Now in its forty-first edition, the Romaeuropa Festival reaffirms its role as a cornerstone of contemporary culture, consolidating its prestige both nationally and internationally. Through the convergence of diverse visions, practices, and languages, the Festival continues to establish itself as a vital space of exchange between disciplines and artistic contexts, fostering each year an inclusive, open, and universal cultural and intellectual dialogue—one that reflects the complexity of the present and engages with the transformations of the contemporary world.
Under the direction of Fabrizio Grifasi, this forty-first edition takes place within a context marked by significant international anniversaries, including the 75th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Italy and Germany and the 70th anniversary of the twinning between Rome and Paris. Within this framework, the Festival reaffirms its European vocation and its role as a privileged platform for dialogue between institutions and cultural perspectives.
Since its foundation, the Festival has grown thanks to the continued support of public institutions, including the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Regione Lazio, Roma Capitale, and the Camera di Commercio Roma. This commitment is complemented each year by the contribution of numerous cultural institutions that form the vibrant core of the Festival’s international dimension, including, this year, the German Academy Villa Massimo and the Goethe-Institut; Villa Medici – French Academy in Rome; the Institut Français and the Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati; the Representation of Flanders in Italy; the Instituto Cervantes; the Embassy of Norway; the Korean Cultural Institute; the Institut Ramon Llull; the Fonds Podiumkunsten – Performing Arts Fund NL; and the American Academy in Rome.
The Romaeuropa Festival also benefits from the support of private partners who contribute to its development, innovation, and capacity to envision new forms of audience engagement. This year, the institutional support of Fondazione Roma is renewed and expanded, particularly in relation to the REF Kids & Family programme, strengthening an initiative dedicated to younger generations, families, and access to culture.
Since 2022, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels has played a particularly significant role. This international project, dedicated to supporting contemporary dance, has accompanied the Festival in developing a strong and internationally oriented choreographic programme. This collaboration has grown steadily, becoming more deeply embedded in the life of Romaeuropa, as reflected in the appointment of its Director, Serge Laurent, to the Festival’s Board of Directors—an indication of a shared vision and commitment to supporting contemporary creation.
Banca Ifis also renewed its support this year, reaffirming its commitment to the promotion of contemporary culture and, in particular, supporting the two opening projects of this forty-first edition.
The Romaeuropa Festival is rooted in a broad network of cultural institutions, production centres, academies, and venues across the city, all of which contribute significantly to the quality, diversity, and articulation of its programme. The Festival continues to collaborate with key institutions within Rome’s cultural system, including the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Fondazione Teatro di Roma, the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, the Fondazione Mattatoio Roma, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and the Fondazione Musica per Roma. At the same time, it returns to important private venues such as Auditorium Conciliazione, Teatro Olimpico, Teatro Brancaccio, and Teatro Vascello, and shares visions and projects with organisations such as Short Theatre and the MAXXI Museum.
This network extends across the national landscape through collaborations focused on supporting creativity, with particular attention to the Italian theatre scene and to processes of production, development, and circulation for emerging artists. In this context, partnerships include Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, Teatro Stabile dell’Umbria, TPE – Fondazione Teatro Piemonte Europa, Teatro Nazionale di Genova, Scarti – Centro di Produzione Teatrale d’Innovazione della Liguria, Cranpi, 369gradi, and LAC Lugano. These networks share a common vision aimed at supporting research, contemporary dramaturgy, and new generations of artists.
This year also sees a strengthened collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico, through a new project conceived as a bridge between creation and education, reflecting the Festival’s ongoing commitment to learning processes and the transmission of knowledge. In the same direction are the collaborations with Peparini Academy for workshops and performance pathways, as well as with the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, ISIA Roma Design, IED – Istituto Europeo di Design, NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, RUFA – Rome University of Fine Arts, and the Italian Videogame Academy.
These initiatives are complemented by shared projects with numerous organisations across the territory and the national landscape, including Carrozzerie n.o.t, Twain Centro Produzione Danza, ATCL – Associazione Teatrale fra i Comuni del Lazio, Spazio Rossellini, Teatro Biblioteca Quarticciolo, Settimo Cielo, Triennale Milano, the Centro Nazionale di Produzione della Danza, Casa della Danza, L’arboreto – Teatro Dimora, and Gender Bender, forming a cultural ecosystem that fosters ongoing dialogue between production, presentation, education, and research.
The Festival also benefits from the valuable contribution of RAI, its Main Media Partner, which enhances the visibility of the programme and extends its reach to an increasingly diverse and wide-ranging audience.
Finally, the Festival is supported by the patronage of the Embassies of France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Norway, and Switzerland, and continues to strengthen its engagement in European projects and initiatives dedicated to research, mobility, and artistic innovation, including EXCENTRIC within the Horizon Europe programme, Lazio Danza e Teatro in collaboration with Regione Lazio and Lazio Innova, and cultural activities developed with the Directorate-General for Libraries and Cultural Institutes. This confirms its commitment to investing in networks capable of supporting emerging contemporary creation and fostering new models of cultural growth.
All of this is the result of the work of a team composed of multiple generations, in which established expertise and new professional profiles come together to renew the Festival’s mission over time and expand its vision.
In a global context marked by profound political, social, and cultural transformations, Romaeuropa continues to affirm its identity, recognising artistic practice as an essential tool for interpreting the complexity of the present, shaping new imaginaries, and contributing—through the plurality of the arts—to the construction of the future.
Guido Fabiani
President Fondazione Romaeuropa
The double opening of the 41st edition of the Romaeuropa Festival at the Auditorium della Conciliazione—entrusted to Sofia Nappi for dance and to Caterina Barbieri with ONCEIM – Orchestra for New Creative and Improvised Music, featuring two works co-commissioned by REF—reflects our commitment to supporting the renewal of the Italian artistic scene, one of the key pillars of this year’s programme.
The long-awaited return of Romeo Castellucci, with a new production presented in Italian premiere, co-produced by Romaeuropa and developed in collaboration with Teatro di Roma, reaffirms a long-standing relationship with SOCIETAS, which began in 1999 at Piazzale di Villa Medici with Voyage au bout de la nuit and continued for nearly two decades.
The choreographic interpretation by Michiel Vandevelde of Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed, with the Bryggen–Bruges Strings Orchestra and electronic music by Turkish composer Didem Co?kunseven, together with the return to the stage of Sasha Waltz—co-presented with the Goethe-Institut as part of the celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Italy and Germany—in dialogue with Bach’s music performed by cellist Anastasia Kobekina, introduces audiences to the international choreographic scene.
Within this trajectory, supported at REF by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, the programme includes Italian premieres by Eun-Me Ahn; Bach Cello Dance by Sasha Waltz and Anastasia Kobekina; the collaboration between Nacera Belaza and Valérie Dréville, presented in partnership with Short Theatre; the return of the Ballet national de Marseille, directed by (LA)HORDE, with Après moi, le déluge; a new solo by Boris Charmatz; Rachid Ouramdane at the Académie de France in Rome – Villa Medici; the debut of The Last Hamlet by Ben Duke; the restaging of the landmark What the Body Does Not Remember by Wim Vandekeybus; Katerina Andreou with the company Carte Blanche, supported by the Embassy of Norway; and the outstanding programme dedicated to Jan Martens, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Christos Papadopoulos by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, co-presented with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma.
These are joined by Linda Sarki Johnson (Nigeria), Stephanie Mwamba (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Diana Odhiambo (Kenya), featured in the second edition of the BAMBU project curated by Aldes.
Together with Tiago Rodrigues with NTGent, presented as part of the Flanders State of the Arts programme and in collaboration with Piccolo Teatro di Milano; Jaha Koo, recipient of the prestigious International Ibsen Award and supported by the Korean Cultural Institute; and Pankaj Tiwari from India, alongside Thom Luz and Ersan Mondtag—first presented at REF in 2020 with the visionary De Living—these artists contribute to broadening perspectives on the contemporary global scene. The latter two are part of a unified project also involving Leonardo Lidi, Fabiana Iacozzilli and Leonardo Manzan, working with the company of the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico.
The programme also features the debut of numerous artists from the Italian scene who are now at the forefront of its renewal: Marta Cuscunà ; Marta Ciappina, in a project with Francesca Pennini, Sotterraneo, Emio Greco and Silvia Gribaudi, curated by Marco D’Agostin and presented with the support of Piccolo Teatro di Milano; Pietro Giannini, with Teatro Nazionale di Genova; Giacomo Bisordi and Fabrizio Sinisi, with LAC and La Fabbrica dell’Attore; and Silvia Costa, who brings Annie Ernaux to the stage at the new Teatro Valle, in collaboration with Teatro di Roma.
These are accompanied by works by Silvia Gribaudi, Michael Incarbone and Giacomo Luci, presented by Francesca Manica within Dancing Days; projects by Usine Baug, Gruppo UROR and Progetto Orlando, included in the Anni Lucesection curated by Maura Teofili; and the presence of Giorgina Pi, who, alongside Lemnos, also presents an installation project at MAXXI.
The programme also includes a section dedicated to children and families, curated by Stefania Lo Giudice with REF Kids & Family, in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya, Fonds Podiumkunsten – Performing Arts Fund NL, and the Embassy of Norway. This year’s REF Kids & Family programme, together with its playground featuring educational and recreational activities, workshops, and performances, is also realised in partnership with Fondazione Roma.
On the musical side, the programme brings together anniversaries, new productions, and cross-disciplinary projects. These include a special project by Vinicio Capossela, engaging with theatre for the first time in a work dedicated to Dylan Thomas; tributes by Tempo Reale to the Fluxus movement; the centenary of Hans Werner Henze, entrusted to the New European Ensemble conducted by Carlo Boccadoro and co-produced with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the 90th birthdays of Steve Reich, celebrated with Blow Up Percussion, and Philip Glass, with The Philip Glass Ensemble and a screening of Powaqqatsi by Godfrey Reggio; the complete Études performed by Vanessa Wagner; Aguas da Amazônia with Third Coast Percussion; new performances of works by Michael Gordon, again with Blow Up Percussion and co-produced with the American Academy in Rome; and compositions by Sabine Scho and Hans Thomalla with Ensemble Lux:NM, in collaboration with the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo.
These are complemented by a constellation of international presences that further define the programme: the REF debut of Hildur Guðnadóttir with the project Osmium; Moritz von Oswald; Jlin with Third Coast Percussion; the return of electronic music pioneer Jeff Mills; a new performance of the legendary The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett, performed by Maki Namekawa and Thomas Enhco; and the Blade Runner cine-concert, with music by Vangelis performed by The Avex Ensemble. Also featured are the afrofuturist rhythms of Fatoumata Diawara with her new live show, and Kangding Ray with a new AV live following the success of the soundtrack for Sirât.
This journey continues with Ultra Club, the section curated by Matteo Antonaci, Giulia Di Giovanni and Federica Patti, dedicated to avant-pop and electronic music, featuring artists such as AYA and Marta Del Grandi; an evening dedicated to one of the most significant experiences in the history of Rome’s clubbing scene, Agatha!, in collaboration with Andrea Lai; a focus on contemporary songwriting with 42 Records; and a programme on art and videogames developed with Re:humanism, featuring, among others, Ayoung Kim, Total Refusal and the Italian Videogame Academy AIV.
Finally, more than two hundred musicians of The Classical Rave Party by Enrico Melozzi, with Giovanni Sollima and numerous guests, will fill Sala Santa Cecilia of the Auditorium with sound for nearly twelve hours in our Grand Finale, alongside the lightness, balance, and collective strength of the Groupe Acrobatique de Tanger with Raphaëlle Boitel and Collectif XY.
These proposals remind us how precious it is to come together and share such encounters, and how the history of our European festival in Rome—open to the world and in dialogue with it—represents both a responsibility and a gift to be renewed once again this year.
Fabrizio Grifasi
General and Artistic Director Fondazione Romaeuropa
