Below is a statement released by the organizers:
Appointment in the splendid baroque city of Martina Franca, from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 June, to celebrate 50 editions of the Valle d’Itria Festival, one of the oldest summer events dedicated to opera and vocal music, the first in the South. 50 years of music, rarities and rediscoveries to be celebrated together with the citizens and the entire region, with the associations, bodies, public and artists who have contributed to the growth of the event.
Established in 1975, the Opera Festival will offer three opera titles from 17 July to 6 August (Norm by Vincenzo Bellini, Aladdin and the magic lamp by Nino Rota, Airdant by Georg Friedrich Händel), and numerous concerts, shows, meetings with artists, conferences, exhibitions and screenings.
The billboard anticipates the three days of the title “Puglia with the Festival. 50 years of history” of 7, 8 and 9 June. Many appointments, all ad free and free entry, among the streets of the historic center and in some of the most beautiful places of Martina Franca: Palazzo Ducale, Orti del Duca, Cloister of San Domenico, Palazzo Ducale, Auditorium Fondazione Paolo Grassi, Piazza XX Settembre, Piazza Roma, Villa Garibaldi. Organized by the Paolo Grassi Foundation and the “Rodolfo Celletti” Belcanto Academy, the festival avails itself of the collaboration of the Municipality of Martina Franca and numerous Apulian cultural institutions.
THE “I’LL BE BACK NOW” EXHIBITION
Off we go Friday 7 June in the painted rooms of the Piano Nobile of the Palazzo Ducale, where the Pino Pascali Foundation of Polignano a Mare presents the exhibition “I will be right back” which will remain open until June 16th. The exhibition, edited by Sara De Carlois dedicated to the talented and charismatic Apulian artist Cristiano De Gaetano, in the eleventh year since his untimely death at just 37 years old. A selection of some works from his vast and brilliant production will dialogue with the sumptuous rooms created by Domenico Carella. The ducal chapel, the Arcadia Hall, the Myth Hall and the Bible Hall will host, among many, Family in the Old City (2007) from the Pino Pascali Museum collection, the painted cigarette packets Formerly empty (2003) of Vito Intini’s Kunsthalle in Putignano, the ceramics and his pongo wax masterpieces. Also on display is a tribute from his son Giordano who edited the hundreds of drawings made by the artist for a 2002 video-cartoon All for one, one for all.
The TALK “CULTURES, PEOPLE, EXPERIENCES”
Among the events of the three days, the day of Saturday 8 June opens at the Auditorium of the Paolo Grassi Foundation (11am) with the Talk meeting “Cultures, People, Experiences”, reflections on the culture system by the Paolo Grassi Foundation and the Giuseppe Di Vagno Foundation of Conversano, and with the participation of the participating Foundations of the Puglia Region. They talk about it Aldo Patrunogeneral director of the Tourism, Economy of Culture and Territorial Enhancement Department of the Puglia Region, e Paolo di Paolowriter and playwright, with Cristiana Castellotti, journalist and manager of current affairs and in-depth programs for Rai Radio3. They also participate Lea Durante professor of Italian Literature at the University of Bari, Francesco Maggiore president of the Dioguardi Foundation, Giusy Ottonelli co-founder Spazio Murat and Impact Hub Bari, e Francesca Rossini member of the Superior Council of Entertainment of the Ministry of Culture.
THE WHOLE PROGRAM FROM 7 TO 9 JUNE
The festival officially opens with Musical Band of the City of Martina Franca “Armonie d’Itria” Friday 7th at 6.30 pm, in a show of great energy, to be listened to and watched, in the streets and squares of the historic center.
At 8pm there is Villa Garibaldi “Piano in the Villa”concert by the pianists of Francesco Libetta’s advanced class and the very young students of the Paolo Grassi Foundation Music School.
At 9.30 pm the Orti del Duca welcomes you Claudio Prima and the Semediterraneo Ensemblein an unpublished project by the musician and author from Salento, which reworks some classics of traditional Apulian music in orchestral form, combining them with new compositions to celebrate the countless encounters with the traditions of the countries that overlook the Middle Sea, from North Africa to the Balkans , from Occitania to Andalusia.
At 6.30 pm he returns to the streets of the center and among the people there Musical Band of the City of Martina Franca “Armonie d’Itria”.
We move to Piazza Roma (7.30 pm) for an event dedicated to children and families: Gianlibrettoa friendly library elf played by the actor Giovanni Di Lonardo, accompanied by the violinist Ivana Zaurino and the flautist Gabriella Caroli, tells the stories of Cyrano and from Magic Flute.
At 8pm appointment with i flash mob through the streets of the city of the new voices of the “Rodolfo Celletti” Belcanto Academy which has been offering high-level preparation to young opera singers since 2010.
A tribute then to the great Eduardo de Filippo 40 years after his death with “He has to spend a night” (Chiostro San Domenico, 8.30 pm), musical show for string quartet, clarinet and actor; the original music is by Paolo Messa, the dramaturgy by Maurizio Pellegrini, the lyrics by Eduardo de Filippo, on stage the actor Maurizio Pellegrini and the musicians of Epos Teatro of Polignano a Mare.
The evening ends withPopular orchestra La Notte della Taranta (piazza XX Settembre, 10.30 pm) which returns to Martina Franca with a large group of dancers to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Festival after the extraordinary participation in 2018 with a free revisitation of the Barber of Seville of Rossini and Paisiello. It will once again be a deliberately pop show in which the percussive musical tradition of tarantism will merge with the unique and contemporary sound of the Orchestra Popolare, for an event in collaboration with the La Notte della Taranta Foundation.
Sunday 9 June the party opens at 6.30 pm with Musical Band of the City of Martina Franca “Armonie d’Itria”and continues at 7.30 pm in Piazza Roma with the return of the elf Gianlibretto this time engaged in the dramatized musical reading of Aladdin and the wonderful lamp for a magical journey into one of the most famous stories of The Arabian Nights (which anticipates one of the three works of the Festival), starring the actor Giovanni Di Lonardo and the guitarist Michele Santoro.
At 8pm there is the flash mob of the “Rodolfo Celletti” Belcanto Academy, through the streets of the centre.
It closes at 9pm in Piazza XX Settembre with the Symphonic Concert of theICO Orchestra of Magna Graecia directed by Claudio Vandelliin a program of music by George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, an opportunity to compare two central figures of twentieth-century American music.
Finally, for the next few months, the city will be affected by urban decorations to celebrate the 50 editions of the Festival, created by the Historic Center Traders Committee, Viale della Libertà Traders Committee, Corso Messapia and surroundings Traders Committee, Magica Valle d’Itria Association.
