OperaPaese for Ravenna
composer and conductor Giorgio Battistelli
texts and narrator Guido Barbieri
Artigiane e artigiani del territorio
Icarus Ensemble
Banda Musicale Cittadina di Ravenna
conductor Mauro Vergimigli
in collaboration with CNA and Confartigianato della Provincia di Ravenna
premiere
Back in 1981, Experimentum Mundi, Giorgio Battistelli’s “opera of imaginistic music”, was first staged in Rome. It featured four female vocalists, a percussionist and an actor who recited captions from the Encyclopédie, accompanied by the noises of manual labour produced by sixteen craftsmen from Albano Laziale performing their traditional trades in sync with the musical tempo. The project was revived in 2024 as OperaPaese, set against the backdrop of the productive and musical traditions of different regions. New craftspeople now perform their own trades on stage alongside the musicians in a game of tonal and rhythmic interweaving that reinforces the traditional gestures. Meanwhile, Barbieri brings to life brief narratives arising from conversations with the participants in this collective creation.
