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The planet, the story, the expected and unexpected stories, between irony and fragility, of a humanity that seems to have lost the ability to dialogue. The Smart festival, an acronym for Storie Musiche ARezzo Teatro, returns to the city for a fourth summer edition full of events and meetings in the name of our time without giving up the pleasure of a shared smile. It returns with original productions and a dedication to the necessary choices as for the screening of the film “From the top of a cold tower”, directed by Francesco Frangipane, which will open its doors to the festival in preview on Saturday 13 July, at 9.30 pm , from the large outdoor screen of the Arena Eden in Arezzo. For the occasion, an exceptional trio made up of the director Frangipane, the actor Edoardo Pesce and the actress Vanessa Scalera will be present in the room for a dialogue around the dramatic choice proposed by the film. The entrance fee is also exceptional thanks to the Cinema Revolution initiative. «This fourth edition of Smart is staged for us, for today, for the words we have to say to each other – says Luca Roccia Baldini, artistic director of the festival. – It is therefore a story that we, as Officine della Cultura, care about in particular. As with the collaborations that allow us to continue the journey: the Guido d’Arezzo Foundation, the Jazz On The Corner Association, the Koinè Cooperative with which we open the festival to children and families and the Casa Vasari Museum to give our contribution to the celebrations for the 450th anniversary of the death of Giorgio Vasari. An intergenerational story between cinema, theater and music that I hope will find space on Arezzo’s summer nights.” Music will open the curtain on the festival on Monday 15 July, at 9.15pm at the Arena Eden with Lino Gitto (The Winstons) on drums and Andrea “Fish” Pesce (Tiromancino) on piano in the concert entitled “In Abbey Road”, with the aim of stripping down a Beatles classic in search of the supporting elements of a masterpiece to “exalt its musical darkness”. From Eden to the Medici Fortress the festival will continue on Wednesday 17 July at 9.00 pm with the new but highly anticipated duo composed of Corrado Formigli and Stefano Massini in “Titanic – or the planet sinks but the orchestra continues to play”, a new production by Savà Produzioni Creative, Officine della Cultura and Sistema Peccioli, organized by the Guido d’Arezzo Foundation as part of the Summer in Fortress events. An experiment in civil theater, which finally attempts to shine a light on the climate crisis that has been ignored for too long, accompanied by the music of Luca “Roccia” Baldini and Massimo Ferri performed live by Tazio Aprile (keyboards), Luca “Roccia” Baldini (bass ), Massimo Ferri (guitar, bouzouki) and Mariel Tahiraj (violin). On Sunday 21 July, again at the Medici Fortress in Arezzo at 9.00 pm, Amanda Sandrelli, Paolo Giovannucci and the Multiethnic Orchestra of Arezzo will be the protagonists of the tale of the summer with “The Carnival of Insects” by Stefano Benni in a original adaptation with music by Enrico Fink produced by Officine della Cultura. Between satire, puns and neologisms it will be here the creativity of the Bolognese writer to indicate a new point of view for restless humanity, a divergent point, facing downwards, still a little lower than usual, yet capable to include approximately 90% of all arthropods and more than 70% of all known animal species: insects. The event is organized in collaboration with the Guido d’Arezzo Foundation as part of the third edition of Estate in Fortezza. On Monday 22 July, at 9.15 pm, the festival will return to the Arena Eden with “Il ventennio” by and with Pietro Sparacino. An open-hearted show which, retracing Sparacino’s career, will tell how much he has changed, but above all how much the society in which we live has changed, comedy, words and the use made of them. The event is part of the Zeta Generation Summer event created with the contribution of the CR Firenze Foundation. Space for jazz music on Tuesday 23 July, at 9.15 pm, with the concert “Twenty for Kenny – Tribute to Kenny Wheeler” 10 years after his death which sees the JOTC Open Orchestra directed by Francesco Giustini host the trumpeter Fulvio Sigurtà on stage , one of the most appreciated soloists on the Italian jazz scene. The first event for the festival will be held on Wednesday 24 July at the Casa Vasari Museum. At 6.00 pm Virginia Billi will be the protagonist of the show “Giorgio Vasari and Properzia de’ Rossi. Vasari’s tale of a ‘female schultora’” with text by Virginia Billi and Marco Caroccia with music by Riccardo Caroccia. A theatrical work to narrate the extraordinary life of Properzia de’ Rossi, sculptor symbol of Renaissance feminism, through the eyes of Giorgio Vasari. On Friday 26 July, at 9.15 pm, the second appointment of the Z Generation Summer series will be staged at the Arena Eden with Lorenzo Maragoni in “Stand Up Poetry”, fifty minutes of original texts made of 90% performative poetry and 10% stand up comedy tracks, trying and failing to find a balance between the two. Through the story of everyday life, in short pieces halfway between the theater and a kind of concert without music, there will be a comparison with the classic themes of poetry: love, identity, the constant sensation that life is always on the point of starting and it would be enough to do something to really experience it, but it is not clear what. At 4.30pm on Sunday 28 July, at the Casa Vasari Museum, ancient music will be the protagonist of the scene with the concert entitled “The battle of Giorgio, on the 2nd of August MDLIV. Music at the time of Vasari and the Battle of Scannagallo in Marciano della Chiana”. The concert by the Anonima Frottolisti ensemble – Miriam Trevisan (voice), Kateřina Ghannudi (voice and harp), Luca Piccioni (voice and lute), Jacob Mariani (bow viola and lute), Massimiliano Dragoni (dulcimelo and ancient percussion) – will tell the era of Vasari and the Battle of Scannagallo, through the performance of pieces composed in the first half of the 16th century: the polyphony of the first Italian, French and Spanish Renaissance, which was able to influence the cultural life of the 16th century and which in the same way he was fascinated by figurative art. August will begin under the banner of jazz, Thursday 1st at 9.15pm at the Arena Eden, with the “American and Brazilian Songbook” presented by Elena Goti 5tet with Elena Goti (vocals), Alberto Mommi (saxophones), Gianni Cinelli (piano), Maurizio Bozzi (double bass) and Andrea Croci (drums). A concert that will invite the public to retrace some of the essential stages of jazz music. From the songs made famous by Ella Fitzgerald to the bossa nova repertoire of Carlos Jobim, up to the most modern Latin jazz. One of the eagerly awaited events of the festival is the one set for Monday 5 August at the Arena Eden, at 9.15 pm, with “Pillole di me. Comic Memoirs of Alessandro Benvenuti” by and with Alessandro Benvenuti. A bit of comic stuff, to tell those ears who want to listen to it, Benvenuti’s fun in living a life on the edge of comedy condensed into saving pills that protect the Brain and its cousin Soul, from the ugliness that existence every day she proposes to us with sadistic enthusiasm, without anyone having asked her anything at all. Jazz will close the festival on Sunday 8 August starting at 9.15pm, again at the Arena Eden, with Carlo Atti 4tet in “Bebop and Beyond”. On stage Carlo Atti (tenor sax), one of the most important saxophonists in Italy, master of bebop and guarantee of swing will play together with Santiago Fernandez (piano), Paolo Benedettini (double bass) and Giovanni Paolo Liguori (drums), very young talents of Tuscan and Italian jazz, which will guarantee a good dose of interplay and fun on and off the stage. It will therefore be a concert that promises to be a real concentration of energy, during which it will be difficult to keep your feet still. A welcome novelty of this fourth edition of Smart will be the events for children and families at the Pertini Park in Arezzo. Four Tuesdays between July and August with free entry, starting at 5.30pm, to give space to your imagination. The protagonists will be the NATA Company with “Acqua matta” by and with Cinzia Corazzesi (16 July), the Teatro nelle Foglie with “Cartoon Toylette” by and with Marta Finazzi and Nicolas Benincasa (23 July), Officine della Cultura with “L’Albero of Friendship” by and with Gianni Micheli (30 July) to end with the “Stories of Tuscany” by Habanera Teatro by and with Patrizia Ascione and Stefano Cavallini (6 August). Info and costs: www.arezzosmartfestival.com. There is a subscription to 7 shows of the festival at a cost of €35.00. Arezzo Smart Festival is a project of Officine della Cultura, as part of the Colline Etrusche Festival, in collaboration with the Jazz On The Corner Association, Casa Vasari Museum and Cooperativa Koinè, with the contribution of the Tuscany Region, CR Firenze Foundation and Guido d’ Foundation Arezzo and with the support of Studio Dentistico Associato Dr. Turchetti, Dr. Volpi, Dr. Favi. Information at Officine della Cultura, via Trasimeno 16, tel. 0575 27961, 338 8431111 – [email protected] – www.officinedellacultura.org. The presale will be active from Thursday 27 June online on www.ticketone.it and at the Officine della Cultura offices (excluding events at the Casa Vasari Museum) from 10:00am > 1:00pm and 3:30pm > 6pm :00. Further information by visiting the pages www.arezzosmartfestival.com and www.arezzosmartfestival.it.
