A unique event, never held before, broadcast worldwide by Rai, with the greatest opera stars, an orchestra made up of 160 elements and a choir of 300 artists from all the Italian symphonic opera foundations and with the extraordinary participation of maestro Riccardo Muti: it is “The Great Italian Work, a World Heritage Site”the extraordinary show promoted by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate the art of Italian opera singing, recently recognized by UNESCO, which took place last night at the Verona Arena amidst the enthusiastic applause of the 12,500 spectators.
To give solemnity to the event staged last night, the presence of the highest representatives of Italian institutions: the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa, the President of the Chamber Lorenzo Fontana, the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and four ministers, Gennaro Sangiuliano (Culture), Adolfo Urso (Made in Italy and Business), Guido Crosetto (Defense) and Luca Ceriani (Relations with Parliament). The reception of Mattarella and Meloni by the public was particularly warm: their entrance was marked by prolonged applause.
Also in the audience were 20 UNESCO delegations and 70 ambassadors from the countries where Italian Opera is most loved, the president of the Veneto Region, Luca Zaia, and the mayor of Verona. Damiano Tommasi, the superintendent of the Arena di Verona Foundation, Cecilia Gasdia, the undersecretary of Culture Gianmarco Mazzi.
For the first time an impressive number of internationally renowned opera singers were protagonists in a single evening, exceptionally on the same stage, in the largest open-air theater in the world to sing the most beautiful pages of the Opera: stars such as Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann, Juan Diego Flórez, Ludovic Tézier, Vittorio Grigolo, Luca Salsi, Eleonora Buratto, Francesco Meli, accompanied with the dance by Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni. And again for the first time the Arena hosted a double stage for performances. Alberto Angela, Cristiana Capotondi and Luca Zingaretti led the audience on a compelling journey into the Opera that made the history of music and Italy.
Many VIP guests crowded the Arena: among them the actors Gabriele Lavia, Claudia Gerini, Pamela Villoresi, Franco Branciroli, Fabio Testi, Jerry Calà, the singer Iva Zanicchi, the journalists Bruno Vespa and Alfonso Signorini, the swimming champion Federica Pellegrini. Also present were Francesco Giambrone, superintendent of the Rome Opera Theater and president of Agis, and Fulvio Macciardi, superintendent of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna and president of Anfols, the National Association of Opera and Symphonic Foundations.
The show opened with maestro Riccardo Muti, ambassador of Italian excellence in the world, on the podium, receiving a standing ovation. It was he who conducted 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 by Guglielmo Tell and Norma, to the Verdi and Risorgimento epics of Nabucco and Macbeth, to the symphonic pages and grandiose chorales from Mefistofele and Manon Lescaut. For maestro Muti, UNESCO’s choice to declare the art of Italian opera singing an intangible cultural heritage “is not a point of arrival, but a commitment for the future, which involves us all, to best pass on this heritage that deserves to be in the Olympus of music of all time”.
In addition to the great pages that have made the history of music, and of Italy itself, the second part of the evening offered 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, directed by the young maestro Francesco Ivan Ciampa.
For the occasion, Fondazione Arena di Verona has created, with Filippo Tonon, a original scenographic system, which welcomed orchestra and choir onto the stage and transformed the mystical gulf into a new scenic space for another Italian excellence in the world, dance. The actors Roberto Bolle and Nicoletta Manni interpreted 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 death is celebrated this year, the two actors of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan first performed a pas de deux to the notes of Madama Butterfly, followed by the solo by Bolle on Cavalleria Rusticana. Also on stage during the evening were 50 dancers from the Fondazione Arena dance troupe.
The event, broadcast live worldwide on Rai 1, was an opportunity for the general public to learn about the exceptional heritage of Italian opera and opera singing thanks also to three different narrators: Alberto Angela, Cristiana Capotondi and Luca Zingaretti who moved in the different spaces of the Arena, among the audience and behind the scenes of this monumental set, a jewel built by the ancient Romans and perfectly preserved which has hosted live shows every summer since 1913.
The one at the Verona Arena was the first major event of this kind dedicated to Opera which the Ministry of Culture hopes to replicate every year, on 7 June, in the most evocative places in Italy. (from the correspondent Paolo Martini)
