AGI – Over 160 orchestra professors, 300 choir artists from the Italian symphonic opera foundations, 74 dancers, a thousand workers. More than a tribute, the triumph of Opera and, through this, of Italianness. An evening that it is almost an understatement to define as exceptional because it brings together Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Flórez, Ludovic Tézier, Vittorio Grigolo, Luca Salsi, Eleonora Buratto, Francesco Meli and many other artists in the largest open-air theater in the world, with the dance by Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni, is something that goes beyond exceptionality.
The highest state authorities and some ministers were present at the event. Long applause welcomed the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella as he entered the Verona Arena for the event “The Great Italian Opera, a World Heritage Site”. Entering the Arena, before the Head of State, were the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the presidents of the Senate and Chamber, Ignazio La Russa and Lorenzo Fontana, and the ministers Gennaro Sangiuliano, Adolfo Urso and Luca Ciriani. The mayor Damiano Tommasi and the president of the Veneto Region Luca Zaia welcomed President Mattarella in Piazza Bra, the square in front of the Arena.
The journey into the Opera, and through this into the history of Italian music, is led by Alberto Angela, Cristiana Capotondi and Luca Zingaretti. The Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the Arena di Verona Foundation, thus celebrates Italian opera singing, a world heritage site, in an evening broadcast worldwide by Ra.
The show opened with maestro Riccardo Muti, ambassador of Italian excellence in the world, to whom the 12,500 spectators gave a more than deserved standing ovation. He will conduct the first part of the evening, and the most significant pieces for orchestra and choir of the great Italian opera, from the reign of Belcanto of Guglielmo Tell and Norma, to the Verdi and Risorgimento epics of Nabucco and Macbeth, to the grandiose symphonic and choral pages from Mephistopheles and Manon Lescau.
The second part of the evening will offer an exciting anthology of the most famous opera pieces by Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Giordano, performed by an unrepeatable cast. Stars from all over the world united by Italian opera singing, such as the sopranos Anna Netrebko, Eleonora Buratto, Rosa Feola, Juliana Grigoryan, Jessica Pratt, Mariangela Sicilia, the mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, the tenors Jonas Kaufmann, Renè Barbera, Juan Diego Flórez, Vittorio Grigolo, Brian Jagde, Francesco Meli, Galeano Salas, the baritones Nicola Alaimo, Luca Salsi, Ludovic Tézier, the bass Alexander Vinogradov, conducted by the young maestro Francesco Ivan Ciampa.
For the occasion, Fondazione Arena di Verona has designed, with Filippo Tonon, an original scenographic system, which will welcome orchestra and choir on the stage and transform the mystical gulf into a new scenic space for another Italian excellence in the world, dance. The Étoiles Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni will perform two choreographies signed by Massimiliano Volpini, created specifically for this event and performed for the first time. On the music of the great masters, including Giacomo Puccini whose centenary of his death is being celebrated this year, the two Étoiles of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan will first perform a pas de deux to the notes of Madama Butterfly, followed by the solo of Bubbles on Cavalleria Rusticana. Also on stage during the evening were 50 dancers from the Fondazione Arena dance troupe.
