Opera Italiana is in the Air, the annual free, outdoor concert presenting some of the top stars in Italian opera and bringing the art form to diverse, new and younger audiences, is returning to Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park on Monday, July 1 at 7 pm, the concert’s president and music director, Alvise Casellati, announced today. Thousands are expected to attend the stirring 90-minute performance, which will give people the opportunity to experience and enjoy Italian opera firsthand in a casual, family-friendly open-air environment.

The enchanted evening of Italian opera under the setting sun in Central Park will feature a selection of the most beloved overtures and arias by Rossini, Verdi and Puccini. Featured performers will include renowned tenor Antonio Poli and acclaimed soprano Maria Mudryak, who will sing for the first time together, and in New York. Additionally, 11-year-old composer and singer Paloma Dineli Chesky of the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program will perform.