Harmonies Of Peace: Opera Italiana Is In The Air Returns To Central Park September 21, The International Day Of Peace

 

Media contact: Amanda Sweet, Bucklesweet | amanda@bucklesweet.com

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Harmonies Of Peace: Opera Italiana Is In The Air Returns To Central Park September 21, The International Day Of Peace

Opera Italiana Is in the Air returns to Central Park for its ninth free concert, led by Founder and Conductor Alvise Casellati and featuring rising young voices, a world premiere by a Juilliard Pre-College composer, and musicians from New York’s leading orchestras.

NEW YORK, NY (September 8, 2026) — Opera Italiana Is in the Air returns to the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park on Monday, September 21, 2026, at 6:30pm for its ninth New York concert. Led by Founder and Music Director Alvise Casellati, Artistic Director of Teatro Massimo di Palermo, this year's concert, Harmonies of Peace, takes place on the International Day of Peace and celebrates music as a universal language of peace, connection, and love.

Over nine years, this event has become a New York ritual. Audiences have been moved to tears, couples have been inspired to marry, children have been captivated, and first-time listeners have discovered that opera can speak directly to them. You don't need to know opera to be moved by it. You simply need to feel it. Join thousands of New Yorkers for a rare, open-air musical journey in the heart of the city: bring a blanket, pack a picnic, and share in an evening of music, community, and connection.

In 2017, following a conversation with philanthropist Ambassador Daniele Bodini, Casellati created Opera Italiana Is in the Air as a way of giving back to the city that had changed his life.  It was built by essentially the same core team and partners ever since on a simple conviction: that opera belongs to everyone. Founded to bring the beauty and emotional power of Italian opera beyond the walls of the theater — free, outdoors, and open to all — the organization has made it its mission to reach new and diverse audiences while giving extraordinary young artists, at the threshold of major careers, a stage alongside established professionals. This year's concert embodies that mission more fully than ever.

“Opera was never meant to belong only to those who already know it,” says Casellati. “Opera speaks directly to human emotions: love, hope, loss, courage and the desire for freedom. On the International Day of Peace, in a city that brings together cultures from all over the world, we want music to become a meeting place — open to everyone.”

That conviction is rooted in Casellati's own story. He came to New York to study at Columbia Law School, earning his LL.M. in 2001, and went on to practice as a New York attorney — until 2007, when a hospitalization in New York set his life on a different course. Music became an essential part of his healing. Already a trained violinist, he began attending evening conducting classes at The Juilliard School with Maestro Vincent La Selva, and in 2011, after conducting at Venice's legendary La Fenice opera house, he made the decision to leave the law to devote his life to music. “Music healed me,” he says, “and Opera Italiana was born from the desire to give that experience back to others.”

For Casellati, discovering talent is not a promise — it is a track record. Since 2017, artists chosen at early stages of their careers, among them Michelle Bradley, Gabriella Reyes, Latonia Moore, as well as young artists Paloma Dineli Chesky and Jordan Millar, have gone on to significant international careers. This year's artists continue that story.

The concert introduces two rising voices to the Central Park stage: soprano Daniela Machado and tenor Alessio Borraggine. Their appearance continues Opera Italiana’s commitment to giving exceptional young voices a stage at a pivotal moment in their careers.  

The program they will bring to life celebrates Italian opera as a living tradition — and unfolds as a journey through emotion itself. Rossini's Barber of Seville Overture opens the evening with lightness, joy, and play; La Bohème fills the heart with love, tenderness, and compassion; in Nessun dorma, love becomes strength — the belief that, against all odds, we can overcome and triumph; and with the William Tell Overture, the imagination takes over. Along the way, the evening marks milestone anniversaries of two of Puccini's most enduring masterpieces: 130 years since La Bohème and 100 years since Turandot.

The evening also looks to the future with the world premiere of everwander by young composer Ethan Hsu.  Maestro Casellati selected the winning work through a blind review process from the Juilliard Pre-College Composition class, without knowing the composers’ identities, ages, genders, or backgrounds. Hsu, who has been featured on CBS News Philadelphia, will hear his symphonic composition everwander performed for the first time under the open sky of Central Park — a fitting stage for a piece the young composer describes as inherently natural.

“Everwander is a word that I created to represent the feeling of endlessly wandering, an aimless adventure of sorts,” says Hsu. “I knew that this would fit the theme of nature because I saw the piece as being inherently natural — the rhythms, the harmonies, the flow of the piece.”  Further “I saw the value of composition and immediately felt drawn to it. If it weren't for them, I don't think I'd be doing what I am right now.”

The orchestra itself tells a story of generations. Musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic perform side by side with students from The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music — young artists sharing a stage with the very musicians who are their teachers and inspirations.

The concert also reflects Opera Italiana’s belief in the healing power of music. The Weill Cornell Music & Medicine Chorus will open the evening with the U.S. and Italian national anthems. This same belief shapes Opera Italiana’s work with music therapy programs.

PRESENTED BY OUR PARTNERS

This event is made possible by the generosity of our partners:  Intesa Sanpaolo, Hospital Healthcare Holdings Gruppo San Donato, The Alexander Bodini Foundation, Ferrero, Filippo Berio, Eni, Bracco, and the National Italian American Foundation.

 

WHEN: Monday, September 21, 2026 | 6:30–8:00pm

WHERE: Naumburg Bandshell | Central Park, New York City

ADMISSION: Free. No ticket required.

INFO: www.operaitalianaisintheair.com

 

PROGRAM

Italian National Anthem – Mario Calvo Plater, Tenor

US National Anthem

1. Rossini, Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Overture — Orchestra

1. Puccini, La Bohème (130th anniversary of the opera's premiere)

Che gelida manina — Alessio Borraggine

Sì, mi chiamano Mimì — Daniela Machado

O soave fanciulla — Daniela Machado and Alessio Borraggine

Ethan Hsu — Opera Italiana 2026 Winner, The Juilliard School Pre-College Composition program

everwander — World Premiere, Orchestra

1. Puccini, Manon Lescaut

Tu, tu, amore? Tu?  —  Daniela Machado and Alessio Borraggine

Intermezzo, Act III — Orchestra

1. Puccini, Turandot (100th anniversary of the premiere at La Scala)

Tu che di gel sei cinta — Daniela Machado

Nessun dorma — Alessio Borraggine

1. Rossini, Guillaume Tell (William Tell)

Overture — Orchestra

ABOUT ALVISE CASELLATI, FOUNDER AND MUSIC DIRECTOR

Alvise Casellati is an Italian conductor recognized internationally for his work in opera and symphonic repertoire and for his commitment to widening access to classical music. Born in Padua into a Venetian musical family with historic ties to the classical music world of the 19th and 20th centuries — including Rossini, the Wagner family, Boito, Giulio Ricordi, and Wolf-Ferrari — his career brings together intellectual rigor, musical depth, and civic vision, pairing high artistic standards with a clear public purpose.

In May 2025, he was appointed Artistic Director of Teatro Massimo in Palermo, among the most prestigious opera and ballet institutions in Italy and worldwide. He is also the Founder and Music Director of Opera Italiana Is in the Air, an internationally recognized initiative that presents free, open-air opera concerts with leading young and established artists in iconic public spaces, including Central Park in New York and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, welcoming thousands of listeners, many experiencing opera for the first time.

Casellati made his Italian conducting debut at Teatro La Fenice in 2011 and later served as Resident Conductor at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. His repertoire spans the Italian operatic tradition as well as symphonic and contemporary works. His collaborations with major institutions include Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Arena di Verona Festival, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Royal Opera House Turin, Toscanini Orchestra, the Spoleto and Rossini Opera Festivals, the Mariinsky Theatre, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, Georgian National Opera, Latvian National Opera, Xi'an Symphony Orchestra, and Shanghai Philharmonic, among others.

Alongside his musical training, he pursued an exceptional academic path. He graduated in Violin from the Conservatory of Padua, studied Law at the University of Padua, and completed a Master of Laws at Columbia University in New York before dedicating himself fully to music. He later studied conducting at The Juilliard School and was mentored by Maestro Piero Bellugi. Today, he continues to champion opera as a living cultural heritage, shared beyond traditional theater walls.

ABOUT OPERA ITALIANA IS IN THE AIR

Opera Italiana Is in the Air was created in Central Park, New York, in 2017 following a conversation between Daniele Bodini, Chairman of the FIAC Foundation, and Maestro Alvise Casellati. Opera Italiana Is in the Air brings Italian opera outdoors in accessible, informal, high-quality performances that are entirely free of charge. Its mission is to make the beauty of Italian opera available to all, while inspiring new and diverse audiences and artists, and giving exceptional young talent the opportunity to perform alongside established artists. Since its founding, the organization has presented annual concerts in Central Park as well as events in Washington, DC and internationally — built by a core team that has remained together since the beginning, united by the belief that great music should be shared freely and that extraordinary young talent deserves to be heard.

ABOUT DANIELA MACHADO, SOPRANO

Soprano Daniela Machado hails from South Florida with roots in Puerto Rico and Colombia. Ms. Machado was the First-Place winner of the 2026 Loren L. Zachary National Vocal Competition and covered Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men as an Apprentice Artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera. In her third season as a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, she will be featured as Giorgetta in Puccini's Il Tabarro and as Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore. Last season, she was seen as Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi as well as Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. Other notable operatic engagements include Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and Anna Maurrant in Weill's Street Scene, both performed at Rice University. She is an alumna of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Artist Program and holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

ABOUT ALESSIO BORRAGGINE, TENOR

Discovered by the renowned tenor Giacomo Aragall, Roman native Alessio Borraggine embodies the tradition of the Italian tenor. He is consistently praised for the beauty of his tone, his musicality, and the physical embodiment of his roles, winning critics and audiences alike.

He has been heard in concert at such prestigious venues as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Auditori of Barcelona, and the Alte Oper Frankfurt. His operatic roles include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Don José in Carmen, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Marcello in Leoncavallo's La Bohème, with theaters including Festival Puccini Torre del Lago, Juneau Lyric Opera, Miami Lyric Opera, Festival of the Aegean, Narnia Festival, Gulfshore Opera, Teatro di Salerno, Teatro di Cave, Teatro di Venticano, Teatro Lirica d'Europa, and Teatro Grattacielo. Recent and upcoming engagements include the 2025 world premiere of David Winkler's Rossini Perduto as Beppe De Scamozza in New York City; his debut season as an artist member of the 71st Festival Puccini at Torre del Lago as Pinkerton; and, in 2026, his reprisal of Turiddu with Maestro David Wroe in NYC, his film debut in the HBO Max mini-series Portobello, and his Opera Tampa and Verdi role debut as Macduff. In 2027, he will appear in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Teatro Ghione in Rome, Italy.

ABOUT ETHAN HSU, COMPOSER

Ethan Hsu (b. 2008) is a composer and performer from Philadelphia, PA. His music obsesses over vibrant energies and harmonies, building upon tradition while playing with expectations. He takes inspiration from a diverse range of sources, from poetry and surrealist art to ancient mythology and sociocultural identity.  Ethan's music has been presented at the Koussevitzky Music Shed, Heinz Hall, the New World Center, Carnegie Hall, Disney Springs, and Usher Hall in Scotland, amongst others. He is a YoungArts Award Winner with Distinction and apprentice composer for the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. He won the Ballora-Wang Composers' Prize in 2026 and first place in the Ruth Crawford Seeger Prize in 2024, alongside recognition from national organizations such as the National Young Composers' Challenge and the National Association for Music Education, amongst others.  Ethan studies at the Juilliard Pre-College with Dr. Manuel Sosa. He has received mentorship from composers including Sean Shepherd, Pascal Le Boeuf, Maya Miro Johnson, and Bobby Ge. Ethan is also a cellist with a particular interest in contemporary music, previously studying with Rachel Henderson Freivogel and Yumi Kendall. Aside from music, Ethan is an avid roller coaster enthusiast, skier, and traveler.

 

 

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