Rigoletto in Mantua Worldwide Broadcasting

Rigoletto will be broadcast live by RAI Uno on Sept. 4 at 8:30PM and Sept. 5 at 2:00PM and 11:15PM. Placido Domingo will be Rigoletto; Vittorio Grigolo will be the Duke; Olga Peretyatko will be Gilda; Zubin Mehta will conduct Orchestra Sinfonica della Rai; Vittorio Storaro will be the cinematographer; filmmaker Marco Bellocchio will direct.

* video [Corriere TV, Jul. 16]

Previous opera productions filmed using real locations were Traviata in Paris and Tosca in Rome. A Cenerentola in Turin is scheduled for 2011.

CulturaItalia Newsletter

Register to receive the weekly Newsletter by e-mail, with the most important news published by CulturaItalia.

"CulturaItalia is an ever-growing collaborative network of public and private institutions.
The participant-driven project is intended to bring together various players in the fields of Italian cultural production and access, partners who will be able to contribute to the development of the portal and thus to improve the visibility of their contents and initiatives on a national and international level. Museums, archives, libraries and other cultural entities both public and private can participate by making contents organised into databases available, or by sending news regarding initiatives, organisations and activities.

The resources can be in text, audio, image or video format, and must be germane to the thematic channels, and to those representing initiatives, persons, places and cultural heritage items from sources all over the Italian territory."

* Newsletter n.1 (May 4, 2010)

Doma' [Tomorrow]

A song by Mauro Pagani

* article [L'Unita']
* video [You Tube]

Music and Human Rights. Jovanotti at Harvard

Italian singer and activist Lorenzo "Jovanotti" Cherubini has been invited to Harvard to speak at a conference on "Music and Human Rights: Success and Limits". This is the first time that an Italian musician has been asked to address students about this topic at Harvard.

* article by Jovanotti [L'Unita']

Rome Opera House Archive's new website

'Archivio Storico ed Audiovisuale del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma' has a new website.

Digital Library of Camorra

A project made by Department of Philology - University of Naples Federico II, in cooperation with the Observatory on Illegality - Corriere del Mezzogiorno and experts in history, cinema, music, and arts, the Digital Library of Camorra's primary purpose is to build a digital library of texts which explore the phenomenon of the criminal organization called the Camorra.

KZ Musik

"KZ Musik is the most complete, updated CD-Encyclopedia containing the opera omnia (lyric, symphonic, chamber, instrumental, pianistic, vocal and choir music; cabaret, jazz, religious, folk and traditional, fragments or reconstructed after the War) composed from 1933 (when Dachau and Burgermoor Camps were opened) to 1945 by imprisoned, deported, murdered, survived Musicians coming from any national, social and religious background in all imprisonment, transit, concentration, extermination, military jails, and Stalags Camps of Third Reich. KZ Musik is the result of a musicological work by the Italian pianist and conductor Francesco Lotoro. Each booklet of KZ Musik is written in three languages (italian, english and german) and includes information about the Camps in which the musical works included in the Cds have been composed , full details about the composers and their works , short explanation notes and for the vocal music, the lyrics in the original language." [Musikstrasse]

* video Musica Concentrationaria

Opening day of the National Museum of Giuseppe Verdi (Busseto, 10/10/2009)

Busseto has assigned the prestigious Villa del Marchesi Pallavicino for use as the National Museum of Giuseppe Verdi.

Arco Voce performs Italian Renaissance Music (Washington DC, October 4)

The newly announced 68th season of of Sunday concerts at the National Gallery begins this autumn and extends into spring 2010. This month, programs include Arco Voce performing Italian Renaissance music in honor of Tullio Lombardo.

MITO 2009

MiTo Settembre Musica
Milano - Torino, from Sept. 3 to Sept. 24, 2009

* promotional video

Laus Polyphoniae (Antwerp, 8/22/09-8/30/09)

Laus Polyphoniae, the flagship of the Festival Van Vlaanderen-Antwerp, is one of the most important European festivals of its kind. Since 1994, this event, which centres on ancient and polyphonic music, has taken place during the last weeks of August. Every year, the festival concentrates on a theme or a composer, and puts an internationally renowned ensemble in the spotlight. In 2009, Laus Polyphoniae will focus on music life in the papal chapel in Rome. Philippe Herreweghe and the soloists of Collegium Vocale Ghent will serve as artists in residence. This year, Laus Polyphoniae will run from 22 until 30 August.

* programme

Bellini Festival 1st edition (Catania, Sept. 12-23)

After Monteverdi [Cremona], Rossini [Pesaro], Verdi [Parma], Puccini [Torre del Lago], to name only a few Italian composers, also Vincenzo Bellini has an annual musical festival dedicated to his music.
The Bellini Festival will be celebrated for the first time in Catania from Sept. 12 to Sept. 23, 2009.

A Castle for the Queen

After being in Milan, Vienna, Palermo, Barcelona, Lausanne, Saint Petersburg and Moscow, the exhitition "Renata Tebaldi profonda e infinita", produced by Teatro Regio di Parma, finds home at Torrechiara Castle in a new version titled by Oliviero Toscani "A Castle for the Queen".

'The Prince of Youth' by Riz Ortolani

Il principe della gioventu'. An OperaMusical by Riz Ortolani

"Giuliano de’ Medici gives the name “The Prince of Youth” to this Opera, a name bestowed on him by the celebrated poet Poliziano.

The story is set in Florence over the short space of 4 months, between January 1478 and Sunday 26th April of the same year, in the highest moment of the Renaissance, a year that was full of decisive events for the two Medici siblings, Lorenzo and Giuliano, his younger brother."

Suggested Literature [from the site]:
- Marcello Simonetta, The Montefeltro Conspiracy: A Renaissance Mystery Decoded, Doubleday, 2008 [for video, pictures and excerpts see post]
- Harold Acton, The Pazzi Conspiracy: The Plot against the Medici, Thames and Hudson, 1979
- Angelo Poliziano, De Coniuratione Commentarium
plus:
- Lauro Martinez, April Blood: Florence and the Plot against the Medici, Oxford University Press, 2004
- biblioghaphy suggested by Mediateca Palazzo Medici Riccardi

'An illness called San Carlo'

'There is nothing in all Europe, I won’t say comparable to this theatre, but which gives the slightest idea of what it is like..., it dazzles the eyes, it enraptures the soul..." Stendhal said about The San Carlo Theatre.

*A long video about the history of the recently restored Opera House, brought back to its ancient splendour.

'Cavalleria Rusticana' with 'Pagliacci' (Boston, March 6-8 2009)

Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Teatro Lirico d'Europa
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Boston, Cutler Majestic Theatre, March 6-8

'The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi' (1570)

The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L'arte et prudenza d'un maestro Cuoco (The Art and Craft of a Master Cook)
Translated with Commentary by Terence Scully
Released by University of Toronto Press: Jan. 2009

* video from "Taccuini Storici", a web magazine edited by Alex Revelli Sorini in collaboration with Accademia Italiana Gastronomica Storica

Virtuoso Italian ensemble music of the 17th & 18th centuries (Cambridge, MA)

The Cambridge Society for Early Music 2008/2009:
The Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra
Phoebe Carrai, director
Virtuoso Italian ensemble music of the 17th & 18th centuries
Christ Church, Cambridge
Monday, January 12, 2009, 7:30 pm (other dates and locations in the Boston area)

'La Rondine' by Puccini (The Metropolitan Opera)

La Rondine by Giacomo Puccini
New York City, The Metropolitan Opera - various dates on January and February 2009

* music review by Anthony Tommasini [NYTimes]

Europe's Grand Operas (The Coolidge Corner Theatre)

Fresh from the stages of the world's most renowned opera houses, including Italy's Teatro La Scala [Milan], Teatro Regio [Parma], and Teatro Comunale [Bologna], the Coolidge Corner Theatre and Boston Lyric Opera are proud to introduce state-of-the-art High Definition presentations of current spectacular opera productions. If you can't stretch your dollar to fly to Europe, then join the theatre for the next best thing with these virtual opera house experiences.

Programs take place selected Sundays starting at 11 am. All encore presentations start at 7 pm.

Otello: Sun, Jan 4 at 11 am - Encore Thurs, Jan 8 at 7 pm
Don Carlo: Sun, March 15 at 11 am - Encore Mon, March 23 at 7:00 pm
Rigoletto: Sun, May 10 at 11 am - Encore Thurs, May 14 at 7 pm
Norma: Sun, June 14 at 11 am - Encore Thurs, June 18 at 7 pm