The Valle d’Itria Festival is back, promoting beauty and rare pages
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The Valle d’Itria Festival returns to Martina Franca (Taranto) from 18 July with the premiere of “The Turk in Italy” by Gioacchino Rossini, which on the threshold of 50 years (this year is the 49th edition) confirms all the characteristics that have made it an international event over the years. The groove remains that of proposing rare or little-known musical pages compared to the more well-known titles, but gradually it has been enriched with the launch of artists and orchestra conductors who then became established names, training, study and masterclasses , the attention to the very young so that they get closer to art and music, the enhancement of the iconic places of the Valle d’Itria area. To these elements is now added the novelty of the study of operetta, a genre that crosses the milestone of 100 years in Italy. A set of characteristics, therefore, that have rewarded the Festival, recognized as one of the most important classical music events in Europe and in the world and appreciated by the public, considering that a few days after the premiere, 60 percent of tickets were already sold in presale to buyers from 9 European countries as well as Japan, Canada and the United States. Among the creators and founders of the event, Paolo Grassi, of Apulian origins, who was president of Rai, superintendent of the La Scala theater in Milan and creator of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan together with Giorgio Strehler must certainly be counted. Grassi, who died in 1981, was among those who imprinted on the Festival the matrix that then distinguished it for half a century.
Culture accounts for 5 percent of Puglia’s GDP
“In the last 40 years Puglia has undergone a profound transformation, there has been a profound revolution, but the Festival has existed for 50 years, so in some way it has accompanied the history of the region and the evolution of the cultural system and the cultural industry and creative. Today the Festival certainly represents one of the fundamental components of the economic system of culture and creativity which makes up 5 percent of the GDP in this region and therefore has an essential role” comments Aldo Patruno, director of the regional department of tourism and cultural economy. “The Festival expresses the culture of beauty and places of beauty that Martina Franca represents” underlines the mayor Gianfranco Palmisano.
Doors open to general rehearsals for under 25s
Attention to young people is a constant of the event. Young people to be trained and brought closer to music, but also as talents to launch. “The general rehearsal project of the works open to the under 25s is being repeated because it has given us great satisfaction in the past and the Paolo Grassi Foundation has always had an eye for young people – says Michele Punzi, president of the foundation, who collected the witness from uncle Franco, who passed away in recent months, another important figure in the history of the Festival -. We strongly believe in the new public to be trained and we are also waiting for many young people to invade the atrium of the Palazzo Ducale in Martina Franca this year”. “The Festival aims to train new audiences – explains Grazia Di Bari, councilor responsible for culture of the Puglia Region -, an important goal, given that we have lost a lot of them after the pandemic, but also young artists who want to approach the world of music, conversing with the great masters. This is a huge opportunity that is being given to our boys”.
The numbers: 25 shows in 20 days
The numbers of the Festival: 20 days of event, 25 shows, 2 days of international conference on operetta, 2 talks to present the works, 5 original opera productions, 13 different locations including churches, farmhouses, cloisters, palaces and theaters another production and 4 performance venues are added. And then, 403 people involved in the organization including artists, workers, administrative and auditorium staff, while the artists’ countries of origin are 12 and the orchestras involved are 4. It opens on the 18th with Rossini’s “Il Turco in Italia”, in the critical edition by Margaret Bent, conducted by Michele Spotti and directed by Silvia Paoli. To follow, “The country of bells” by Carlo Lombardo and Virgilio Ranzato, with the direction of Fabio Luisi directed by Alessandro Talevi. And still three first performances: the first in modern times of Pietro Auletta’s “L’Orazio”, conducted by Federico Maria Sardelli and directed by Jean Renshaw, the first Italian in modern times of “Gli uccellatori” by Florian Leopold Gassmann , conducted by Enrico Saverio Pagano and directed by Jean Renshaw, and, finally, the world premiere in Italy of Jules Massenet’s “L’adorable Bel-Boul” with a libretto by Paul Poirson, conducted by Francisco Soriano directed by Davide Garattini.
Schwarz: operetta is 100 years old, a genre to be protected
Artistic director of the Festival is Sebastian Schwarz, former superintendent and artistic director (until last year) of the Regio di Torino. “This edition – announces Schwarz – will have a moment dedicated to the study of operetta at an international level and therefore to the declination of buffo and comedy on stage. We will therefore reflect on this genre which has somewhat disappeared from billboards, not only in Italy. We want to propose it and stage it as an example of a great heritage that has been left to us and that we must keep alive”.
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