FESTIVALS Summer music and opera festivals have become another casualty of the covid-19 pandemic. Planning has been extremely difficult not just because dates have been uncertain but also because the difficulties of travel have thrown schedules for international artists up in the air. However almost all festivals just can't wait to get going again, adapting as best they can to the new distancing conditions. But programmes are changing all the time so check
RAVENNA FESTIVAL
21 June-30 July, 6-15 Nov
This festival is going ahead in a brave effort to put the covid-19 pandemic behind us. Riccardo Muti, who is the force behind the festival, conducts the opening concert at the Rocca Brancaleone with the 60 members of his orchestra the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and soloist Rosa Feola on 21 June with music by Scriabin and Mozart. The festival organisation is planning 40 events and the full programme will be on the festival website. All social distancing regulations will be in force, with strictly controlled access to each location. Wearing masks will be compulsory. The November opera festival from 6-15 Nov spotlights Dante Alighieri 700 years after his death in Ravenna in 1321 in Project Dante, the divine the human and the diabolical. It begins with three performances (6, 10, 13 Nov) by the controversial dancer Sergej Polunin (the man with a Vladimir Putin tattoo on his chest who was fired by the Paris Opera Ballet in 2019), followed by two operas, Mozart’s Don Giovanni (7, 11, 14 Nov) and Gounod’s Faust (8, 12, 15 Nov). www.ravennafestival.org.
the festival's website and the usual social media channels. Even then uncertainty remains. For example the Verona Arena festival website www. arena.it says that the 2020 programme has been moved to summer 2021, but now it is announcing a programme of special events. Check both the websites and Instagram for updates. What we do know in date order:
also considering a production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and ballet by Roland Petit to the music of Pink Floyd. This has caused consternation among the Amici di Villa Borghese who fear damage to the historic park from large scale events of this nature, particularly in Piazza Siena. The last opera in the park in 1995 caused considerable damage as did the last rock concert in 2010. Since then events like this have been banned. The website of the Teatro dell’Opera www.operaroma. it isn’t always updated quickly but now the site finally has the list of its impressive digital programmes online. These are a goldmine for opera lovers and they are available on RaiPlay. Some can also be seen on YouTube for those who cannot access RaiPlay.
MACERATA OPERA FESTIVAL 17 July-9 Aug
There is no news that this is not going ahead in the open-air sterisferio stadium in Macerata so cross your fingers. The theme as originally announced this year is Biancoraggio and the three programmed operas
Tosca, Don Giovanni and Il Trovatore will portray three different types of courage. Tosca is a new production by Argentinian director Valentina Carrasco, who directed Bizet’s Carmen at the Baths of Caracalla for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma several years ago and Verdi’s Vespres Siciliennes which opened the 20192020 season at the Rome opera last December. www.sferisterio.it.
INCONTRI IN TERRA DI SIENA 21 July-29 July
This exclusive and very top-quality festival in and around the house and grounds of La Foce, belonging
TEATRO DELL’OPERA DI ROMA July
The usual summer season at the Baths of Caracalla has been cancelled but the opera theatre has announced performances of Verdi’s Rigoletto conducted by Daniele Gatti and directed by Damiano Michieletto at Piazza di Siena in Villa Borghese in July. The Teatro dell’Opera is
Incontri in Terra di Siena takes place each year at La Foce.
Wanted in Rome • June 2020 | 41
