UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

There is no other global organization with the legitimacy, convening power and normative impact of the United Nations. Today, the urgency for all countries to come together, to fulfil the promise of the nations united, has rarely been greater.

24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly recommended that the day be observed by Member States as a public holiday.

The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and its founding Charter. This anniversary comes in a time of great disruption for the world, compounded by an unprecedented global health crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with severe economic and social impacts. But it is also a reminder that times of struggle can become an opportunity for positive change and transformation.

To commemorate the 75 years of the United Nations, Member States hold a high-level event [2] on 21 September 2020, where they reaffirmed and recognized that our challenges are interconnected and can only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism.

To celebrate UN Day, an annual concert is usually held in the General Assembly Hall.
This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the concert will be prerecorded and screened in the GA Hall on Thursday, 22 October 2020 at 12.00 p.m. (New York local time).

The concert, sponsored by the Mission of Italy under the theme "Reimagine, Rebalance, Restart: recovering together for our shared humanity", will include a performance featuring Roberto Bolle, accompanied by other world class etoiles as well as the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, all recorded at La Scala Theater in Milan. A number of classical, modern and reimagined dances, curated specifically for the UN Day Concert, will be performed.

By connecting us and creating common understanding, art and culture create the fertile ground from which genuine solidarity can emerge. In this spirit, music and dance can help bring us together to reimagine a world “rebalanced”, to be designed and built together for present and future generations. Highlighting the significance of the 75th anniversary of the UN and reflecting on the experience of the pandemic, the 2020 UN Day performance will leverage the power of music and dance to capture our collective commitment to cooperation, multilateralism and global solidarity.

The UN Day Concert performance will be streaming LIVE on UN page [3] as well as on: UN Web TV (webtv.un.org), the UN Channel on YouTube [4], Facebook [5] and Twitter [6]. Stay tuned!