Storia di un figlio cattivo
in the footsteps of Augustine of Hippo
sacred play for soprano, narrator, and ensemble
music by Filippo Bittasi
libretto and dramaturgy Matteo Gatta
mezzosoprano Daniela Pini
narrator Matteo Gatta
Ensemble Tempo Primo
organ Andrea Berardi
conductor Mattia Dattolo
commissioned by Ravenna Festival
in coproduction with Festival di Musica Sacra di Pordenone
Alone on the stage of this sacred play inspired by the Confessions of Augustine of Hippo is Monica, the Saint’s mother, who never stopped praying for the conversion of her “flawed son”. A son who comes alive through the reading of passages from his letters, and especially through Monica’s meditations and pleadings to God. But in this play, born from the collaboration between two young talents from Ravenna, composer Bittasi and author-actor Gatta, the narrative does not literally follow the Saint’s biography: the flawed son, here, get stabbed to death in a brothel brawl. This drama feeds on sin and guilt, on judgement, on the relationships that can shape a life, on rule and “deviance”, on possible escape routes…
