The fortieth edition of the Romaeuropa Festival comes to a close tomorrow, Sunday 16 November, with a major musical finale led by Ryoji Ikeda and Kruder & Dorfmeister.
60,000 attendances were recorded over more than two months of programming.
First previews of REF26 include the return to Romaeuropa of Romeo Castellucci, the company (LA)HORDE, and a new performance of The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett.
Forty years after its founding, Romaeuropa’s artistic utopia remains an open invitation to look ahead, to explore new languages, generations and imaginaries.
Launched on 4 September, over more than two months of programming the fortieth edition of the Romaeuropa Festival recorded over 60,000 attendances across 110 performances, 30 free events and 282 showings, hosting more than 700 artists from all over the world. The city became a crossroads of dance, music, theatre, digital arts and creations for young audiences, reaffirming the Festival — founded in 1986 by Monique Veaute and now directed by Fabrizio Grifasi — as a living laboratory for dialogue and cultural exchange.
“Romaeuropa continues to be a space for encounters and discoveries, where artists and audiences engage with different languages and where multiple artistic generations come into dialogue. We thank the Ministry of Culture, the Lazio Region and Roma Capitale, who once again this year made this journey possible, together with the Embassies and Cultural Institutes that take part in the Festival and fully embody its international spirit,” comments Guido Fabiani, President of the Fondazione Romaeuropa.
“Romaeuropa is a realised artistic utopia focused on innovation, made possible also thanks to a network of collaborations with the city’s theatres and public and private institutions, which enable our diverse pathways: the Fondazione Teatro di Roma, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Mattatoio with Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio, MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts, as well as private venues such as Auditorium Conciliazione, Teatro Brancaccio and Teatro Vascello, and from next year also Teatro Olimpico,” continues General and Artistic Director Fabrizio Grifasi, previewing some of the events that will shape the Festival in 2026. “We will meet again in September for the forty-first edition of the Festival, and we can already anticipate a few highlights: the return to Romaeuropa of Romeo Castellucci; that of the company (LA)HORDE, which this year captivated Romaeuropa audiences for the first time; and the performance of The Köln Concert, previously presented at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Barbican and approved by Keith Jarrett himself, featuring two outstanding pianists such as Maki Namikawa and Thomas Enhco. A special thanks goes to the entire REF team, who make this utopia possible every year.”
Between major returns and new proposals, the Festival built its programme by bringing generations and languages into dialogue: from leading European companies such as the Ballet Nacional de España, Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company and Ballet National de Marseille, to international music icons including Laurie Anderson, Stefano Bollani with Alessandro Baricco, Kruder & Dorfmeister, Kae Tempest, Ryoji Ikeda, Blixa Bargeld with the Danish company Hotel Pro Forma; from cine-concerts dedicated to cult films such as Whiplash by Damien Chazelle (on its tenth anniversary) and La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz, scored live by Asian Dub Foundation (for its thirtieth anniversary), to tributes marking the centenary of Luciano Berio and American minimalism with John Adams (presented by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia), as well as concerts by Christophe Chassol in dialogue with the music of Steve Reich, Ensemble Decoder (with the German Academy in Rome – Villa Massimo), and Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch with Fabrizio Cassol. The programme also featured leading figures from the international dance and theatre scene such as William Forsythe, Ioannis Mandafounis, Marcos Morau, (LA)HORDE, Miet Warlop, Qudus Onikeku, Moritz Ostruschnjak, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker with Rabih Mrouè, Akram Khan with Manal AlDowayan, the Taiwanese U-Theatre, Christos Papadopoulos, Israel Galván with Mohamed El Khatib, BERLIN, Milo Rau, Lia Rodrigues, Caroline Guiela Nguyen, Louise Lecavalier, alongside key voices from the Italian scene including Fanny & Alexander, Fabiana Iacozzilli, Gabriele Paolocà with Claudia Marsicano, Muta Imago, Panzetti / Ticconi, KOR’SIA, Federica Rosellini and Motus. All of this was complemented by the activities of the new ULTRA REF project which, through emerging creativity and new formats, strengthened the Festival’s commitment to innovation, collaboration and the future at the Mattatoio in Testaccio, also through its sections Ultra Club, Design Talks, Dancing Days, Anni Luce and REF Kids & Family.
The conception of the entire programme produced by the Fondazione Romaeuropa — chaired by Guido Fabiani, with Monique Veaute as Vice President and directed by Fabrizio Grifasi — was made possible thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Lazio Region, Roma Capitale, the Rome Chamber of Commerce and the Fondazione Roma. The partnership with Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels for contemporary dance was also renewed. The pathways dedicated to the Spanish scene were developed with the support of the Embassy of Spain in Italy, Instituto Cervantes and Banca Ifis as part of the celebrations for the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and Spain. The focus on the Flemish scene was realised with Flanders State of the Art within the framework of a three-year partnership (2023–2025), while the focus on Lithuanian Art and Culture in Italy was developed with the Lithuanian Cultural Institute and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Italian Republic. The Romaeuropa Festival 2025 is realised in collaboration with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Fondazione Teatro di Roma, German Academy Rome – Villa Massimo, Villa Medici – French Academy in Rome, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo – Mattatoio, Fondazione Cinema per Roma, MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Fondazione Musica per Roma, Auditorium Conciliazione, Teatro Vascello – La Fabbrica dell’Attore, Teatro Brancaccio and Short Theatre. The Festival is supported and patronised by the German Embassy and Goethe-Institut, the Institut Français – Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati – Embassy of France in Italy, the Institut Ramon Llull and the Government of Catalonia, the Fonds Podium Kunsten – Performing Arts Fund NL and the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Embassy of Belgium, the British Council, the Royal Danish Embassy in Rome and the Danish Academy, the Embassy of Greece in Rome, the Québec Government Office, as well as the Aerowaves network co-funded by the European Union.
Once again this year, RAI returned as Main Media Partner of the Romaeuropa Festival.
