«2023 was the turning point year for us. The reputation of the Sassari Theater has grown and has aroused the interest of prestigious names on the world music scene. In 2024 we will offer a lot of quality and diversified and interesting programs, with attention to contemporaneity and current affairs.” The artistic director of the de Carolis institution Alberto Gazale has no doubts: the symphonic opera season that is about to begin will represent a further leap in quality. «Sassari will have the eyes of the world on the occasion of the world premiere of Marco Tutino’s work».
It opens with a change of plans.
«Yes, on Tuesday we received news of maestro Ughi’s health conditions which at the moment do not allow him to go on stage in Sassari. In agreement with him we postponed the concert to October 13th. Instead, we will open with our main guest conductor for the symphony, Massimo Quarta, and with an excellent program that also includes music by Paganini. This is good news for spectators: they will have an extra concert in their subscription.”
He made his debut in Catania with another first work by Tutino inspired by Pirandello.
«I am influencing my artistic choices and I select the requests also taking into account the role I play in the Ente de Carolis. Having made a work by Tutino, having had to study it by heart and perform it, allowed me to enter very deeply into its compositional structure. At the moment, however, I am in Tbilisi where I have agreed to sing three performances of Otello, this too is a choice made with the long-awaited opera in the square in mind in Sassari. I have done Iago many times, including at La Scala, the fact that I now experience it in the role of the artist allows me to reawaken it and assimilate certain dynamics and certain contents that I hope to then be able to return in the directorial plan.”
Then the homage to Puccini and the opera returns to the square.
«After the Puccini gala on New Year’s Day we will have two important events. Tosca, at the opening of the autumn season, will be a beautiful show that will use the scenes of Gasparro’s paintings. La Bohème, however, will close the autumn season and will be another production entirely built by our theatre, with our strengths and with our many talents. With Othello we raised the bar for opera in the square.”
She wanted to pay homage to some important realities of the world symphonic opera scene like her who left from Sassari and Sardinia.
«Our attention to the territory has always been maximum. The theater is first and foremost a place of civilization but also of valorization of one’s children. Luckily in Sardinia we have many excellences that stand out in the world not only for their artistic qualities.”
How do you experience the debut of the season?
«Despite having had artistic experiences of great importance, this one is really special for me. I experience this role with inexhaustible enthusiasm and it gives me sensations that nothing in my professional life had given me. It is an experience that summarizes all the skills I have developed over the years. It’s really nice to be able to draw from these experiences a suitable synthesis for a territory and a social reality that I know very well.”
What was your greatest satisfaction and the result you would like to achieve?
«The greatest satisfaction was succeeding in forming a strong team, full of enthusiasm and desire to do things. In the future I hope that this, our vocation to contemporaneity can continue and give a specificity to our theatre.”
What if you were to extend a further invitation to the people of Sassari?
«We have had very important feedback from them, what I expect in the future is that they will follow us by trusting our choices. It will be an interesting journey that has an underlying coherence in the multi-year planning of the de Carolis institution.”
Tags: program characterized quality contemporaneity Nuova Sardegna
