Romaeuropa Festival runs from 4 September to 17 November 2024.

Rome's multidisciplinary arts festival returns with a cutting-edge programme of contemporary dance, theatre, art, music, technology and events for kids.

Under the title "Open Space", the 39th edition of the festival will feature 100 different shows taking place in 20 venues across the city, with more than 700 artists from around the world.

The Romaeuropa programme opens on 4 September when the prestigious Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon combines Mycelium – a choreography commissioned by Christos Papadopoulos and inspired by the world of nature – and Biped by legendary dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham, together with the musical composition of the same name by Gavin Bryars, on stage with his ensemble.

The opening week of REF2024 also pays homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of the most significant figures in the contemporary music scene, with an open-air performance at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. The Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé performs Sakamoto's most famous cinematic compositions in Music for Film, while at the MAXXI – Museum of 21st Century Arts, the film Opus by Neo Sora tells the story of the final performance that the Japanese maestro dedicated to his audience.

@Romaeuropa, il festival di #danza #musica e #teatro a più alta vocazione europea e internazionale, torna dal 4/9 al 17/11
Apertura al #TeatroCostanzi con omaggio del Ballet de l’Opéra de Lyon a #MerceCunningham

Scopri di più https://t.co/0nosraAWWk#REF2024 @culture_roma pic.twitter.com/o8BC2MaBWn— Roma (@Roma) August 24, 2024

Events in the Cavea at the Auditorium continue with the writer Alessandro Baricco who, together with Giovanni Sollima, Enrico Melozzi, 100 Cellos and with Stefania Rocca and Valeria Solarino, presents Thucydides. Athens against Melo, and with the choreographer Rachid Ouramdane who, in Outsider, directs 21 dancers from the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and four contemporary tightrope walkers to the music of Julius Eastman to give life to a piece that challenges the law of gravity.

The first week of the festival concludes at the Auditorium Conciliazione where the German choreographer Sasha Waltz renews her research on the relationship between dance and music, dialoguing with Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven and with a composition specially commissioned from the musician Diego Noguera.

Highlights over the course of the two-month festival include Baro d'evel, headed by French artist Camille Decourtye and Catalan Blaï Mateu Trias, with a cast of musicians, acrobats, actors and ceramists; the Morocco Groupe Acrobatique of Tangier between acrobatics, break-dance, taekwondo and freestyle; and Japanese composer Keiichiro Shibuya with pushes the boundaries of music by creating sounds with artificial intelligence.

For full festival details (in English), including programme, venues and tickets, see Romaeuropa website.

Cover image: Sasha Waltz & Guest Diego Noguera - Beethoven 7