“The Great Italian Opera, a World Heritage Site”, in the evening promoted by the Ministry of Culture and organized in collaboration with the Arena di Verona Foundation, brought 164 orchestra professors and over 314 choristers, coming from all over the world, to the stage of the Roman amphitheatre. the Italian opera-symphonic foundations. Together for the first time, in a powerful impact
11/06/2024
In Verona, a city of art, history, culture and ancient traditions, home of the love of Romeo and Juliet, the historic center of the UNESCO site since 2000, an extraordinary event opened the Arena festival on 7 June, at 101 ° year, to celebrate Italian opera singing recently declared UNESCO intangible heritage.
The President of the Republic was present Sergio Mattarellathe Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Government authorities, military institutions and civilian personalities.
“The Great Italian Opera, a World Heritage Site”, in the spectacular evening promoted by the Ministry of Culture and created in collaboration with the Arena di Verona Foundation, brought to the prestigious stage of the Roman amphitheater built in the 1st century. d. C. and renovated in the 16th century, 164 orchestra professors and over 314 choristers, coming from all the Italian opera-symphonic foundations. Together for the first time, in a powerful impact. AND Roberto Bolle And Nicoletta Manni they entrusted some musical pieces to the lightness of the dance steps.
Music, opera and dance in a universal language that excites and unites. A complex program. Thirty pieces including overtures, choruses, arias, in the magical gala of Italian opera, but also ballets and masks of the time, accompanied by the presentation of Alberto Angela, Cristiana Capotondi And Luca Zingaretti. Attendance was 12,500 and there were mega-screens in the city of Verona for the event broadcast worldwide.
Upon the arrival of the President of the Republic, the concert conducted, in the first part, by the Maestro Riccardo Muti opens with the Mameli anthem Michele Novarofollowed by the European one with the Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. The evening ends, after about four hours, in the second part directed by Francesco Ivan Ciampa, with the toast “in the happy glasses” of “La Traviata” by Giuseppe Verdi. An intense song of pride and hope for the future of the country.
“I think that this evening is a great opportunity to talk about our past and build our future,” highlighted Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni upon entering the Arena.
“A unique and unrepeatable occasion in which the most well-known and popular arias of our opera production were retraced, which is part of that authentic Italian imagination on which the government is working on multiple fronts”, explains the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano.
On the podium of the Arena, from the baton of the charismatic Riccardo Muti the melody of songs such as the overture from “Guillaume Tell” by Gioacchino Rossini, the Symphony from “Norma” by Vincenzo Bellini, the “Oppressed homeland!” from “Macbeth” and the “Va’ pensiero” from “Nabucco” by Giuseppe Verdi, the “Intermezzo” from “Manon Lescaut” by Giacomo Puccini and the “Prelude and Chorus” from “Mefistofele” by Arrigo Boito.
And then, Francesco Ivan Ciampa with international opera stars, such as Anna Netrebko, Eleonora Buratto, Jessica Pratt, Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Vittorio Grigolo, Francesco Meli, interpreters of the most famous pieces in the history of Italian opera. Between Bellini, Bizet, Donizetti, Giordano, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, Rossini, Verdi.
Already awarded the “Merito della Lingua Italiana 2024” award for having “witnessed and promoted the Italian language in his role as director of some of the most prestigious foreign orchestras and with his tireless work of teaching and enhancing young people”, Muti , as the Accademia della Crusca reasoned, “also worked directly on our language, urging singers in rehearsals to use clear and correct diction and all performers to respect the meaning of the text set to music, deposited in its centuries-old and still alive today linguistic tradition, and demanding that the dictates of the original libretto be rigorously respected in the performances of operas, without applying inappropriate innovations to it”.
Cecilia Gasdia, superintendent of the “Arena di Verona Foundation”, highlights that the Opera “is not only the first made in Italy in our history, but is also the standard-bearer of the Italian language in the world. Thanks to the Opera, Italian is studied on every continent. And for Fondazione Arena it is a pride, as well as a mission, to be a leader in the dissemination of this art”.
Maximum Italian excellence, opera is, therefore, identity, history, testimony of civilization and art. Through singing, he spreads Italian culture and feelings throughout the world, and our language, due to its flexibility and harmony, is the perfect instrument of the sound of words.
The orchestra is also a vehicle and expression of common values. “The orchestra is synonymous with society. There are violins, cellos, violas, oboes, trombones… Each of them often has completely different parts, but they must all contribute to a single good, which is that of everyone’s harmony”, was Riccardo’s final message Mute.
In the city of Verona of encounter and solidarity, crossroads of peoples, Pope francesco in the meeting last May, entitled “Justice and peace will kiss”, he brought a dream of hope, recalling that “peace is built by us, in our homes, in our families, between neighbours, in the places where we work, in neighborhoods where we live.”
In the third largest Roman amphitheatre, among the stones of memory, culture therefore looks to the future through the seduction of lyric poetry. A message that reaches, timelessly, the heart with the power of love. And the tormented but eternal love of Shakespearean lovers is a metaphor for the human condition, for dreaming and not abandoning hope for tomorrow.
(Photo: Ennevi Photographic Studio)
