Opera concert · Catania
Singers and the Catania Chamber Orchestra fill a Baroque church beside the cathedral where Bellini is buried.
Likely to sell out, for a programme built around Bellini's own melodies.
Four facts behind the evening
Why Bellini, why here
Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania in 1801 and died in France at 33. The city has never let him go: his birthplace is a museum, a monument stands in Piazza Stesicoro, the opera house carries his name and his tomb lies in the cathedral. A concert of his music here is a place where the composer, the city and the sound line up.
Bellini belongs to the bel canto tradition, Italian for beautiful singing. His tunes are long, plain-spoken lines that a voice spins out slowly, so you can follow them without knowing the plots. Casta diva, the moon prayer from Norma, is the famous example, and pieces by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi or Puccini can share a programme with him.
The Catania Chamber Orchestra draws on players trained at Sicilian conservatories, with young musicians from the city. Travellers describe a bare, close-up setting: no stage set, no microphones, singers and strings close to the audience. It is a concert, not a staged opera.
The Badia di Sant'Agata is a Baroque church by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, built after the 1693 earthquake beside the cathedral where Bellini rests. The music sits under its dome, among marble and stucco, in a hall travellers praise for its acoustics.
Programme notes
Bellini's music sits at the centre of the programme, with his contemporaries beside it.
The organiser says the programme may change, so treat these as a map of the music, not a running order.
The best-known aria in the Bellini repertoire. A high priestess asks the moon goddess for peace in a long, floating line. Norma was first staged at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831, to a cool first night and a warmer second one.
Written for the Teatro Carcano in Milan, it follows Amina, a village girl who walks in her sleep. Her closing aria moves from sorrow to joy, a test of a soprano's control.
Bellini's first big success, staged at La Scala in 1827 and set in thirteenth-century Sicily. Pieces from it can turn up in a Bellini programme.
Bellini also wrote songs. Fifteen were published together as chamber compositions in 1935, a century after his death. They are short and intimate, a smaller scale than the opera arias.
A Bellini programme can place his music among arias and overtures by composers who shaped Italian opera before and after him. Hearing them side by side shows what his long melodic line does differently.
Where it is held
A Baroque church on Via Vittorio Emanuele II, facing the side of Catania Cathedral.
Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, the architect who shaped much of Catania's rebuilt centre, designed the church. Work began in the 1730s on the site of an earlier convent church. The Italian tourism board calls it a masterpiece of Catanese Baroque.
A powerful earthquake in 1693 destroyed much of Catania, and the earlier church and monastery on this site with it. The new church belongs to the rebuilding that gave the city its Baroque centre, part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing since 2002.
An octagonal dome crowns the church, and a walkway and terraces around it have been open to visitors since 2015. Nuns of the neighbouring Benedictine monastery once used these spaces to watch city events. The concert ticket covers the music, not the climb.
Catania Cathedral holds Bellini's tomb. His remains were brought back from Paris in 1876, forty-one years after his death, and the cathedral is the natural stop before or after the concert.
Church and cathedral square
Photographs of the dome, the facade and the cathedral square around the Badia di Sant'Agata.
Choosing
| Option | What you get | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Bellini opera concert at the Badia di Sant'Agata | A recital of Bellini's melodies alongside pieces by his contemporaries, sung and played in a Baroque church by the Catania Chamber Orchestra and singers, with a day of free cancellation built in and the option to pay later. | Anyone who wants voices and arias on a date they can plan. |
| Bellini and Vivaldi's Four Seasons, same church | A second concert under the same dome that sets Bellini beside Vivaldi's Four Seasons, on the same cancellation and pay-later terms. | Anyone who loves Vivaldi and wants Bellini alongside. |
| An evening at the opera house | Catania's Teatro Massimo Bellini, opened in 1890 with Norma, stages opera and concerts; each production has its own dates and ticket terms. | Visitors whose dates match a production and who want a full staging. |
Dates and seats
Open a card to see open dates for a Bellini concert at the Badia di Sant'Agata. A rail of other things to book in Catania follows.
A recital of Bellini's melodies alongside pieces by his contemporaries, sung and played in a Baroque church by the Catania Chamber Orchestra and singers, with a day of free cancellation built in and the option to pay later.
A second concert under the same dome that sets Bellini beside Vivaldi's Four Seasons, on the same cancellation and pay-later terms.
Other things to book in Catania
Notes for the evening ahead
The Badia di Sant'Agata, Via Vittorio Emanuele II 182, Catania, beside the cathedral. Go straight to the church; there is no separate meeting point. Your confirmation shows the entry details.
Dates are limited, and the calendar is the only list of them: every open date comes with its own start time.
Eat before or after: no food or drink may be taken into the church.
Seating is in pews. A few travellers find them hard over a long concert, so dress to sit comfortably.
The booking page marks the concert wheelchair accessible. For the route into the church on your date, check with the organiser named in your confirmation.
Silence your phone and keep voices low for as long as the music lasts.
Guides to the music, the church and the city
Which Bellini concert to book in Catania: the opera programme or the Bellini and Vivaldi evening, how booking works and who each one suits.
Continue to the guide → The church, the door and the eveningWhere the Badia di Sant'Agata is, what the church looks like inside, what to leave behind and how to fit the cathedral and Bellini's tomb around the concert.
Continue to the guide →FAQ
Pick a date in the calendar to see the length and start time, which your confirmation repeats. Leave a little slack on either side for finding a seat and for filing out of the church.
In the Chiesa della Badia di Sant'Agata, a Baroque church at Via Vittorio Emanuele II 182, next to Catania Cathedral. Go straight to the church; the ticket has no separate meeting point.
The Catania Chamber Orchestra, with singers joining the ensemble. The orchestra draws on players trained at Sicilian conservatories and young musicians from Catania.
No. Bellini wrote long, singable melodies that are easy to follow without the plots. The guides on this site explain Norma and Casta diva before you go.
A programme built around Bellini, with works by composers such as Rossini, Verdi and Puccini. The organiser says it may change, so do not count on one particular aria on one date.
Yes. Through GetYourGuide you can cancel until 24 hours before the start and be refunded in full, or simply hold a place now and settle the fare later.
The booking page flags it as wheelchair accessible; for step-free details on your date, ask the organiser named in your confirmation.
No. Food and drink are not allowed inside the church, so plan a meal before or after.
Every fare is per adult, and the booking page converts it to your own currency before you pay.