Sferisterio Opera Festival (Macerata, Italy)

found: Madama Butterfly [VR], 2011:container (Sferisterio Opera Festival Macerata)

found: Wikipedia, Sept. 9, 2011(The Macerata Opera is the name given to the coordinating bodies of the provincial and local government in Macerata, the provincial capital of the Marche region of Italy, which puts on performances of three or four operas each July and August under the name Sferisterio Opera Festival. While the Macerata Opera has organized the Sferisterio Opera Festival as a summer opera festival, it actually began in 1921 with a performance of Verdi's Aida)

found: sferisterio.it, via WWW, 21 December 2017(Macerata Opera Festival: Music under the Sferisterio stars; Macerata Opera Festival 2018, from 20 July to 12 August; Arena Sferisterio Association, founded by the Municipality of Macerata and its Province, promotes and organises the Macerata Opera Festival, celebrating this year its 54th edition; Arena Sferisterio Association founded 22 December 1986; the Sferisterio, originally a sports area, was turned into a venue for opera performances; first opera was Aida in 1921; the following year, La Giaconda was staged with no success, and opera performances were halted; in 1967, opera performances resumed; in the late 80s, the municipality of Macerata, the Province administration, and a civil society organized the Associazione Arena Sferisterio to organize and manage the summer opera seasons; since then, summer festival called 'Macerata Opera' takes place each year)

found: italianways.com, 21 December 2017(Sferisterio in Macerata designed by Ireneo Aleandri (1795-1885); inagurated in 1829; initially used for sports events; renovated in 1920 as opera venue; since 1921 has been location of summer opera festival called 'Macerata Opera'; inaugural performance of Aida; La Gioconda performed in 1922, then nothing until 1927, when tenor Beniamino Gigli held a benefit concert; nothing until 1967, when Carlo Perucci suggested resuming opera performances, which have continued to the present time; renamed 'Sferisterio Opera Festival' in 2006 by the artistic director of the time, Pier Luigi Pizzi)

found: Email from Associazione Arena Sferisterio, 11 January 2017(name 'Macerata Opera Festival' has been used since 2012, when artistic director Francesco Micheli changed the name from Sferisterio Opera Festival (used from 2006-2011), and incorporated other collateral events such as other concerts, performances, readings, etc., with the opera season; before 2006, the term 'Macerata Opera' was used to refer to the opera season only)