The 2026 Winter Olympics will kick off in Italy on Friday February 6, with a lavish opening ceremony featuring star-studded performances from Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, 1300 performers, 1200 volunteers, and almost 3000 athletes.
The 2026 event is the first in Olympics history to be officially co-hosted by two cities; Milan will primarily host the ice events, and the remaining events will be hosted in clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys, with the traditional athletes' parade for the opening ceremony spread across four locations: Milan, Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno.
Here is all we know about the opening ceremony….
The Opening Ceremony is built around the concept of "Armonia, a deeply Italian value carrying a powerful and universal message of peace, unity and dialogue," according to organizers.
Marco Balich, the creative director for the show, has confirmed that Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Chinese pianist Lang Lang and American singer Mariah Carey will all perform.
"China and the United States are currently the two major global players," said Marco, adding: "I want to show that we can join forces through beauty and peace".
Mariah Carey will sing in Italian
© GC ImagesMariah was the first celebrity artist confirmed to be performing, and she has touched down in Milan already, ahead of the event.
"As an international guest, we have Mariah Carey singing in Italy," Marco shared. "A beautiful song. She will enchant many of us – as the cherry on the cake of a beautiful Italian fantasia. We will make a celebration of the sense of beauty of Italy. And also celebrate the sport heavily."
"When we ask artists to come, especially musical artists, we don’t want them to come and promote their own songs or new albums. We want them to sing something that is pertinent," he added. "So, I am very thankful for Mariah Carey, she enthusiastically embraced the fact of singing an entire song in Italian, which is not that easy. A very well-known song – and that will touch the hearts of many Italians. Because she sings beautifully and will sing in a very, very courageous way. You will see the entire stadium singing that, I promise."
The Opening Ceremony's theme
© AFP via Getty Images"The Opening Ceremony is not about technology or spectacle alone,” said Marco. "It is about people, emotion and humanity. In a complex world, we want to offer a message of harmony, beauty and peace that can be understood by everyone."
The ceremony will focus on Italian heritage ,including references to Leonardo da Vinci and Christopher Columbus, as well as a tribute to the late, great fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died in 2025.
Armani has a longstanding connection to the Games, as he had designed the Italian team's Olympic uniforms for decades.
Where is the Opening Ceremony being held?
© Getty ImagesThe opening ceremony will be centered in Milan's landmark San Siro soccer stadium, the iconic 75,000-seat stadium home to football giants AC Milan and Inter Milan. It will be one of the last major events at the stadium before it is demolished to make way for a modern stadium.
However elements of the ceremony will also take place in three other locations: Cortina in the heart of the Dolomite mountains, Livigno in the Italian Alps, and Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.
This will allow the athletes whose disciplines are being held outside of Milan to not have to travel.
© Getty ImagesHow many volunteers will be at the Opening Ceremony?
To put on such a spectacle, the organizers are relying on more than 1,300 performers, among them 1,200 volunteers from 27 countries.
The production has been in the works for months, with volunteers working together across the globe for over 700 hours to rehearse and showcase Italy's culture and history.
© Sportsfile via Getty ImagesThere will be more than 500 musicians for the composition of the original soundtracks, while organizers have also revealed there are: 182 original costume designs, over 1,400 costumes made, 1,500 pairs of shoes, and 7,500 metres of fabric, with the contribution of 110 make-up artists, 70 hair stylists, and the use of over 1,000 stage elements.
Who is performing at the Opening Ceremony?
Legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will sing at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games calling it "a great honor and a deeply emotional experience".
© ISI Photos via Getty ImagesGolden Globe winner Laura Pausini, The White Lotus actress Sabrina Impacciatore, Award-winning Italian actor and producer Pierfrancesco Favino, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoi, and the Italian-Tunisian rapper Ghali, who shot to stardom in 2016 with his single ‘Ninna nanna’ will all take part in the ceremony.
When is the Opening Ceremony?
The event will begin at 8pm local time (7pm GMT, 2pm EST, 11am PST) at San Siro.
How long will the 2026 Winter Olympics last?
It will run for two weeks, with 116 medal events in 16 disciplines.There are seven new disciplines, including the addition of men's and women's dual moguls in freestyle skiing, the return of the men's and women's doubles in luge, men's and women's team alpine combined, women's large hill individual in ski jumping, and mixed relay team in skeleton.
