REMM – Youth Opera Festival (Murgian Musical Residencies)

The Murgia opera festival

The REMM – Youth Opera Festival, an acronym for Murgian Musical Residencies, is the major summer event that has turned Gravina in Puglia—a city in the Province of Bari nestled in the Apulian Murgia—into a landmark for opera in Southern Italy. Promoted by the Orchestra di Puglia e Basilicata and artistically directed by soprano Katia Ricciarelli, the festival weaves together great operatic classics, symphonic concerts, original productions, and international projects, taking classical music out of theaters and into the city's historical and scenic heritage.

A project for young performers

The heart of REMM is training: the festival is designed as an artistic residency that brings together emerging singers, instrumentalists, and conductors from Italian and international conservatories. Alongside the performances, there are masterclasses in singing and conducting, workshops, and collaborative productions involving orchestras, choirs, and dance companies. It serves as a true springboard for the new generation of belcanto, providing them with a real stage, an attentive audience, and world-renowned masters to learn from.

Opera among cloisters, squares, and masserie

The scenographic formula of REMM is one of its most recognizable signatures: performances are not held in a single hall but migrate across the most evocative locations in Gravina. Voices resonate among the arches of historical cloisters, in the town squares, along the famous Ponte Acquedotto, within the walls of the Swabian Castle, and in the masserie of the Murgian countryside. This creates an experience where listening to opera blends with discovering the city, its rock-hewn architecture, and its landscapes, with recitals and operas often performed outdoors under the summer sky of the Alta Murgia.

From opera to symphonic music

The program ranges from masterpieces of the operatic repertoire to symphonic concerts, chamber recitals, and world premieres, with collaborations uniting the Orchestra di Puglia e Basilicata with international conservatories and choirs. The festival also makes room for original productions and shows that dialogue with dance and folk traditions, confirming Gravina in Puglia as one of the cultural capitals of the musical summer in Southern Italy.

Why it's worth the trip

• High-quality opera in monumental, open-air settings in the heart of the Murgia.
• Artistic direction by a belcanto legend, Katia Ricciarelli.
• A project that promotes young performers and the historical heritage of Gravina.
• Affordable tickets and a strong sense of community.