• 1,200 volunteers will perform at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony at Milan’s San Siro.
  • Production includes 1,400 costumes, 1,500 shoes, 110 makeup artists, 70 hair stylists and 500 musicians.
  • Headliners Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli will share the bill while La Scala students and locals fill the stage.

Volunteers take center stage at San Siro

MILAN — With one week to go until the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, rehearsals at San Siro are humming. More than 1,200 volunteers — many from Milan’s famed La Scala academy and local communities — are learning choreography, costume changes and precise stage movements for a single, live night before 60,000 in the stadium and millions worldwide.

Rehearsals are tightly controlled. Organizers asked media not to photograph performers in costume to preserve surprise. Still, the scale is impossible to miss: neon-lit set pieces, dancers leaping on and off platforms, and tailors working nonstop to finish outfits.

The human cast: professionals and first-timers

Organizers say the volunteer pool mixes professionals and amateurs. Some are trained dancers and actors; most are everyday residents and students who answered the call to be part of Olympic history. Ariel Fuchs, a 25-year-old software engineer from Chico, California, who now works in Milan, described auditioning after friends urged her to try out.

“It’s been great since then,” Fuchs told NBC News, describing the thrill of joining a global ceremony.

Massive logistics behind a two-hour show

Behind the choreography are staggering logistics. Creative directors and production teams outlined the numbers: 1,400 costumes, 1,500 pairs of shoes, 110 makeup artists, 70 hair stylists and 500 musicians responsible for original soundtracks. Tailors in a rehearsal tent stitch final seams as performers repeat sequences.

“It is the biggest show on earth, bigger than anything else, bigger than the Super Bowl, than any other show ever seen,” said Lulu Helbeck, one of the ceremony’s creative directors.

The event management company Balich Wonder Studio, known for staging 16 Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies, is overseeing the production. The company and creative teams have emphasized secrecy around costumes and staging to preserve the spectacle when the curtains open.

Watch: inside the rehearsals

Embedded post: Watch NBC’s inside look at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony rehearsals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=256889413937

This short video shows tent rehearsals, costume fittings and volunteers refining their timing — a reminder that the most visible stars of the night may be the volunteers who transform ideas into a live worldwide event.

What to expect on opening night

The show will feature global stars — including Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli — but it’s the army of volunteers who will animate the set. Expect tightly coordinated movements, rapid costume changes and a large live orchestra and soundtrack created specifically for the ceremony.

As final rehearsals wrap, Milan’s San Siro will soon become the stage for one of the Olympic Games’ most-watched traditions — a night built on the work of thousands behind the scenes and 1,200 volunteers in the spotlight.

Image Referance: https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/scenes-rehearsals-olympic-opening-ceremony-1200-volunteers-take-center-rcna256467