Verdi Festival of Parma, XXII edition

It will take place from 22 September to 16 October 2022 there XXII edition of the Verdi Festival of Parma, made by Teatro Regio Foundation in collaboration with institutional partners The Toscanini is Municipal Theater Foundation of Bologna.

Three Verdi operas on the bill, two new productions - The force of Destiny is Simon Boccanegra, respectively directed by Roberto Abbado is Riccardo Frizza - And a recovery, the preparation of Troubadour presented at the 2016 Festival, on the podium Sebastiano Rolli. Also scheduled for Requiem directed by Michele Mariotti, i Four sacred pieces under the wand of Daniele Gatti and the traditional Verdi gala, protagonists Rosa Feola is Sergio Vitale.

Other events such as the gala gala Fire of Joy and a show by Lella Costa on Giovanna D'Arco premiered, and two highly successful initiatives are back, the Verdian Caravan with the new layout of the Rigoletto, and the review Verdi Off which comes to the VII edition.

Among the protagonists of the XXII Verdi Festival are artists such as Varduhi Abrahamyan, Enkhbat Amartuvshin, Devid Cecconi, Silvia Dalla Benetta, Roberto de Candia, Gregory Kunde, Roberta Mantegna, Marko Mimica, Anna Pirozzi, Piero Pretti, Marina Rebeka, Fabio Sartori, Vladimir Stoyanov, Annalisa Stroppa, Angelo Villari, Riccardo Zanellato , the ensembles of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Chorus of the Teatro Regio di Parma prepared by Martino Faggiani, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Municipal Theater of Bologna, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Rai National Symphony Orchestra.

The three works scheduled by the Verdi Festival 2022 offer an overview of the central period of the production of Giuseppe Verdi, and I'm united by Spanish literary sources, the two great theatrical hits El Trovador (1836) and Simón Bocanegra (1843) by the playwright Antonio Garcìa Gutiérrez (1813 - 1884), and the drama Don Álvaro or La fuerza del sino (1835) of the writer and statesman Ángel de Saavedra (1791 - 1865).

And it will be the work that Giuseppe Verdi drew from the work of de Saavedra to inaugurate the XXII Verdi Festival, the September 22, 2022 (8 pm) al Regio Theater of Parma. The force of Destiny, opera in four acts on libretto by Francesco Maria Piave will be presented in a new one staging in co-production with the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, Opéra Orchester National Montpellier Occitaine, with the dedication to Renata Tebaldi on the centenary of his birth.

Yannis Kokkos, for the first time at the Teatro Regio and at the Verdi Festival, directing, sets and costumes, the dramaturgy is by Anne Blancard, the lights of Giuseppe Di Iorio, the choreography by Marta Bevilacqua, the videos of Sergio Metalli.

  On the podium of theOrchestra and Chorus of the Municipal Theater of Bologna the musical director of the Verdi Festival will rise Roberto Abbado, who will conduct the score of the opera in the version for Milan 1869 in the critical edition edited by Philip Gossett is William Holmes. Choir master is Gea Garatti Ansini.

On stage Anna Pirozzi (Donna Leonora), Gregory Kunde (Don Alvaro), Amartuvshin Enkhbat (Don Carlo di Vargas), Marko Mimica (Guardian Father), Roberto de Candia (Fra 'Melitone), Annalisa Stroppa (Preziosilla), Andrea Giovannini (Mastro Trabuco), Alessio Hand-hunting (Marquis of Calatrava), Natalia Gavrilan (Curra), Jacobo Ochoa (An alcade), Adolfo Corrado (A surgeon). (Replicas 1 and 9 October 8 pm, October 16 5 pm).

For the second opera title on the program, the Verdi Festival moves to Girolamo Magnani Theater in Fidenza, where is the September 24, 2022 (8 pm) will go on stage The Troubadour, lyric drama in four parts on a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano based on the play of the same name by Antonio Garcìa Gutiérrez. The opera will be presented in the staging created for the 2016 Verdi Festival directed by Elizabeth Courir, scenes of Marco Rossi, costumes of Marta Del Fabbro, lights of Giuseppe Ruggiero, choreography by Michele Merola. Sebastiano Rolli directs the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic and the Choir of the Teatro Regio di Parma, prepared by Martino Faggiani, in the adaptation for small orchestra of Enrico Minaglia conducted on the critical edition of the score by David Lawton. On stage in the main roles the soprano Silvia Dalla Benetta, Leonora, and the tenor Angel Villari, Manrico. (Reruns on 2, 8, 13 October, 8 pm)

Third and second work new layout And Simon Boccanegra, melodrama in a prologue and three acts on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave from the drama Simón Boccanegra by Antonio García Gutiérrez. The new production, debuting on September 25, 2022 (8 pm) al Regio Theater of Parma, stages the first rare version of 1857 for Venice, in an edition which for the first time integrates the autographed documents preserved in Sant'Agata. The direction is curated by Valentina Carrasco, on his debut at the Festival and at the Regio, with the scenes of Martina Segna, the costumes of Mauro Tinti, the lights of Ludovico Gobbi.

  Riccardo Frizza will be driving the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic he was born in Choir of the Teatro Regio di Parma prepared by Martino Faggiani, with the cast formed by Vladimir Stoyanov (Simon Boccanegra), Roberta Mantegna (Maria / Amelia), Riccardo Zanellato (Jacopo Fiesco), Piero Pretti (Gabriele Adorno), Devid Cecconi (Paolo Albiani) Adriano Gramigni (Peter), Giorgio Trucco (Pietro, courtier), Paolo Antognetti (A captain of the crossbowmen), Chiara Guerra (A handmaid of Amelia). (Reruns September 29, October 6, October 14).

The two sacred works proposed by the Parma Festival 2022, the Requiem and Four sacred pieces, instead they are placed in the period of full maturity of Giuseppe Verdi.

Michele Mariotti will direct the Requiem Mass to the Regio Theater of Parma the 23 and 30 September 2022 (8 pm), driving theRai National Symphony Orchestra, with the Choir of the Teatro Regio di Parma educated by Martino Faggiani. Soloists the soprano Marina Rebeka, the mezzo-soprano Varduhi Abrahamyan, the tenor Fabio Sartori and the bass Riccardo Zanellato. The critical edition of the score is by David Rosen.

Daniele Gatti, after the warm success achieved last year, will be al Regio Theater of Parma the October 15 (6 pm), on the podium of the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, choir master Lorenzo Fratini, to direct i Four sacred pieces of Giuseppe Verdi (Ave Maria, Stabat Mater, Praise to the Virgin Mary, Te Deum).

The traditional Verdian Gala, which this year celebrates the 209 ° birthday by Maestro Verdi, the October 10 (8 pm) al Teatro Regio, will see the soprano as protagonists Rosa Feola, making his debut at the Festival, and the baritone Sergio Vitale.</p As usual, in the morning of the same day (11.30) at the monument dedicated to the composer in Piazzale della Pace, the Ceremony in honor of Verdi with the Go thought by the Nabucco in tune from Chorus of the Regio and from Choral Giuseppe Verdi of Parma.

Also worth mentioning is the charity lyric gala Fire of joy organized by the Verdian Passionate Group "Club dei 27", in a special edition for the tenth anniversary, with the friendly participation of famous performers accompanied by choir and orchestra. (Teatro Regio, October 4, 2022 20 hours).

For AroundVerdi will be on the stage of the Regio on October 7 (8.30 pm) Lella Costa, protagonist of the show Giovanna: the maiden, the maiden, the lark, reinterpretation of the figure of the French heroine inspired by Verdi's opera Giovanna D'Arco. The show, written with Gabriele Scotti and presented for the first time, is a new commission of the Verdi Festival created by the Society of Concerts of Parma.

Then two initiatives return that bring Verdi's music out of the theaters, reaching squares, parks and streets, animating the courtyards and neighborhoods, in the center and in the suburbs, cheering up the places of treatment, suffering, detention:

the Verdian Caravan, itinerant mobile theater, with the new staging will bring Rigoletto face to face with new audiences in the squares of Parma, Busseto and other places in the province. The dramaturgy edited by Manuel Renga, also a director, focuses on the pivotal moments of Verdi's opera, alternating the most famous pieces of music with recited connections taken from the drama Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo, source of Rigoletto, and from the letters in which Verdi speaks in the opera.

Verdi Off, a special project carried out by the Teatro Regio with the Municipality of Parma and the "Parma, io ci sto!" Association, from 17 September to 16 October 2022 with the VII edition will return to animate the most beautiful, unique and surprising places of the city and the territory in the name of Maestro Verdi. Free, widespread and multidisciplinary shows involve visitors, families, children, enthusiasts and onlookers in the name of inclusiveness.

Alongside the many events that have become a classic of the show (Verdian cuckoo, Red and Green whites, With Verdi in a carriage, Recital in the garden, Verdi recitals, Verdi Band), the complete program of which will be presented at the beginning of September 2022, the VII edition of Verdi Off inaugurates with five projects in the name of inclusion, participation, multidisciplinarity, bringing Giuseppe Verdi's music to squares, courtyards, health centers in Parma, Busseto and its province.

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(Below, Roberto Abbado, musical director of the Verdi Festival, photo Miro Zagnoli)