In the eighteenth edition of Mito Settembre Musica there are also Toro and Milan, Martini & Rossi and Campari: Giorgio Battistelli, the new artistic director of the event, “plays” a lot on Turin and Milan and their characteristics. «I asked myself what the strength of this festival was, given that in Italy there are 1600 festivals – says Battistelli in the press conference presenting the 2024 festival – The answer is that this is the only festival that takes place in two cities, the It is the only one that has two united realities and this is an enormous strength, the two cities have different needs but the festival must create connections of a political nature.”
The 2024 edition will take place from 6 to 22 September, costs three million euros, 50% is covered by the two administrations, the rest by the FUS, the Ministry of Culture, private sponsors and ticket proceeds. The theme is “Moti”: «A title must be a semantic vector – explains Battistelli – what kind of indications does Moti give us? Which is not just a jolting movement, it must make us reflect, create connections, it must be bold, it must provoke.” Within the festival the artistic director highlighted five perimeters.
“Orchestral Mythologies” kicks off the festival on 6 September in Piazza San Carlo with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Regio conducted by Michele Spotti for Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony”, on the podium of the Filarmonica Trt there is Gianandrea Noseda for Walker, Casella , Beethoven, while the two concerts with the Orchestra and Choir of the Opéra de Lyon conducted by Daniele Rustioni underline the start of a new Turin – Lyon collaboration to Europeanise the festival (for 2025 Battistelli is thinking of Milan-Munich).
The artistic director asked a skilled storyteller like Stefano Massini to tell, in two melologues, two “Artistic Enterprises” so in Turin there will be the “Drink Jazz Suite” or an alcoholic mythology dedicated to the history of Martini & Rossi with the saxophones of Emanuele Cisi, while Campari will be talked about in Milan.
“Musica su due foot” pays homage to the myth of Grande Torino with a video by Lorenzo Letizia accompanied by music by Carlo Crivelli performed by the Rai National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Enrico Pagano, while there will be music by Fabio Vacchi for the history of Milan.
In 2024, which celebrates the first centenary of Puccini’s death, there are many tributes to the composer from Lucca. Toni Servillo is the reciting voice in “Puccini, Puccini, what do you want from me”, on a text by Giuseppe Montesano with the Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali conducted by Gianna Fratta, while a concert is dedicated to the chamber lyrics of Franco Alfano, the contemporary of Puccini who concluded Turandot, the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Giampaolo Pretto will perform Andrea Manzoli’s “Dodici ringtocchi” inspired by Floria Tosca, one hundred primary school pupils will participate in the show “The Princess of Frost” from Puccini’s Turandot” directed by Manu Lalli and the Orchestra of the students of the Conservatories of Turin and Milan directed by Giuseppe La Malfa.
The largest perimeter embraces “Listening with eyes”: from Giovanni Sollima and his 100cellos in Piazza San Carlo to the “no Piano Concerto” by Simon Steen-Andersen with the Rai National Symphony Orchestra with Robert Trevino, from the piano of Ludovico Einaudi in Piazza San Carlo at “Wild Passions and Pastoral Loves” with Ottavio Dantone on the harpsichord and the contralto Delphine Galou at Le Roi Music Hall, from “A House of Call” by Heiner Goebbels on the piano by Nicolas Hodges.
And to further tighten the ties between the two cities and given that the Frecciarossa is the official train of the Festival, the councilor for culture Rosanna Purchia trusts that there are ongoing negotiations with Trenitalia to include, at least in September, trains that allow spectators to return later in the evening from Milan: it would be a great opportunity for Turin spectators.
