The fifth edition of the Bucharest Opera Festival will take place at the Bucharest National Opera between 11 and 22 June, offering the public 12 consecutive evenings of opera, ballet and musical theatre, according to a press release the organisers issued on Tuesday.

The festival brings together companies from Romania and from around the world. International participants include the Orchestra of the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago (Italy), the Krakow Opera (Poland), the 'Maria Biesu' National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Chisinau (Republic of Moldova), the State Opera in Ruse (Bulgaria) and the Yamamoto Noh Theatre in Osaka (Japan).

Alongside the international guests, the 2026 edition will also bring to Bucharest some of the most active lyrical institutions in the country: the Romanian National Opera Iasi, the Romanian National Opera Timisoara, the Hungarian Opera in Cluj-Napoca, the 'Oleg Danovski' National Opera and Ballet Theatre, the 'Nae Leonard' National Opera and Operetta Theatre, the Radio Chamber Orchestra, as well as the host company, the Bucharest National Opera.

'Bucharest Opera Festival means, above all, continuity and dialogue. Each evening, the stage of the National Opera Bucharest is shaped by a different company, with its own artistic vision. For the public, this is the opportunity to see, in a short time, very different productions, from classical repertoire to forms of musical theatre rarely seen in Romania,' said Daniel Jinga, Director General of the Bucharest National Opera, as quoted in the release.

The series of performances will open on 11 June with the 'Maria Biesu' National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Chisinau presenting 'Iolanta' by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The programme of the following performances is:

12 June: Bucharest National Opera with 'The Barber of Seville' by Gioachino Rossini;

13 June: Radio Chamber Orchestra with 'The Human Voice' (opera in concert - semi-staged) by Francis Poulenc;

14 June: Hungarian Opera Cluj-Napoca with 'Iberica' (ballet) by Isaac Albeniz, Manuel de Falla and Jules Massenet;

15 June: 'Nae Leonard' National Opera and Operetta Theatre, Galati, with 'Cinderella' by Gioachino Rossini;

16 June: Krakow Opera with 'Carmen's Love Affairs' (ballet) by Georges Bizet, Rodion Shchedrin and Manuel de Falla;

17 June: Orchestra of the Puccini Festival - 'The Greatest of Puccini' from Torre del Lago;

18 June: 'Oleg Danovski' National Opera and Ballet Theatre Constanta with 'Faust' by Charles Gounod;

19 June: Ruse State Opera with 'Cinderella' (ballet) by Sergei Prokofiev;

20 June: Romanian National Opera Iasi with 'Carmen' by Georges Bizet;

21 June: Romanian National Opera Timisoara with 'Adriana Lecouvreur' by Francesco Cilea;

22 June: Yamamoto Noh Theatre Osaka with 'Noh in Resonance - Kiyotsune'.

In total, more than 1,500 artists and technical team members will take turns on the same stage over the 12 days of the festival, Daniel Jinga said.

Tickets are available online, at http://tickets.operanb.ro/, and at the box office of the Bucharest National Opera.

The full festival programme can be consulted on the official website.

AGERPRES National News Agency is one of the media partners of the event. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Petronius Craiu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)