To tell the recent history of Italy, included in that time span that goes from the “economic boom” to the first decade of the 21st century, the art form that best represents our country was chosen: the work. Thus was born Italian opera from Nicola Campograndeon text by helium and of Piero Brodatomusical photograph of what Italy and the Italians are and which will be performed for the first time ever on the stage of Ducal Palace in Martina Franca on 3 and 5 August at 9 pm.
This year, therefore, the audience of the Valle d’Itria Festival will be able to attend the debut of the score composed by Campogrande between 2008 and 2010 commissioned by the Italia 150 Committee on the occasion of the celebrations for the unity of the country. Podium and direction are entrusted to two interpreters who have been establishing themselves in recent years, Alessandro Cadario at the helm of the Petruzzelli Orchestra e Tommaso Franchin. The sets are by Fabio Carpene, the costumes by Giada Masi and lights by Alessandro Carletti. In the cast Cristin Arsenova will be in the role of a melodramatic woman, who takes the name of Opera, Candid Guide she will be a villain, a woman willing to do anything, Yuri Guerra will be Balconi, the caretaker of the condominium, Raffaele Abate will be Soldini, the entrepreneur, Gurgen Baveyan the Italian Mario and the pianist Claudio Bonfiglio will be the one who plays.
“For Italian opera – says Nicola Campogrande – I composed a cheerful and intense music, which alternates moments of absolute fun with pages in which love, passion, in some cases the drama dominate. A music with melodies, harmonies, rhythms and instrumental solutions that allow the performers to express themselves, have fun and enter into a relationship with the public. In fact, I continue to think that a composer, today, can go beyond the somewhat punitive experience of the old avant-gardes and work on a present (and perhaps a future) in which music returns to being a pleasure for the ears and for the heart, as well as for the brain ».
The first act of Italian Opera develops in the sixties and early seventies, with allusions to the promise of well-being, to building speculation, to the generational and revolutionary clash, to music beat, with the arrival of drugs, to the point of lapping the years of lead. The second act is placed in the middle of the Eighties, with strong references to the explosion of commercial TV, to the culture of the ephemeral, to unbridled hedonism, to the “Milan to drink”. The third act is instead realized in the present of virtual finance, minimalism, new forms of spirituality, individualism, the great fears and great promises of our future.
* Tickets for the shows are on sale on the site www.festivaldellavalleditria.it, on the Vivaticket website and in the over 700 points of sale throughout Italy: they cost a maximum of 70 euros for a seat in the central sector of the stalls for the opening night of 19 July at Palazzo Ducale, up to a minimum of 5 euros. Discounts for over 65 and under 30 are active for all shows. Furthermore, for residents of Martina Franca, with the exception of the opening night, a 50% discount is always applied to the full price of the tickets for the shows. Initiative designed for 2022 is the promotion “Ambassador of the Festival”: by purchasing two tickets for a scheduled show, it will be possible to add a third with the symbolic amount of 3 euros both for the same evening (option that can also be purchased online) and for another appointment (option available only at the Festival boxoffice)
– photo credit Clarissa Lapolla
In Martina the world premiere of “Opera Italiana” – Corriere di Taranto