Ravenna Festival 2010

ABBA's immortal chart-topping singles - more than 350 million copies sold worldwide - are the irresistible soundtrack of Mamma Mia!, the world's most represented jukebox musical, staged at the same time in Forlì, New York and London, where it officially debuted ten years ago. The brain child of three creative women - producer Judy Craymer, playwright Catherine Johnson and director Phyllida Lloyd - the musical is not a mere tribute to the legendary Swedish pop group, but a new creation inspired by the theatrical potential of their songs, as recently demonstrated by the exhilarating stage-to-film adaptation starring Meryl Streep.

www.mamma-mia.com

What are things in the absence of man? Inert shapes, mere impressions in the rut of history, or throbbing figures of the imagery? What does a piano do without a pianist? Does it lie waiting, meditating, evoking, or does it simply exist? Does it feel nostalgia for man?
The idea for this installation came from a collection of b&w photos portraying pianos in different surroundings and often revealed as unsettling, mysterious creatures.
The encounter of verse, prose and sound gives birth to an installation where the different arts converse and finally merge. The true protagonist here is the piano - more observing than observed, implacable, black, shiny and tense. And a piano is present in real terms - laying on one side, bare naked, its chords singing, stimulated by slight electromechanical vibrations.

Last century's enfants terribles - "Bad Boys" in Antheil's definition - are the protagonists of a concert strictly connected to Futurism: Daniele Lombardi's piano performance will merge with colours, lights, dance and moving images in a synaesthetic dimension, recreating an atmosphere of new spectacularity on the same wavelength as the theories set forth in Marinetti's manifestos. And though Casella never agreed to be called a Futurist, his Deux Contrastes can't be separated from Boccioni, being a tribute to his death. Savinio similarly did not adhere to Futurism, but his Chants achieve an extraordinarily innovative pianism. All the composers in this programme were historically important as the creators of new soundscapes that remain a fascinating listening experience today.

www.danielelombardi.it

...there's a place. Let us meet there. Taking the cue from a verse by Gialâl ad-Dîn Rûmî, probably the greatest poet and mystic of all times, Praying voices is meant to be a moment of listening, in the evangelic sense: praying, ecstatic voices and the word of God will intermingle with the words and thought of philosopher Massimo Cacciari. Words and songs will enthral and capture, like the wind of that desert where the three great religions of the Book were born. These three religions will meet in San Vitale basilica, one of the most emblematic places of the ancient and still possible communion between East and West. They will gather here with pilgrims, nations, ethnic groups, orders, congregations and simple people of good will - for the "en-CHANT-ment" of individual voices joining together to reach God's ear.

Piero Bonaguri presenta l'integrale delle musiche per chitarra sola incise per la Universal in occasione dei cinquant'anni dalla scomparsa del compositore brasiliano. Piero Bonaguri chitarra "La lettura di Bonaguri è d'assoluto rigore dal punto di vista della tecnica, ma, soprattutto, il suo strumento canta, s'appassiona, respira, è capace di levità e di impeto".
Chiara Sirk

The piano, almost a symbol of classical Western music, usually appears to be widely diverging from the traditional music of the Far East. Yet, in the hands of a pianist endowed with the sensitiveness and open-mindedness of Fabrizio Ottaviucci, a great interpreter of the masters of contemporary music, it proves capable of revealing assonances and producing vibrations, sonorous or emotional, which are always intimate, deep-rooted and unexpected. Ottaviucci presents his "ragapiano", personal composition formulas that create warm and direct communicative atmospheres in a simple yet refined style. In keeping with the Festival's underlying theme, "prayer", his programme includes works by Scelsi and Cage, trying to establish an expressive unity or a kind of ascetical assonance between two extremely different stylistic forms.

"C'è un grande convegno di bambini sulla spiaggia di mondi sconfinati" (Tagore)
Coro Libere Note
diretto da Elisabetta Agostini e Catia Gori
Voci bianche del Coro Ludus Vocalis
dirette da Elisabetta Agostini e Laura Ferrari
Luciano Titi pianoforte
Stefano Calvano percussioni

Matthew Bourne (London, 1960), one of the most successful contemporary British choreographers, returns to Ravenna Festival after his hugely successful Swan Lake (2007), with Oscar Wilde's most renowned novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, set to music by Terry Davies. Bourne stages a shift in time, from the close of the 19th century to contemporary London, where the protagonist's obsession for youth turns into an immoderate love of fame. Dorian is now a cover boy, his beauty immortalised on advertising billboards (the "portrait" in the attic). An inevitable reference is made here to Antonioni's epochal masterpiece, Blow Up, set in the Swinging London of the Sixties.

Un giovane cantautore del rione Sanità racconta la sua Napoli fuori da stereotipi vecchi e nuovi. Nelle sue canzoni e in quelle della ricca tradizione partenopea, Alfredo Minucci fa rivivere il patrimonio di una cultura unica al mondo.
Alfredo Minucci voce e chitarra
Vito Barbato tastiere Roberto Petrella chitarre
Gaetano Greco percussioni Paola Mazzara voce

Replica Magazzino del Sale, Cervia, ore 21,30

Emanuela Tesch soprano
Cristina Bilotti pianoforte
Massimiliano Pitocco bandoneon
Roberto Rubini contrabbasso
Coro Ludus Vocalis
direttore Stefano Sintoni
Misatango di Martin Palmeri
e brani di Astor Piazzolla

Musiche originali del gruppo Zudemà nato a Bologna dall'incontro di giovani artisti sardi e siciliani
Zudemà
Valentino Sinacori chitarre, mandola
Elisabetta Atzeni voce
Antonio Firinu chitarre, mandolino, synth
Filippo Melita fisarmonica, sax, piano
Enzo Maria Ginexi batteria, percussioni

Technical skill and interpretative rigour-the must-have distinctive traits of all the components of one of the most prestigious orchestra in the world - are reflected in the various chamber groups they form from time to time. This is the case with this Trio, which variously comes apart and re-assembles to delve in the depths of the works of great composers: scores they wrote for the limited space of private parlours, or rather intended for the peculiar talents and feelings of a specific musician; scores expressing their innermost thoughts, or maybe the blossoming of a new idea. Such scores do these musicians collect and interpret in their unmistakable tone: harp, flute and cello-a bow drawn between earthly materiality and the impalpable, ethereal suggestion of the sky.

www.bartolomey.at
www.wolfgangschulz.com

direttore Zubin Mehta
con Plácido Domingo e Jennifer Wilson
La Fura dels Baus
Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana

Proiezione su maxi schermo in diretta da Valencia

Stefano Battaglia adopts Pier Paolo Pasolini's multidisciplinary approach to narrate the work of this great man of letters through the filters of the admirer first, and then of the pianist. The Milanese musician essentially pursues the objective of celebrating Pasolini's typical coexisting antinomies and contrasts: Battaglia's compositions exploit this emotional opposition, which he associates to the poet's own life in the research of possible musical connections to the locations of his films. With great delicacy and a talent for touching the soul's strings, he literally makes the filmmaker's wonderful scenes audible, and gives his contribution to the definition of the strength and frailty of this extraordinary artist.

www.stefanobattaglia.com

Francesco Mastromatteo violoncello

Suite n° 3 in do magg. BWV 1009 per violoncello solo
Suite n° 6 in re magg. BWV 1012 per violoncello solo

Replica Magazzino del Sale, Cervia, ore 21.30

Duel is an irresistible wild performance, a genuine "duel" between music and comedy. Paul Staïcu and Laurent Cirade, two eccentric world-class musicians, confront each other in a raving series of comic performances alternating humour, poetry, burlesque gags and an incredible programme that includes Bach, Ennio Morricone and the Beatles. Armed with bow and keyboard, handcuffs, deckchair and roasting spit, they knowingly undermine all musical stereotypes - classical precious scores to trivial supermarket jingles. The duo frolics with odd situations in an amazing whirl of sketches and scenic effects that cast a spell on the audience, overwhelmed by a poetic rapture merging into first-rate humour.

Nei trent'anni della fondazione del Teatro del Drago
Spettacolo musicale per attori, pupazzi e un burattino di legno. In un collage di quadri e scene, animazione a vista sotto gli occhi dello spettatore.

Con Roberta Colombo, Andrea Monticelli, Mauro Monticelli, Fabio Pignatta. Illustrazioni di Alain Letort, colorate da Gianni Plazzi. Pupazzi di Mauro Monticelli.
Musiche originali di Claudio Cappucci e Morrigan's Wake.
Regia Teatro del Drago.

Gino Paoli - an iconic voice on the Italian pop music scene, and a dream sextet led by Danilo Rea are the protagonists of a fresh event in our music panorama: a somewhat nostalgic trip in rediscovery of the great songs from past and present motion pictures, from the legendary Thirties - the golden era of American musical cinema - through the chansons from French movies and finally Italian cinema. Here's Morricone, revisited from a jazz point of view; here's Henry Mancini. And here are Piccioni, Trovajoli, the unforgettable Nino Rota, the revisiting of John Williams' and Elmer Brown's great themes, down to the grand finale with Casablanca and a moving tribute Paoli offers to his old-time friend, Luigi Tenco. Yet, we somehow feel that the encores will see at least the essential Sapore di sale.

www.ginopaoli.it
www.danilorea.it
www.marcotamburini.it

Great pop music has always been an integral part of the Festival, which will see on the Ravenna stage this year one of the most well-known and beloved Italian artists, and a native of our land, Romagna. She is a true star, who, at thirty-some years of age, can boast an impressive career with 45 million copies of her seven albums sold worldwide. She has amassed 170 platinum records, and has collaborated with major Italian and international artists like Vasco Rossi and Madonna. This is Laura Pausini's visiting card, whose newly-published album, Primavera in anticipo - the twelfth best-sold album in the world, topping the Italian charts for nine weeks - could only lead to a 2009 World Tour promising to last for at least a year.

www.laurapausini.com

I cantanti protagonisti del "Demofoonte" propongono le cinque arie da concerto del celebre libretto del Metastasio musicate da Mozart, a confronto con le stesse arie musicate da Jommelli nella propria opera.

Giuseppe Carpani (Vill'albese, 1751 - Vienna, 1825) is mostly renowned for his work as a librettist (see the Italian version of Paisiello's Nina) and for his biographies in the form of letters, Rossiniane and Haydine. Less renowned is his excellent Italian translation of the libretto Baron Gottfried van Swieten wrote for Franz Joseph Haydn's masterpiece, Die Schöpfung (The Creation, 1799), which, together with the almost contemporary oratorio, Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons, 1801), became a universally acclaimed touchstone of Haydn's production and of early 19th century great music, both loved and hated by thirty-year-old Beethoven, who regarded the work of his own master as a standard against which he should measure his own composing excellence.

www.pvorchestra.org
www.stagionearmonica.it

Great pop music has always been an integral part of the Festival, which will see on the Ravenna stage this year one of the most well-known and beloved Italian artists, and a native of our land, Romagna. She is a true star, who, at thirty-some years of age, can boast an impressive career with 45 million copies of her seven albums sold worldwide. She has amassed 170 platinum records, and has collaborated with major Italian and international artists like Vasco Rossi and Madonna. This is Laura Pausini's visiting card, whose newly-published album, Primavera in anticipo - the twelfth best-sold album in the world, topping the Italian charts for nine weeks - could only lead to a 2009 World Tour promising to last for at least a year.

www.laurapausini.com

Omaggio a Francesco Balilla Pratella e ai futuristi
nel centenario del Manifesto del Futurismo

Concerto multimediale ideato e realizzato da Nicola Babini

Ensemble Pratella
Carmine Martino voce recitante
Maria Claudia Bergantin soprano
Nicola Babini violoncello

Viaggio attraverso le culture, le preghiere e i riti di popoli diversi.

Scuola di Danza Classica e Moderna "Città di Ravenna"
Mariarosa Brunati direzione artistica
Claudia Pintus coreografie
Lela Perrelli costumi

Returning to Naples in 1770, acclaimed as a living musical monument after a lifetime in Europe's greatest theatres (mostly spent in the retinue of Duke Charles Eugene of Württemberg as the leader of an all-star vocal group and of an orchestra rivalling the renowned Mannheimer), Niccolò Jommelli set to music Metastasio's immensely popular Demofoonte for the fourth time. This sensational opera seria, composed in 1733, narrates the juicy vicissitudes of a married couple, Dircea and Timante, based on human sacrifice, an alleged incest and mistaken identities. On the wings of Jommelli's touching and magnificent score, which even Mozart admired, this tale of wild mishaps becomes a touchstone of the last great season of Italian musical drama in the 18th century.

www.riccardomuti.com
www.orchestracherubini.it
www.operadeparis.fr
www.salzburgerfestspiele.at
www.utorpheus.com

A programme dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and more. An exceptional trio, led by a refined gambist like Vittorio Ghielmi, will not only tackle the Marian pieces from the most precious repertoire of the 14th and 15th centuries, well represented by Giacomo Carissimi. The ensemble - complemented by soprano Graciela Gibelli and organist Riccardo Doni - will also explore the instrumental repertoire of the 16th and 17th centuries without neglecting such musical jewels as Girolamo Frescobaldi's "Ricercar - with the obligation to sing the fifth voice" (from Fiori musicali). They will also make some excursions into the 18th century repertoire with four sacred German arias by Georg Friedrich Händel, on the 250th anniversary of his death.

Ensemble da Camera del Conservatorio "Bruno Maderna" di Cesena
Costanza Fontana, Mariangela Cafaro soprani
Camilla Berlanda, Gaia Petrone contralti
G. B. Pergolesi: arie dallo "Stabat Mater"
J. S. Bach: Salmo 51 "Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden" BWV 1083 (dallo Stabat Mater di Pergolesi)
In collaborazione con Conservatorio "Bruno Maderna" di Cesena

regia di Maria Martinelli
Ssceneggiatura Maria Martinelli, Giusi Santoro
fotografia Andrea Dalpian
montaggio Giusi Santoro
produttore Giusi Santoro, Kamera Film

Marco Ariani, Paolo Bonomini, Amedeo Cicchese,
Marco Dell'Acqua, Wiktor Jasman, Fabio Mureddu,
Matteo Parisi, Leonardo Sesenna

musiche di autori vari
arrangiamenti di Massimo Tore

White Arp's Quartet
Sabina Baratella
Monica Fioravanti
Donata Mattei
Alessandra Targa

Cosimo Paoli, Andrea Vassalle violini

S. Prokof'ev: Sonata per due violini in do maggiore op. 56

Francesca Sgobba, Camilla Mazzanti violini
Agostino Mattioni viola
Leonardo Sesenna violoncello

L. van Beethoven: Quartetto in fa maggiore op. 59 n. 1

Sonate per mandolino napoletano e lombardo del XVIII secolo ed altri strumenti a pizzico
Inchordis Trio
Sergio Zigiotti mandolino lombardo e napoletano
Marina Scaioli clavicembalo
Fabiano Merlante arciliuto, tiorba, chitarra barocca
musiche di J. A. Hasse (1699-1783), F. Piccone (I metà XVIII sec.), G. Giuliano (XVIII sec.), G. F. Di Majo (1732-1770), D. Scarlatti (1685-1757)

Giuseppe La Pira, Filippo Terni pianoforte
Mirko Maltoni clavicembalo
Lavinia Soncini violino
Chiara Fabbri, Agostino Maiurano chitarra
Stella Ingrosso flauto
Fabio Bonora clarinetto
Letizia Mantovani corno
Federico Benini fagotto
In collaborazione con
Conservatorio "Girolamo Frescobaldi" di Ferrara

The Paths of Friendship project started in 1997 as an answer to the call of war-tormented Sarajevo: this bridge of brotherhood soon became an unalienable moment of Ravenna Festival, reaching cities offended by ancient or new armed conflicts, year after year, in the research for a dialogue which inevitably leads to the research for our own beings. Jerusalem, Beirut, New York, Istanbul and Yerevan. Then Moscow, Cairo, Damascus... And now, 12 years later, back to Sarajevo with music's peace-bringing power. Italian and Bosnian musicians will gather under Muti's baton, joining the voices of kids from the most diverse ethnic groups and religions, from Tuzla, Mostar, Banja Luka, Srebrenica, in the heart of a nation that looks at the future while celebrating its own victims.

www.riccardomuti.it
www.maggiofiorentino.com

Silvia Marini flauto
Mirko Maltoni pianoforte

musiche di M. Miyagi, F. Borne, A. Piazzolla, P. de Sarasate, D. Lovreglio

Progetto coreografico per solo ispirato al mondo pittorico di Egon Schiele

ideazione Michela Minguzzi, Cristiano Bacchi
coreografia e danza Michela Minguzzi

Tutto sembra portare l'uomo contemporaneo allo scoraggiamento. La voce del Cardinal Tonini si leva potente contro la tentazione di arrendersi, indicando nella "forza della speranza" la chiave per vincere le paure, le insicurezze, le ansie dell'umanità. Conduce l'incontro la giornalista Paola Severini