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Where to hear great classical Music in Venice
By Robert Veel
30 July 2022 (updated 01.01.2023 to reflect the authorship of Robert Veel)
For more than 500 years, Venice has been a major centre for Western classical music. Renaissance masters such as Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli celebrated the glory of the Venetian state and the church, while Monteverdi and a string of eighteenth-century composers transformed opera into the artform we know today. Vivaldi and his colleagues created hundreds of instrumental concerti for some of the world’s first subscription concerts, which took place during the Carnival. In the nineteenth century, numerous premieres by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi took place in the legendary La Fenice opera house, and in the twentieth century composers including Stravinsky, Britten and Venetian-born Luigi Nono took inspiration from Venice and its traditions.
Despite an ever-shrinking population and the damage to the cultural fabric of the city from over-tourism, Venice continues to punch above its weight in the music scene. Apart from La Fenice, there are numerous other venues around the city where a music lover can enjoy performances of high quality in outstanding settings.
The frescoed ceiling of Palazzetto Bru Zane. Photo: Lomita (CC 2.0)
Palazzetto Bru Zane
This delightful concert venue is well off the tourist path, located in a quiet laneway in the San Polo district, not far from the well-known Frari church. The noble Zane family were so enamoured of music that in the late 1600s they built their own private concert hall (‘casino’), decorating it with frescoes and stucco. In 2009 French pharmaceutical magnate Dr Nicole Bru inaugurated a Centre for Music of the French Romantic Period in the palazzetto. Bru Zane’s seasons run from October through to May and feature chamber music by outstanding European musicians. Programs are published well in advance, so you can plan ahead. Visit the Bru Zane website for more detail.
Auditorium Lo Squero – music with a view to die for!
Auditorium Lo Squero
Now this is a well-hidden secret! The Giorgio Cini Foundation is a leading private cultural institution in Venice, with a number of museums and galleries on San Giorgio Island and in the Dorsoduro district. In a remote corner of San Giorgio a disused boatshed (squero in Venetian dialect) has been converted to a recital hall. As well as the music, the auditorium boasts superb views across the Venetian lagoon through the floor-to-ceiling window behind the stage. Concerts are mainly on Saturday afternoons and evenings, but you’ll have to navigate your way in Italian through a confusing website to obtain tickets, which are offered by the different organisations which use the venue. This might be one to ask your hotel concierge to arrange!
Curtain call for Vivaldi’s La Griselda at the Teatro Malibran, May 2022.
Performances were led by well-known baroque music specialist Diego Fasolis.
Teatro Malibran
In its heyday Venice had 17 theatres in operation, including six opera houses, so we should not be surprised to learn that even today La Fenice also has a second theatre, not far from the Rialto Bridge. Originally called the Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo, the Teatro Malibran is dedicated to the Spanish diva Maria Malibran, one of the world’s first international opera superstars. Having conquered London, Paris and New York, Malibran’s performances in Bellini’s La sonnambula in the dilapidated Crisostomo theatre in 1835 caused such a sensation that the theatre was completely renovated and renamed in her memory. (Malibran died aged just 28 in Manchester, England.) The interior you see today is early twentieth-century Belle Époque, and the theatre is used mainly for revivals of Venetian operas which you are unlikely to see anywhere else. Check La Fenice’s calendar for upcoming performances at the Malibran.
The Sale Apollinee in Teatro La Fenice.
Sale Apollinee
The glorious Sale Apollinee are to be found in the foyer area of La Fenice. Painstakingly restored after the 1996 fire, they host regular vocal recitals and chamber music concerts. The concerts are organised independently of the opera house by groups such as Musikamera and the Italy-wide Musica con le ali but details in English and bookings can be made through the La Fenice website.
An evening performance in Piazza San Marco.
Piazza San Marco
Venice’s only designated piazza – the other spaces are all campi – was always the centre of social and political life. Following Byzantine models, the ceremonies and processions which took place here were always accompanied by music. Seeking to revitalise the city post-Covid, La Fenice recommenced its annual gala performance in the Piazza in July 2022 with Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, conducted by Fabio Luisi. If you happen to be in Venice in the early summer, it’s an unmissable experience. Check La Fenice’s online calendar for details of future galas in the Piazza.
Churches and confraternities
Some of Venice’s most beautiful and historic institutions host concerts of vocal and instrumental music. Usually the performances are by visiting groups who have booked the venue, so you need to assess the quality of the ensemble and the program. The vast Franciscan church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, for example, is home to Titian’s famous altarpiece and dozens of other masterpieces of Renaissance Venice, including the tomb of Claudio Monteverdi. Over the years we have been lucky enough to enjoy superlative performances of Monteverdi’s Vespers right in front of the altarpiece but have also suffered through excruciatingly bad concerts by visiting amateur groups. Other venues to check include the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, just behind the Frari and, increasingly of late, the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, also close by.
The pomp and circumstance of La Fenice, in May 2022.
La Fenice
The magnificent La Fenice theatre remains the centre of Venice’s musical life. Opened in 1792, it was actually one of the last theatres of Venice’s golden age and was unusually large for its time. Destroyed twice by fire, the theatre was painstakingly restored and reopened in 2003. Some have criticised the overly bright decoration, but the glorious tradition of the theatre can still be felt as one enters a box or the stalls, or peruses the exhibition dedicated to Maria Callas’s performances at the theatre in the 1940s and 50s. La Fenice’s standards can be very high, but variable. As a rule of thumb, you should avoid the Traviatas and the Bohèmes – they’re put on for the tourists. Instead, search out new productions, rarities and works specifically connected with Venice, which La Fenice excels in. As well as opera, the theatre hosts regular orchestral concerts, and La Fenice’s orchestra is one of Italy’s best. Apart from a summer break in July and August, the theatre operates year-round. Check the La Fenice website for upcoming performances.
Caveat emptor!
Beware spruikers in costume!
Venice has always been a city with an eye for commercial advantage, and this extends to the music scene. In order to attract you to a concert, you are bound to encounter a lady or gentleman wearing elaborate eighteenth-century costume, keen to hand you a pamphlet or program. Generally, the more ornate the costume the worse the musical standard, but you may be surprised to get a decent if uninspiring run through some Vivaldi and Albinoni concerti. The church of San Vidal, for example, holds concerts most evenings presented by Interpreti Veneziani. The quality is not bad at all – perhaps because they choose not to wear costumes.
Music in Venice – LATE SEPTEMBER 2023
Limelight Arts Travel is offering a Music in Venice tour with Robert Veel in late September 2023. This 14-day residential-style tour allows you to settle, relax and enjoy performances at La Fenice, the Teatro Malibran, the Palazzetto Bru Zane and other venues. There is also a weekend excursion to the terraferma for the annual Vicenza Opera Festival, which takes place in Andrea Palladio’s masterpiece of Renaissance architecture, the Teatro Olimpico. We won’t be going to any concerts where the musicians wear costumes.
Music in Venice
26 September - 09 October 2023
Enjoy live performances and explore Venice’s magnificent 500-year musical heritage, from the city’s art and history to the lagoon and towns of the terraferma.