Grand New Year's Concert

The concert that opens the year in Ascoli Piceno

The Grand New Year's Concert is one of the most cherished events in the cultural calendar of Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region. Every January 1st, at 9:30 PM, the Ventidio Basso Theatre—the city's "main" theatre overlooking the historic center—welcomes the audience for an evening entirely dedicated to great music, capable of accompanying the city into the new year with a wish of good fortune.

A tradition born in 1994

The event is a well-established tradition: it has been held continuously since 1994, the year the Ventidio Basso Theatre reopened after restoration work. For over thirty years, the concert has represented the most elegant way for the people of Ascoli to inaugurate the year, in an architecturally valuable setting in the heart of the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno. The initiative is promoted by the Associazione Coro Ventidio Basso with the Municipality of Ascoli Piceno and the Ascoli Cultura Foundation.

Orchestra, choir, and soloists

The protagonist of the evening is the Adriatic Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by the Ventidio Basso Choir. Lyrical singing soloists, sopranos, and tenors alternate on stage, giving voice to the most beloved arias from the operatic repertoire. The direction is entrusted to experienced maestros who, each year, craft a varied program designed to engage both enthusiasts and those approaching opera for the first time.

A journey through opera and operetta

The program alternates between the great works of Italian melodrama and the more brilliant pieces of European operetta. Among the composers featured in the evening are typically:

• Giuseppe Verdi, with his most famous choruses and arias;
• Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, and Ruggero Leoncavallo, voices of melodrama bridging the 19th and 20th centuries;
• Gaetano Donizetti and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for the freshness of their comic repertoire;
• Franz Lehár, Jacques Offenbach, and Amilcare Ponchielli, between operetta and grand opera.

The evening traditionally concludes with powerful choral moments, such as the famous "Va pensiero" from Nabucco and the toast from La Traviata, which are met with great applause each year.

An event for the whole city

The Grand New Year's Concert is part of a series of events in Ascoli Piceno that accompany the turn of the year, including concerts in Piazza del Popolo and initiatives in the historic center. Attending the evening at the Ventidio Basso means experiencing the first day of the year in one of the most beautiful theatre halls in the Marche region, immersed in the festive atmosphere of a city that makes culture one of its distinctive features.