THE 2003-2004 OPERA SEASON

The scheduled program titles featuring: Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Berlioz, and nine young Italian composers. And The Canto di Pace next spring

 

The Inaugural opera season at the renovated Le Muse Theatre has just recently come to a close, and the Artistic Director Claudio Orazi has already announced the five operas scheduled for 2003/2004. 

 

October 2003, Le Muse: An opera on commission, written by nine young Italian composers

November 2003, Il re pastore (The Shepherd King) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (new production)

December 2003, Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) by Giuseppe Verdi

Christmas 2004, L’enfance du Christ (The Chilhood of Christ) by Hector Berlioz (new production)

January 2004, Tosca by Giacomo Puccini (production still to be decided)

 

The Playbill still does not include the names of the actors and directors, but they “will be top

notch casts, with up-and-coming voices of the international opera scene,” assures the artistic director

Claudio Orazi.  Once again, the schedule includes a rarely performed Mozart opera (The Shepherd King is

performed even less than Idomeneo), the proverbial performance of a great romantic and melodramatic

piece (Verdi could not wait any longer), as well as a Puccini masterpiece such as Tosca. 

The Shepherd King, which may enter the European Mozart opera circuit next year along with Idomeneo, was composed by a nineteen-year-old Mozart for the Court of Salzburg in 1774, during its difficult relationship with the Archbishop Colloredo.  It was composed on occasion of the visit of Archduke Maximilian Francesco, the last son of empress Maria Teresa.  It is a musical drama in two acts with a libretto by Pietro Metastasio (performed in concert form also), and director Orazi is considering a special staging for it.  A curious fact: The Shepherd King is the final beautiful opera written by Mozart as a youth, before the jump to Idomeneo, King of Crete. 

The two works alongside the operas are also very interesting. They fall in line with ministerial recommendations, which, as Orazi explains, focus their attention on old and contemporary Italian composers along with quality, artistic excellence and innovation.  Here we come to the commissioning of Le Muse, an opera to be written by nine Italian composers (Fabrizio De Rossi Re, Lucia Ronchetti, Roberta Vacca, Francesco Antonioni, Patrizio Esposito, Giorgio Colombo Taccani, plus three more still to be named) and dedicated to each of the muses.  It will be made up of individual 7-10 minute pieces that the Greeks themselves will be able to hear at the Olympics. 

The Childhood of Christ is instead a project that was started in cooperation with the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the “Vincenzo Bellini” Lyric Choir, and prepared for the celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s birth.  This unusual work that Berlioz – multi-sided genius, original and bizarre character that he was – called “a sacred trilogy,” a kind of oratorio that grew out of a smaller operetta he had conceived of during a game of “whist.”

 

There is yet another special rendezvous included in the season’s playbill.  The Canto di Pace (Canto of Peace), a commissioned opera that will be performed as a vocal and orchestral concert next spring (names and date are not yet official).  It is based on the Prayer of Peace recited by the pope at Assisi in 2002. 

 

Claudio Orazi, the artistic director of the Le Muse opera season (as well as ex-supervisor of MacerataOpera, reconfirmed as director of Ancona for next year, and supervisor of Verona’s Arena), makes his assessment of the inaugural season. 

“The presence of the Marchigiana della Scala Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Maestro Riccardo Muti – asserts Orazi – stirred up a great artistic sensation both in the theatre and in the crowded Piazza del Papa (Pope Square) where the inaugural concert was broadcast on large screen.

“As a symbol of art and culture – continues Orazi – the opera season’s inaugural ceremony was followed by Mozart’s Idomeneo, King of Crete in Pier Luigi Pizzi’s new production, which was much loved by both the public and national and international press.  It was an opportunity for many journalists to get to know the city of Ancona.  Similar success fell upon Lucy of Lammermoor under the direction of Gibert Deflo, and on Madame Butterfly directed by Renata Scotto.  First class actors have sung on the stage of Le Muse including Mariella Devia, Daniela Dessì, Eva Mei, Patrizia Ciofi, Aquiles Machado, Charles Workman, etc. 

The three directors: Korsten, Wilson, and Palumbo made sure that the role of the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the “Vincenzo Bellini” Lyric Choir was used to its full advantage, as this was one of the main goals set out to be reached. 

In terms of the technical personnel, an effort was made to gather the interest of workers in the Ancona metropolitan and regional area.

As for the financial backing of the productions, we must give credit to the As.Li.Co (Lombardy circuit) for the co-production of Idomeneo, and to the Teatro Massimo di Palermo (Theatre Maximus of Palermo) for co-producing Lucia of Lammermoor.”

                                                                                                    

“Today, less than a year after the theatre’s debut, we – Orazi adds with regards to the future – present to you along with the Muse Foundation the 2003/2004 Playbill.  Despite the obvious limits on time, and the meager financial resources available to us, we have made a concerted effort to lead our programming in the direction of cutting edge creativity, where it is possible to build up public as well as critical interest and expectation.” 

                                                                                        

                                                                                       Maria Manganaro and Annalisa Pavoni