The 49th edition of Festival della Valle d’Itria is ready

 MARTINA FRANCA - Il Turco in Italia by Gioachino Rossini, conducted by Michele Spotti and directed by Silvia Paoli, Il paese dei campanelli by Carlo Lombardo and Virgilio Ranzato, conducted by Fabio Luisi and directed by Alessandro Talevi, and three premières: the world première of Pietro Auletta’s L’Orazio in modern times, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli and directed by Jean Renshaw; the first Italian performance in modern times of Florian Leopold Gassmann’s Gli Uccellatori, conducted by Enrico Saverio Pagano and directed by Jean Renshaw; the Italian première of Jules Massenet’s L’adorable Bel-Boul to a libretto by Paul Poirson, conducted by Francisco Soriano and directed by Davide Garattini – composes this year’s Festival della Valle d’Itria.

 With 5 opera titles and 12 symphonic concerts and recitals, this year the 49th Festival della Valle d’Itria, set in the Baroque scenario of Martina Franca - with vine lines, woods and the centennial olive trees of Valle d’Itria as its exceptional background - recalls the teachings of its founder Paolo Grassi who wished to put the audience, through laugh and irony, in front of the social mechanisms hiding the truth, the awareness of reality and history.

 The President of Fondazione Paolo Grassi since 2023, Michele Punzi states: "In such a difficult year marked by the sad passing of President Franco Punzi, we are proud to present a high-profile program perfectly embracing the spirit of the Festival’s founder as well as his successors. We will try to look forward to our 50th anniversary in 2024 with optimism and with our recent achievements – such as the Premio Abbiati della Critica Musicale Italiana received by Leila Fteita for her scenography of Le Joueur, a 2022 production of ours – well in mind, aiming towards new peaks of excellence."

 "This years’ programme is entirely dedicated to comic and buffo opera repertoire," states Artistic Director Sebastian F. Schwarz – whose different forms have often appeared in the history of opera during dire times of rooted crisis. Just as the historical context where Operetta was born which, similarly, presented a fierce criticism to the European audience, as in Offenbach in France, in the works of the Viennese and Berlinese traditions and in those of Ronzato and Lombardo in Italy."

 The annual conference of Europäische Musiktheater-Akademie (EMA) of Vienna will be held in Martina Franca on July 30 and 31, as a part of the Festival’s program. The conference reunites the most qualified experts, musicologists and international theatre directors to promote an exchange of perspectives, ideas and experiences, in order to study the importance of operetta in contemporary theatre and to imagine new ways to preserve its rich cultural heritage.

 The program will be enriched by further, important events. First, the traditional concert Concerto per lo spirito (July 24), held in the Basilica di San Martino by the Baroque ensemble Modo Antiquo, conducted by the specialist Federico Maria Sardelli with a repertoire dedicated Haendel, Corelli and Vivaldi. The traditional symphonic concert will follow on July 29 which will present the Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari conducted by rising star Diego Ceretta, multi-awarded at the contest Premio Cantelli 2020 and guest at the Rossini Opera Festival 2023 and at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna this year. The program will be completed by the acclaimed three concerts Concerti del Sorbetto (July 22, 29 and August 5) in the afternoon, taking place in the Baroque frame of Chiostro di San Domenico.

 The Festival kicks off on July 18, 2023 in the courtyard of Palazzo Ducale in Martina Franca. A new, fresh production of Gioachino Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia (performances on August 1, 4 and 6), drama giocoso in two acts and with libretto by Felice Romani, who will bring the opera closer to its author once again by cutting out music from other composers hastily included in its first version of 1814 at Teatro La Scala di Milano, and integrating lesser-known pieces Rossini had written for the 1815 version in Florence and especially in Rome. Michele Spotti conducts the Orchestra and Coro del Teatro Petruzzlli di Bari (choirmaster Fabrizio Cassi). Cast includes soprano Giuliana Gianfaldoni, as Selim the young bass Adolfo Corrado, as Prosdocimo the baritone Gurgen Baveyan; while the baritone Giulio Mastrototaro bring onstage his experience at La Scala in the role of Don Geronio. The show is directed by Silvia Paoli, with stage design by Andrea Belli and costume design by Valeria Donata Bettella.

 Il paese dei campanelli by Carlo Lombardo and Virgilio Ranzato was composed in 1923 and its performance aims at celebrating the centenary of the Italian operetta. The freshness and excellency of its musical score, often underestimated in the operetta genre, charmed Fabio Luisi in 2008 when he conducted it for the German radio. For the first time in decades, a production with the full orchestral personnel will be presented onstage with a choir, dancers, actors and soloists, as indicated in the original score. The show will be directed by the experienced Italian-South African Alessandro Talevi, greatly able to translate the comic in theatrical action and to coordinate wide artistic bodies of professionals onstage. The cast includes in the role of Nela, Francesca Sassu and, in Bombon, Maritina Tampakopoulos, who already played Polina in Prokofiev’s Le Joueur staged last year in Martina Franca. Maestro Fabio Luisi will be conducting the Orchestra and Coro del Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari. The staging is co-produced with Teatro Coccia di Novara where the show will be presented in September.

 "Operetta was born because the society where it originated was an operetta in turn. Such a characteristic depended on the fact that society used to hide from reality instead of consciously facing it," wrote Kracauer in his fundamental text Offenbach and the Paris of His Time. It is impossible not to notice the similarities with our time: society is always more withdrawn towards a suspended void where even war is reported in a blur and where economy, now dominated by finance, loses track of reliable estimates and evaluations in ordinary life. The historic and recently renovated Teatro Verdi di Martina Franca will be enriched by the staging of two important premieres in modern times in their theatrical form. The first one is the world première in modern times of Pietro Auletta’s L’Orazio (July 22 and 25), rediscovered by the musicologist Bernardo Ticci, curator of this new edition. L’Orazio is a comic opera from the Neapolitan School widely acclaimed on the occasion of its first representation in 1737.

 The second rediscovery presented in Italian première in modern times at Teatro Verdi is a Venetian comic opera with a libretto by Carlo Goldoni, an excellent opportunity to compare two national schools competing in the XVIII century. The manuscript of Gli Uccellatori by the Bohemian composer Florian Leopold Gassmann (August 2 and 5) was rediscovered in 2015 in the Venice national library during a research study directed by the musicologist from Taranto Michele Calella, full professor of musicology at the University of Vienna, staged by the Theater an der Wien in the Kammeroper of Vienna by the English director choreographer Jean Renshaw, whose direction has been confirmed for such an opera.

 The last opera, actually an operetta, presented for the first time in Italy, is a true rarity by Jules Massenet, who is known in Italy for only three out of his total twenty-eight works and not at all as operetta composer. L’adorable Bel-Boul (July 19 and 20) with libretto by Paul Poirson is an operetta in one act from 1873. In 2023, such a work celebrates its 150th anniversary from its composition.

  Festival della Valle d’Itria - Since its first edition, 49 years ago in Martina Franca (Puglia), every summer presents a Festival characterized by both unusual and bold choices as well as by the quality of the artists invited to every edition. Dwelling on the south-eastern hills of the region of Murgia, Martina Franca is a Baroque city embedded in the astonishing landscape of Valle d’Itria among the local vine rows, woods and centennial olive trees. Founded in 1975, the Festival has always stood out since its first edition for the rediscovery of operas and of rare or underrated musical pages, as well as for the utmost care in the presentation of the integral versions and critical editions of the chosen works in order to preserve the composers’ original intents.

 Since 1980, thanks to the work of its former president Franco Punzi and of the musical direction of the great vocality expert Rodolfo Celletti, the Festival has been reinforcing its native mission of revaluating the Belcanto repertoire and the Neapolitan School, which the composers from Puglia had been great protagonists of. Nevertheless, the Festival has always embraced the grandiose European repertoire as well and, in particular, it promotes a renewed appreciation for the Italian Belcanto elements in works of foreign composers.

 Alberto Triola, the artistic director of the Festival since 2010 after Sergio Segalini (1994-2009), has brought the focus back on the Belcanto repertoire and on the Baroque musical theatre, though with relevant inclusions of XX-century and contemporary works. In 2023, the Festival begins a new path under the chairmanship of its new President, Michele Punzi. Sebastian F. Schwarz is the new artistic director for the triennial period 2022-2024 and after twelve editions with his predecessor Alberto Triola.

 The Festival is being held in Martina Franca (TA), July 18 – August 6, 2023.

TICKETS

• 4 Operas: from 65 to 150 €

• 4 Operas and 2 Concerts: from 100 to 200 €

• Palazzo Ducale: from 10 to 70 €

• Teatro Verdi: from 10 to 40 €

• Chiostro di San Domenico: from 15 to 25 €

• Il canto degli ulivi | Concerti del sorbetto: from 5 to 15 €

BOX OFFICE

Piazza XX Settembre n. 5/B 74015 Martina Franca tel. +39 080 4301828

Open every day: h. 10-13/17-21

biglietteria@festivaldellavalleditria.it

Festival della Valle d’Itria Fondazione Paolo Grassi, via Metastasio 20  74015 Martina Franca (TA) - www.festivaldellavalleditria.it www.fondazionepaolograssi.it

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