Zeffirelli lives forever. Ovation for Carmen at the Verona Arena

Verona, 18 June 2022 – The question is: do you really die forever? Because the soul of the Master Franco Zeffirelli also last night she was alive, very lively at the debut of the season that inaugurated the 99th Opera Festival 2022 atArena of Verona with a full house of 13 thousand spectators. Here, in fact, the last scene took place Carmen by Franco Zeffirelli in an installation that integrated the original project of 1995 with the splendid intuitions that the Maestro himself had adopted for the shooting of 2009 and above all with important scenographic elements, created for the first time ever, that the Maestro himself had designed without being able to see them on stage.

With the artistic supervision of Pippo Zeffirellipresident of the Florentine Foundation, as well as in turn also a director – a close collaborator of directors such as Coppola and Ivory – and always his alter ego, the historical collaborators: from authentic set designers such as Carlo Centolavignato Lucia Real which resumed the original choreographies, up to the extraordinary participation of the Spanish Ball of the Compañia Antonio Gades directed by Stella Arauzo.

The beautiful costumes were also the original ones of Anna Yearsthe lights redesigned by Paolo Mazzon to re-propose in a warm and unforgettable evening the marvelous work, the definitive synthesis of the vision developed over the years by the Master, created with the various technical adjustments and with the return to the widest possible breath of the first production. Verona is an overall vision: over thirteen thousand people in the stands and in the stalls for an audience that is nothing short of adoring in front of a gigantic staging from every point of view. The masses that move on the stage according to the diktats left by the Maestro, the extraordinary costumes, the scenes that are works of art for this Carmen that is the undisputed masterpiece of Bizet, inspired by the short story of Mérimée, which over time has acquired its own original physiognomy, with new characters and situations. Staged on the huge stage of the Verona Arena for one night – several reruns scheduled, tonight the spectacular Aida always by the Maestro – the sensational elegance of Zeffirelli’s artistic production.

And that sense of beauty that concerns, beyond the unique sumptuousness of the scenographies, the completeness of his characters, cared for him down to the smallest aesthetic and character details, by his wonderful staff made up of moral and spiritual inheritances. not totally convincing Clémentine Margaine and Luca Micheletti as Escamillo; with the tenor Brian Jagde and the great Micaela – open applause – by soprano Karen Gardeazabal. To underline the international cast of young performers, including children. On the podium the excellent Marco Armiliato, in the double role of music director of the festival. Applause during the performance, applause and ovations at the end. Standing ovation and thousands of mobile phones on: instead of lighters for an almost rock concert finale.