Of
Enrico Parola
Between arias and choruses on Thursday the controversy that has been stirring the theater in recent months will silently echo. Meanwhile for New Year’s Eve Mariotti directs: «The biggest challenge will be to re-propose well-known songs»
On Thursday La Fenice will wish a good 2026 live on Rai to the tunes of Verdi and Puccini, Mascagni and Rossini. But between arias and choruses, the controversy that has been stirring the theater in recent months will silently echo: orchestral members and choristers will pin a pin to express their opposition to Beatrice Venezi’s appointment as musical director.
On this the superintendent Nicola Colabianchi he replied, introducing the concert: «I saw the orchestra and the choir during the rehearsals; all polite forms of protest are legitimate, I hope that as soon as possible we can arrive at shared choices, to discuss to find that balance that we are all looking for”. A concert that always attracts a large audience: to satisfy the many requests, before the New Year’s concert, after the debut on the 29th, there was a repeat yesterday and it will be repeated again this evening.
Michele Mariotti says he was confronted together with the musicians on another problem: «When you propose songs that everyone knows and that have been played dozens of times, the challenge is to have the desire to rediscover them, to tell something that you already know without boring, without falling into routine». And again: «It is a challenge that the musicians accepted with enthusiasm: I found a lot of quality, working hard on the sound and trying to propose an interpretation in which nothing is left to chance». The forty-six year old from Pesaro, musical director in Bologna from 2008 to 2018 and in Rome from 2022, is today one of the symbols of Italian opera throughout the world; Vienna, which tomorrow celebrates with Strauss’ waltzes, will applaud him in Verdi’s Luisa Miller in February. «Directing the opera is a wonderful responsibility, but above all a constant enrichment because you really never stop learning. Our DNA is made up of arias, duets and concertatos: our history, our social and political evolutions are told by the opera.”
After a first part of symphonic pieces, sections from the operas, including, never performed at the Fenice, «The dream of Ratcliff» and the Barcarola from «Silvano» by Mascagni and «La tregenda from Le Villi by Puccini, the soprano Rosa Feola, the tenor Jonathan Teteman and the choir will sing «O soave fanciulla», «Nessun dorma», «Casta diva», «Va’ pensiero» and «Libiamo ne’ pleased calici»: «It is a kaleidoscope of human affections in which we find ourselves”, explains Mariotti.
«We move from ironic, emphatic moments, full of nervousness and tension to real dreamy and transparent oases; you never get bored.”
December 30, 2025 (changed December 30, 2025 | 9.40pm)
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