About us

19 artists from 14 countries: this is Gen Verde International Performing Arts Group.

Gen Verde was born in 1966 and since then the group continues to witness with commitment, determination and professionalism that humanity still has a chance to choose peace instead of war, to build bridges instead of walls and to propose dialogue instead of intolerance.

For over 50 years Gen Verde have been touring the world with more than 1500 shows, events and concerts.

Among their best-known productions are: “First Pages” (musical theatre performed in 13 language versions) and the concerts, “From the Inside Outside”, “On the Other Side”, “Music Made to be Played”; “Il Mondo una casa” e “Mille strade di luce”.

The band has also performed at numerous international and interreligious events, from the first Earth Run promoted by the UN and UNICEF in New York for the International Year of Peace (1986). Performances were also held for the European Parliament and the Parliament of Prague; for the World Peace Day in Seoul (1984) and in Assisi (2011). In 2019 Gen Verde’s concerts and workshops were part of the official program of the World Youth Day in Panama 2019 and in Lisbon 2023.

They have produced 70 albums in 9 languages, and 147 band members– musicians, singers, technicians, actors and dancers – have been part of Gen Verde. They have worked with artists from all over the world, opening up new horizons and collaboration.

They also provide a wide range of workshops for young people, including specific courses in theatre, percussion, dance and singing.

The period of the Covid-19 pandemic did not stop their artistic productions. Through their performances and online meetings with young people and groups from all over the world, they continue to convey a message of hope and solidarity through words and music.

To sum up: Gen Verde is an all-female group whose strengths are talent, internationality, cultural richness and artistic experimentation. To give a voice to the people of our time, who are called to live for universal fraternity: this is Gen Verde’s goal.

What does “Gen Verde” mean?

They also provide a wide range of workshops for young people, including specific courses in theatre, percussion, dance and singing. In 1966 in Loppiano, international town of the Focolare Movement, a few kilometres from Florence, Chiara Lubich (founder of the Movement) gave a green drum set to a group of girls who came from different parts of the world and belonged to the youth branch of the Movement, called ‘gen’, from the acronym ‘new generation’. From that moment on, that drum kit became the symbol of a revolution in which shared and offered music and talent are privileged instruments to help bring about a more united and fraternal world. It also gives the band its name: ‘Gen Verde’.