due Mondi lights up Spoleto and heads toward its grand finale with a record-breaking edition
Spoleto, 13 July 2025 – With the fifth and final edition under the artistic direction of Monique Veaute, the Festival dei Due Mondi bids farewell to its audience, recording over 31,000 tickets sold and a record-breaking box office revenue of €925,000 – a 17% increase over the already successful 2024 edition – achieving the best sales performance of the last eighteen years.
The Festival’s success lies in the acclaim for its artistic vision, which embraced a plurality of languages, experimentation, and openness to the new – the hallmarks of a direction attuned to the spirit of the times and capable of engaging a curious and diverse audience. Equally decisive was the work of the organizational team, which, over the past years, raised its standards across all departments, ensuring strong financial results, dedicating growing resources to artistic production, enhancing the audience experience, and consolidating the Festival’s image and reputation on a local, national, and international level.
The 68th edition of the Festival hosted 67 productions for a total of 106 performances, with an average attendance rate well above 90%, many of which were sold out. In addition, the immersive installation Flux at the San Nicolò Monumental Complex registered 100 fully booked sessions. More than 784 artists from 53 companies brought the city to life, while the Festival employed a team of 280 people, including permanent and freelance staff, technicians, and front-of-house personnel.
Among the many outstanding performances – most of them Italian premieres and Festival commissions – Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright at Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti sold out every night, as did the two intense performances of The Great Yes, The Great No by William Kentridge. The Festival's largest venues confirmed this year's growth: Piazza Duomo, with 1,500 spectators each evening, hosted two major international events – Rufus Wainwright Solo and a performance by Anoushka Shankar, queen of the sitar – affirming the square as a musical heart of the Festival. Also a major success was the special event Novecento: il duello, with Alessandro Baricco, Stefano Bollani, and Enrico Rava, which turned Piazza Duomo into an open-air theatre for 2,400 spectators. Broadcast live on Rai 5, the evening garnered excellent viewership and offered unforgettable moments destined to become part of the Festival’s collective memory.
At the Teatro Romano, dance drew a loyal and enthusiastic audience: Impermanence by the Sydney Dance Companywelcomed 900 spectators per performance, while Urlicht Primal Light, featuring the Circa Ensemble and Franui Musicbanda, reached nearly 1,000 per night. Sold out events included the midweek performance of New Earth + Bolero X by Shahar Binyamini, and the two-night run of Didon et Enée choreographed by Blanca Li, already a favorite with the Festival audience. The Italian exclusive concert by Ben Böhmer brought the Festival's energy to a peak, getting 1,000 people dancing at the Teatro Romano.
The Concerti di Mezzogiorno series expanded to larger venues and increased its number of performances in response to growing audience demand. The 15 concerts drew over 3,700 attendees and featured exclusive performances by leading international artists including Lea Desandre, Matthew Rose, Benjamin Appl, and the Quartetto della Scala. Particularly well received were pianist Hayato Sumino, who captivated the audience, and the Amber Quartet from China. The Jazz Club at Palazzo Collicola also sold out all events, with concerts by Eleonora Strino, Francesca Tandoi, and China Moses.
All theatre performances were sold out as well, with some of Italy’s most acclaimed stage artists featured. The Festival hosted the national premiere of Prima del Temporale, the autobiographical play by Umberto Orsini directed by Massimo Popolizio; it also produced La cosmicomica vita di Q, written and performed by Luca Marinelli; restaged Giovanni Testori’s Edipus, directed by Federico Tiezzi and starring Sandro Lombardi, 30 years after its debut; and presented L’amore non lo vede nessuno, the latest work by Giovanni Grasso, directed by Piero Maccarinelli. The return of the Berliner Ensemble with Woyzeck, directed by visionary theatre-maker Ersan Mondtag, was met with resounding critical and audience acclaim.
Finally, anticipation is high for tonight’s Closing Concert, sold out weeks in advance: the traditional event in Piazza Duomo brings the 2025 edition and Monique Veaute’s five-year tenure to a close. The Budapest Festival Orchestraconducted by Iván Fischer will perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, marking the conclusion of their Festival residency.