© Zani-Casadio
Moni Ovadia in
Gli occhiali di Šostakovič
Honours and terrors of an anti-hero
by Valerio Cappelli
cello Giovanna Famulari
coproduction Ravenna Festival, Festival Puccini,
Prima International Company di Angelo Tumminelli
in collaboration with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
premiere
followed by
Matteo Ramon Arevalos piano
excerpts from 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 di Dmitri Shostakovich
If ever in the twentieth century a name came to symbolise the harrowing relationship between the artist and power, and the way regime censorship can crush genius, that name is Dmitri Shostakovich. The Russian composer, whose Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was boorishly condemned in Pravdaby Stalin himself, was forced to bow down and accept this ‘justified criticism’, living for many years in the grip of fear under the threat of sudden deportation. Drawing on a rich narrative-biographical tradition, journalist and playwright Valerio Cappelli revives the unresolved fears of the tormented musician, interpreted by the versatile Moni Ovadia.
