Olympic Opening Ceremonies 2026 Known Performers, Details and Latest Rumors

The 2026 Winter Olympics are nearly here and will officially kick off with Friday's opening ceremony—though the first competitive events will begin on February 4.

The 2026 Olympics will be held at various sites in Northern Italy, with Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo serving as the official host cities. Friday's ceremony will take place in Milan, largely at San Siro Stadium.

After the opening ceremony is complete, the Olympics will span nearly three weeks and will include eight core sports, 16 disciplines, and 116 medal events.

Here's what to know about the Milano Cortina Games and what fans can expect from Friday's festivities.

2026 Winter Olympics

Millo Moravski/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

Team USA skiier Mikaela Shiffrin

Host Cities: Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy

Dates: February 4 - February 22

Event Schedule: Olympics.com

Broadcast Partners: NBC, USA Network, CNBC, Peacock, NBCU and more

Broadcast Schedule: NBCOlympics.com

Opening Ceremony Schedule

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Date: Friday, February 6

Time: 2 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CET)

Location: San Siro Stadium in Milan

TV: NBC

Live Stream: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, NBC Sports app

Opening Ceremony Preview

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

The opening ceremony will be held at San Siro Stadium in Milan, one of Italy's two official host cities. The 2026 games will mark the fourth time that Italy has hosted the Olympics but the first time that two cities have held the honor.

The motto of the 2026 Olympics is "IT's Your Vibe," a creative nod to the host nation. The theme for the opening ceremony, though, will be Armonia (harmony).

From Olympics.com:

"The world of sport is full of harmony expressed in a thousand different ways: movement, proportions, rhythm, and connection. ...For this reason, Milano Cortina 2026 has chosen "Harmony" as the title and vision for the Opening Ceremony."

Organizers hope that peace is also a theme of this year's ceremony.

"In this moment, where forces and bullies are predominant, I think it's very important for all of us to embrace the values that the Olympics represents, which is to compete respectfully and peacefully between all the countries and nations, summarized in the title 'Harmony,'" creative director Marco Balich said, per Colleen Barry of The Associated Press.

The ceremony will feature a show inside the stadium with music and thousands of dancers. It will, of course, also include the unveiling of the Olympic rings, the parade of athletes, the raising of flags, and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron—or in this case, cauldrons.

For the first time ever, the lighting ceremony will include two Olympic cauldrons, one at Milan's Arco della Pace and one in Cortina's Piazza Dibona.

While much of the opening ceremony is set to focus on Italian history and culture, the Ladin culture of northern Italy will not be included in the main ceremony, per Barry. Instead, a small group of costumed Ladins will parade through Cortina ahead of the main ceremony.

According to Barry, half of Cortina's population is Ladin.

Of course, fans can expect to see some celebrity performers as part of the ceremony.

According to Olympics.com, the evening's list of performers includes Grammy-winning pop icon Mariah Carey, singer-songwriter Laura Pausini, famed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, actor/producer Pierfrancesco Favino, actress Sabrina Impacciatore, Chinese pianist Lang Lang, and Italian rapper Ghali.

According to Balich, Carey will sing in Italian and "the entire stadium will be singing along."

While NBC will begin its live broadcast at 2 p.m. ET, it will hold a prime-time encore presentation at 8 p.m. on Friday. It can also be streamed on Peacock after the initial broadcast.

The closing ceremony for the 2026 Winter Olympics is scheduled for Sunday, February 22.