2018’s Donizetti Opera Festival, together with all the activities related to Bergamo-born composer organized by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, under the artistic direction of Francesco Micheli and the musical direction of Riccardo Frizza, came to an end with a significant increase in audience figures, particularly from foreign visitors, and in critical acclaim, reconfirming the successful development of local community projects and engagement. In 2018, festival attendance was up 30.1% (from 6,524 people in 2017 to 8,491). Foreign visitors, calculated from a sample of 2,000 spectators, excluding season ticket holders, accounted for 56%, compared to 40% in 2017. The countries of provenance of the public, many of which are connected to Bergamo by flights to Milan Bergamo Airport, managed by SACBO, were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Lithuania, Norway, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary, and even more distant countries such as Japan, Israel and the United States. Performances were also up, with a 27% increase in curtain rises (23 in 2018 compared to 18 in 2017). Over 500 under-30s were seen at the previews of the two main operatic titles, while a giant leap forward was recorded for the title dedicated to schools ‘Enrico Young’, with 2,731 pupils (compared to 2,116 in 2017 attending the same number of shows)...