Marbella opera festival returns with three spectacular nights of Verdi, Donizetti and the Three Tenors

Marbella is eagerly awaiting a special three-night celebration of opera as the International Opera Festival returns to the city this week with a programme featuring some of the best-known works in the classical repertoire.

Organised by the Fundación José Banús y Pilar Calvo, the 2026 festival brings the National Opera of Moldova to Marbella for three performances from Thursday, August 13 to Saturday, August 15.

More than 70 artists will be involved across the festival, with the Moldovan company bringing its orchestra, chorus, guest soloists, scenery and costumes from Chisinau. Performances will also have simultaneous translation into Spanish, making the productions easier to follow for audiences who are not 100 per cent fluent with Italian. But, then, does it matter when it’s all sung in beautiful opera?

Verdi opens Marbella opera festival

Thursday night belongs to Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco, the four-act masterpiece set in Jerusalem and Babylon in 587 BC. Opera lovers will recognise the famous ‘Va, pensiero’ chorus, while the production promises a large-scale staging with more than 75 performers on stage. Jorge Tello, Diana Rosa Cardenas, Laura de la Fuente, Sergio Escobar and Viktor Shevchenko are among the guest soloists.

Friday, August 14 brings a very different mood with Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. The comic opera follows Nemorino as he tries to win the heart of Adina after buying a supposed love potion from the travelling charlatan Dulcamara. Familiar music includes ‘Una furtiva lagrima’, one of the most famous tenor arias in opera.

Three Tenors bring festival to a close

Saturday’s grand finale takes its inspiration from the famous 1990 concert featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. In this case, tenors Sergio Escobar, Imanol Laura and Quintin Bueno will perform well-known arias and Neapolitan songs, including ‘Nessun Dorma’, ‘E lucevan le stelle’, ‘La donna è mobile’ and ‘O sole mio’, accompanied by the National Opera of Moldova Orchestra.

Previous Marbella opera productions have also brought the Moldovan company to the city, including Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata.

Marbella opera festival tickets and times

All three performances will take place at Teatro Ciudad de Marbella, Plaza Ramon Martinez, 3, at 9pm. Tickets for Nabucco and L’Elisir d’Amore cost €45, while the Three Tenors gala costs €30. Tickets are available through the official Fundación Banus festival page and the mientrada.net ticket service.