Rome opera concert: how to choose

What the arias concert is

The Most Beautiful Opera Arias is a concert from the Opera da Camera di Roma: opera soloists sing Italian arias and Neapolitan songs, accompanied by a grand piano. The booking page names Turandot and Rigoletto among the operas, Puccini, Bellini and Mascagni among the composers, and adds Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The setting is a small Waldensian church close to Piazza Venezia, and the description stresses how near the audience sits to the musicians. The concert lasts about an hour. It is an evening of voices, with no sets and no orchestra, and that shapes every choice below. Travellers rate it 4.3 out of 5, and it carries a sell-out warning.

Why Rome suits an evening of arias

Opera has deep local roots. The Teatro Costanzi, now the main auditorium of the Teatro dell'Opera, opened on 27 November 1880 and saw the first performances of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana on 17 May 1890 and Puccini's Tosca on 14 January 1900. Tosca is set in Rome in June 1800, with its three acts placed in a church, a palace and a fortress. Rossini's Barber of Seville first reached the stage at the Teatro Argentina in 1816, and Verdi's Il trovatore opened at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853. A concert of arias is a small way to hear that repertoire in the city that first heard much of it.

Who sings, and what to expect from them

Guests describe a pianist, a tenor and a soprano. One wrote that the advertising shows many performers but three people took the stage, and still enjoyed the evening; others wished the ensemble's size were clearer, because the photos led them to expect an orchestra. The singers can change by date, so no guide can promise a particular voice. What you can rely on is the format: opera soloists and a grand piano in a small room. A tenor sings in the highest male chest-voice range and a soprano is the highest voice of all. Calaf in Turandot and Cavaradossi in Tosca are tenor roles, and Tosca herself is a soprano. UNESCO's entry notes that singers are classed by range and colour as tenor, baritone, bass, soprano, mezzo-soprano or alto.

The programme, and why it changes

The description names arias from Turandot and Rigoletto, Neapolitan songs and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Guests add 'O sole mio, Funiculì, funiculà and Granada sung in Spanish, which one visitor says brought the audience to a standing ovation. The organiser may alter its programmes, so read the list as a style: well-known pieces of Italian lyric opera with a few songs from the south. The organiser's printed programme for its dinner evening names Nessun dorma, Vissi d'arte and La donna è mobile, and the home page of this site sets six pieces out with their stories. If one aria is the reason you are going, put the question to the organiser via the booking page first.

Where the concert is held

The booking page describes a Waldensian church a short walk from Piazza Venezia and says the location varies with the option you book. Rome's tourism board places the Waldensian Evangelical Church on Via Quattro Novembre, near Piazza Venezia, and the organiser's dinner option names the same address. One of its other evenings uses a concert hall on Via Firenze instead. Read the venue in your confirmation, and do not confuse the church with the Waldensian temple in Piazza Cavour, a different building in the Prati district. Piazza Venezia itself is a central hub where several thoroughfares meet, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. The board describes one rectangular hall with a coffered ceiling, so expect a simple space rather than a grand nave.

Read next: Rome's Waldensian church, a concert room

Three evenings, one organiser

The same organiser sells three evenings, and the easiest mistake is to book the wrong one. The arias concert is the subject of this guide. The dinner option adds a set dinner at a restaurant after the music, so check dietary needs with the booking page before you commit. The third evening is not an arias concert at all: it presents songs by Freddie Mercury arranged for Italian opera singers and piano, in the organiser's own hall, where guests describe tables with wine and snacks. For the opera repertoire, choose the first or the second. The dinner listing notes that water and bread come with the meal, and the Mercury evening is billed as a concert with limited seating.

Choosing a date

The booking calendar lists every available date with its start time, and your confirmation repeats it. Choose your language before you pay; the page offers English. Because the programme varies by date, compare two or three dates if a particular piece matters to you. With a sell-out warning and a small room, book early for the dates that suit your trip. If you travel with others, set the number of adults first, so the calendar shows only dates with enough places. Booking now to pay later holds those places while the group settles its plans, and cancellation is free until 24 hours before. Choosing a date early in your stay leaves room to cancel and rebook if plans change, as long as you act 24 hours ahead.

How to book

Use the booking button on this page, pick a date and a language, set the number of adults and confirm. Cancelling costs nothing up to 24 hours beforehand, and booking now to pay later holds your place with nothing to pay today. The fare appears in your own currency. Once booked, open the confirmation and read two lines: the venue, which can vary with the option, and the start time. The widget on this page shows the same calendar as the booking site, so you can check dates without leaving. Save the confirmation to your phone, since it names the venue for your option and the start time.

What reviewers say

The concert averages 4.3 out of 5 from more than 2,600 travellers. Praise gathers around the voices and the room: one guest advised bringing tissues, another singled out the tenor's Granada, and several call both the tenor and the soprano professional-level. One praises the acoustics and another the soft light of LED candles. The complaints are small and consistent: the church can get warm, the singers walk in and out through the main door, and a few guests wished the ensemble were larger than the advertising suggests. None of that changes the format; it describes it.

Concert or opera house?

Rome's opera house, the Teatro dell'Opera, stages full opera productions and keeps its own programme. It opened in 1880 as the Teatro Costanzi, was renamed the Teatro Reale dell'Opera in November 1926, and kept the Costanzi name for its main auditorium. A church concert is a different, smaller evening: about an hour, no knowledge of the plot needed, and the singers a few feet away. If you want a complete story over several hours, look at the opera house season. If you want famous melodies in an hour with the voices close, the concert is the better first night.

Who this isn't for

A staged opera with orchestra, sets and costumes is not what the concert offers. It is also a poor choice for a long night out, since the music lasts about an hour. Think twice if you hope for one singer or one aria, because the programme can change. It also suits poorly if you want to follow a whole story: an aria stands alone and the plot is left out. The first-timers guide on this site covers the basics, and the Rome premieres guide shows where the repertoire began. Small rooms and familiar tunes suit most guests best.