On Saturday 29 August (5.30 pm) in the “Simonetta Puccini” auditorium, a musical event organised by the “Amici della Lirica Umberto Borsò” association. Performing on stage will be Alessia Battini, Greta Buonamici and Minjeong Kim (free admission)
The afternoon is dedicated to the music of Giacomo Puccini and his female protagonists at his much-loved home. This is the premise of ‘Florilegio Pucciniano’, a concert organised by the “Amici della Lirica Umberto Borsò” Association of Castelfiorentino, which on Saturday 29 August at 5.30 pm in the auditorium of the Simonetta Puccini Foundation in Torre del Lago will bring to the stage three young performers who distinguished themselves in the 2026 edition of the “Umberto Borsò” International Opera Singing Competition (free admission).
Bringing the world of Puccini to life will be Alessia Battini, winner of the 2026 Umberto Borsò First Prize, Greta Buonamici, who came second, and Minjeong Kim, recipient of the “Nuova voce per Puccini” award. The three sopranos will be accompanied on the piano by Nicoletta Cantini.
Once again, therefore, the collaboration between the ‘Amici della Lirica Umberto Borsò’ Association of Castelfiorentino and the ‘Simonetta Puccini Foundation for Giacomo Puccini’ of Torre del Lago is renewed. Last year, too, the Foundation organised a concert featuring the winners of the Prize, confirming its particular commitment to promoting young talents emerging on the opera singing scene.
Saturday’s concert, in particular, offers a programme that will explore all of Puccini’s operas, tracing the various periods of his creative output and, above all, that extraordinary gallery of female characters which constitutes one of the most recognisable and fascinating aspects of his musical theatre. Puccini’s heroines, with their passions, fragility, desires and conflicts, thus become the central theme of an event designed to highlight the expressive richness of the composer’s writing.
The event is sponsored by the Municipality of Viareggio and the Municipality of Castelfiorentino.
“We are delighted,” say the Mayor, Francesca Giannì, and the Councillor for Culture, Franco Spina, “with this third and prestigious collaboration with the Simonetta Puccini Foundation, which brings one of Castelfiorentino’s most successful organisations to the place that was dear to Giacomo Puccini’s heart. The award named after Umberto Borsò,
which attracts opera singers from all over the world and a jury of distinguished experts at every edition, is one of the cultural events of which we are particularly proud. It is also a major investment in our town, in the spirit of that cultural patronage which, as a local authority, we are working to foster, with a view to making Castelfiorentino a City of Artists and a land of culture. In this context, the promotion of young talent plays an essential role in redefining the cultural identity of our community, not least in terms of a new form of tourism based on networking, cultural exchange and cross-border synergies.”
The Simonetta Puccini Foundation was established in 2005 by the Maestro’s only granddaughter. Its aim is to keep alive and honour the memory of Giacomo Puccini through the preservation and promotion of his cultural and artistic legacy, including the villa and museum on Lake Massaciuccoli.
For information apply to: “Simonetta Puccini Foundation”
Viale Giacomo Puccini, 260
55049 Torre del Lago, Lucca
Tel. +39 0584 341445
e.mail info@fondazionesimonettapuccini.it
Web site www.giacomopuccini.it
