Verdi returns home, accompanied by a triumphal march. The orchestras of all the Italian opera symphony theaters and of the two autonomous foundations of the Teatro alla Scala and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia will play in support of the project of safeguarding, promoting and improving Villa Verdi: the famous estate of Sant ‘Agata de Villanova sull’Arda, in the Piacenza area, where Rigoletto and Traviata were composed, intended to be put up for sale at an auction, will instead be acquired by the State. “To make it a place of memory and national identity”, announced the Minister of Culture Sangiuliano.
RAI CULTURE
The collection of the fourteen performances of Verdi’s music and operas that will cross Italy, from Verona (on February 10) to La Scala in Milan (on June 15), will be added to the twenty million allocated by the budget law . In Bologna, on February 26, the key event, filmed live by Rai Cultura (and re-proposed on Rai 3), the program’s media partner: a gala, directed by Daniel Oren, which also celebrates the inauguration of the Foundation’s new headquarters where the Municipal activity will be carried out, unused due to reforms.
OPERA THEATER OF ROME AND SANTA CECILIA
Two stages in Rome: on February 14, the open rehearsal of Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by maestro Michele Mariotti at the Costanzi, and on May 28 in Santa Cecília, Augias’ conference-concert “Verdi, the Traviata and the national identity”. On February 23, general rehearsal of Aida at the Regio de Torino; on March 16 the Ernani in the Fenice of Venice; I due Foscari on March 28 at the Carlo Felice in Genoa; on the 31st in Càller; April 18 Palermo; on April 19 Trieste; on April 20 at the Petruzzelli in Bari the preview of Attila; recital May 7 at San Carlo; Verdi’s 10 symphonies, choruses, danceables conducted by maestro Gatti at the Florentine Maggio.
THE THEATER ON THE SCALE
At La Scala, where the idea was born, thanks to Superintendent Meier in concert with Minister Sangiuliano, grand finale with open rehearsals of Macbeth, on June 15. But the triumphal march will not stop in June and will also continue in the summer: the Verdi festival in Parma has joined the initiative, the Messa da Requiem in Cavea will be scheduled in Santa Cecilia, while the president of the Commission de Cultura Mollicone is considering a meeting with Capitoline councilor Gotor and the superintendent of the Rome Opera Giambrone to study new appointments in the capital.
Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour
“Giuseppe Verdi was a key figure in the national Risorgimento, a prominent figure along with Garibaldi, Mazzini and Cavour. It is the duty of the Republic to honor his memory”, said the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, presenting the “Viva Verdi” initiative, together with the Undersecretary of Culture, Gianmarco Mazzi, Maestro Beatrice Venezi, Minister of Music, the president of Agis, Francesco Giambrone (also superintendent of the Rome Opera) and Silvia Calandrelli, director of Rai Cultura. And while tracing the path of this Verdi itinerary that will lead to the birth of a Foundation, the images of the farmhouse, where the master lived with his second wife Giuseppina Strepponi and which was his main residence since 1851, flowed until his death. : his bows, the piano, the trees in the garden, the bed where he remarried alone because it was precisely during the night that the flashes of genius arose.
THE FOUNDATION
“When I assumed the honor of being a minister”, continues Sangiuliano, “one of the first problems that arose was the fate of the town. I have never hesitated for a moment in thinking that it should be acquired by the State: Verdi represents a key element of our national memory». The project, with the acquisition of the Villa and the management of the Foundation, aims to transform the composer’s residence “into the epicenter of a Verdi world: we must not forget that there is a beautiful park that is also suitable for organizing summer concerts.”. “When I went to visit the villa”, recalls the minister, “I was moved: there is one of the first editions of Promessi Sposi, the piano on which he composed, the letter with which Cavour invited him alone · apply for entry to the national. Parliament. Each of these preserved relics reminds us of history, our national history.”
BEATRICE VENICE
“Music”, Maestro Venezi intervenes, “has enormous power as it can be a vehicle of values, of identity, of collective imagination, as happens in the music of Giuseppe Verdi. The acquisition of a symbolic place where one of the fathers of Italian music lived and worked for a long time is an operation of great value that further strengthens the link with our roots”. “A beautiful Italian story”, concludes Giambrone, “the world of entertainment in a compact way welcomes this important initiative that has the merit of enhancing the figure of Giuseppe Verdi as an identifying element of Italian cultural heritage”.
Source : IL Messaggero
