Music of Naples - Venues

Venues

The most famous place, of course, to hear music in Naples is the San Carlo opera house. Lesser-known is the smaller theater in the adjacent Royal Palace, a stage often used by the Neapolitan ballet company. Besides being the home of the opera, San Carlo is the most frequent venue several times a year for large visiting orchestras. Interestingly, the nearby Teatro Mercadante, a charming old theater from the late 1790s—and along with San Carlo one of the official royal theaters of the day—has reopened after many decades of sporadic use.

With the resurrection of the mammoth overseas fair grounds, the Mostra d'Oltremare (originally built in the 1930s) in the nearby community of Fuorigrotta, the Teatro Mediterraneo on those premises is now, as well, a frequent stage for all types of musical performances. The fair grounds site has the added advantage of containing, as well, the newly reopened outdoor amphiteater, the arena. It hosts summer performances of various kinds, including, most prominently, grand opera such as Verdi's Aida.

There is a large program of chamber music in Naples, hosted by the Alessandro Scarlatti Association, usually staged in the Teatro delle Palme off of Via dei Mille in the Chaia section of Naples. As well, smaller groups and musical productions avail themselves of a half-dozen or so theaters around town that also double as cinemas.

Additionally, the Naples music conservatory has recently refurbished and opened an auditorium on the premises and puts on regularly scheduled concerts of various kinds of music, often featuring conservatory students and faculty.

The largest public venue for music, parades, political rallies, installation art, New Year's celebrations, etc. is Piazza Plebiscito, the spacious open square on the west side of the Royal Palace. Other outdoor venues include the Communal Gardens, a half-mile long park along the sea-side.

Also, after decades of neglect, the Trianon theater has now reopened as a theater of Neapolitan Song. It has an impressive program of traditional Neapolitan plays and musicals, an art gallery, very good acoustics, and will soon have a permanent multimedia exhibit dedicated to Enrico Caruso. The theater is located, appropriately, in a traditional part of town, Piazza Calenda, at the extreme eastern edge of the old historic center of Naples.