Luciano Pavarotti Municipal Theatre of Modena

An important lyrical season is going to be inaugurated at the Municipal Theatre Luciano Pavarotti of Modena. It’s one of the initiatives included in the wide activity promoted by the Municipal Theatre Foundation that has been offering the most updated International programme of opera, musical theatre, classical music, border genres, experimentation, contemporary dance and classical ballet since 2002. Named after the great tenor to whom the celebrations

are dedicated this year within the program called “Modena, the city of the good singing”, the theatre has been part of the history of the city since its inauguration on October the 2nd 1841 and it has been the witness of many events that occurred in our country through the two world wars, the revival in the 1960s when it started to be run by the local municipality until its second inauguration in 1999 after it had been completely restyled.

The lyrical season 2019-2020

The new opera season that implies the usual presentations to the audience for all the events in the programme with the festival “Invitation to the opera” in co-operation with the association “Modena theatres’ friends” will be inaugurated on Friday the 13th of October 2019 with “Bohème”, a new show produced by the Modena theatre in co-production with the Foundation of the Theatres

of Piacenza, the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation and in co-operation with the Opéra of Marseilles for the stage scenery. This show will be offered within the celebrations dedicated to Luciano Pavarotti that aims at starting a new project related to the operas played by the great tenor according to their debut. Pavarotti played his first role by singing Puccini’s masterpiece in Reggio Emilia in 1961. The

direction is signed by Leo Nucci, a true star in the world of opera. There will be three operas by Puccini in the programme that will continue on the 25th, the 27th and the 29th with “Tosca”, a new show in co-production with the Foundation of Theatres of Piacenza and the Royal Theatre of Parma where he successfully debuted last April. The setting-up was designed by Alberto Fassini in 1998 and it was used by Joseph Franconi Lee who designed beautiful scenes, the ancient costumes were signed by William Orlandi and the lights were signed by Roberto Venturi. Ainhoa Arteta will sing the role she has already sung at the San Carlo Theatre of Naples in 2018. Matteo Beltrami will conduct the orchestra. “Rigoletto” will be on stage on the 27th, the 29th November and the 1st December, it’s one

of the best-loved operas and it will be the result of a new co-production between the Municipal Theatre of Ferrara and the Teatro del Giglio. The layout is organized by the theatre of Modena with the direction of Fabio Sparvoli, an active International artist who has been recently applauded at the Colòn Theatre of Buenos Aires and at the Royal Theatre of Turin. The main role will be held by the baritone Marco Caria, one of Mirella Freni’s students who was successful at theatres like La Fenice of Venice, the Staatsoper of Vienna and the Deutsche Oper of Berlin. The orchestra will be conducted by David Crescenzi. On December the 15th “La Notte di Natale” (The Christmas Night) will be on stage, it’s a new work that is not included in the pass, it’s produced by the Theatre of the Opera Giocosa of Savona in co-production with the Municipal Theatre of Modena. The opera is freely taken from the short story by Nikolai Gogol and it’s set in Saint Petersburg in the 19th century and it aims at underlining the opposition between the positive feelings related to Christmas and the decadence related to its commercial side. Alberto Cara, an important composer wrote the music fable “The colour of Cinderella” in 2007 after the request from the Royal Theatre of Turin and the Mu-

nicipal Theatre of Bologna. The programme will be restarting in the new year on the 14th and on the 16th February in the steps of Giuseppe Verdi with “Falstaff”, the comic masterpiece by the composer from Busseto, this work has been absent from the stage for 20 years. The title’s role will be acted by the baritone Luca Salsi, at the top of a brilliant career that has taken him to the best theatres in the world like the Metropolitan of New York and La Scala of Milan. The setting up was designed in Piacenza in co-production with Modena and Reggio Emilia; the direction is signed by Leonardo Lidi and the musical direction is by Jordi Bernàcer. The third appointment with Giacomo Puccini is scheduled in March with “Turandot” signed by Giuseppe Frigeni in 2003, it takes inspiration from the strong essential aesthetical and philosophical features of the Chinese cultural tradition where the story is set. France Dariz will play the title’s role, the same role she played when she debuted at the Macerata Opera Festival in 2017, she will play it again at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago in 2019. On

this occasion the production will start at the Royal Theatre of Parma in co-production with Modena and Piacenza. On the 3rd and the 5th April “Pelléas et Mélisande”, one of the greatest masterpieces of the French repertoire will be on stage. It’s the only opera written by Claude Debussy in 1902 for the Opéra Comique of Paris, it’s featured by the mysterious French symbolism of those years and it’s filled with the high symphonic style of the composer of “La Mèr”. The last event in the programme on the 8th and 10th May 2020 will be “Crossopera”, a new title introduced together with the Landestheater of Linz and the Serbian National Theatre of Novi

Sad. The International co-production led by the Modena theatre won the important tender of the European Union called Creative Europe 2018 and it will be focused on the exchange of musicians, singers and artists who will travel around all these theatres. The core of this opera is the cultural integration whose theme “Fear and discovery” caused different reactions in the three composers that have signed the different opera’s acts: Luigi Cinque representing Italy, Valentin Ruckebier representing Austria and Jasmina Mitrusic representing Serbia. The direction is signed by Gregor Horres and the musical direction by Mikica Jevtic.