{"id":23188,"date":"2021-06-04T17:03:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/"},"modified":"2021-06-04T17:21:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T15:21:31","slug":"teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/","title":{"rendered":"Stream for Teodora until 3 July"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cRevered as a saint and cursed as a demon,\u201d was written about her; but how to narrate an image that for almost fifteen hundred years has looked upon the visitors in the Basilica of San Vitale? Teodora. Climb to the sky in five movements<\/em> was commissioned by the Ravenna Festival and its premiere opened its 32nd<\/sup> edition on Wednesday, June 2; the event will be available for the streaming until 3 July on ravennafestival.live<\/a>. The new chamber opera by Mauro Montalbetti, based on a libretto by Barbara Roganti, delves into the Byzantine Empress\u2019s labyrinthine life, where truth and slander are found side by side, where a woman\u2019s body joins the sacred icon. Created for the Basilica where the mosaic of Teodora\u2019s court can be admired, the opera features soprano Roberta Mameli, actress Matilde Vigna, and performer Barbara Martinini, together with the Altrevoci Ensemble, organist Andrea Berardi, and Coro 1685 of the <\/strong>Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali \u201cGiuseppe Verdi\u201d led by Antonio Greco. <\/strong><\/p>\n

If the dedication to Dante is the central sun around which many events of this year\u2019s programme revolve, the Festival journeys across the city\u2019s layered past and visits not only the Dantesque but also the Byzantine Ravenna. The Festival\u2019s return into the most loved of the Byzantine basilicas is a reflection upon one of the faces more deeply ingrained in the collective memory, one of the gazes no one entering San Vitale can evade. The opening event thus perfectly represents the true nature of the Festival, which draws inspiration from the past to look into the future through new productions and commissions.<\/p>\n

A sophisticated headgear covered in gemstones and pearls, a jewelled chalice in her hands, a purple-tinged cape \u2013 the Empress who is portrayed in the apse of the Basilica of San Vitale looks so very distant from the young woman of whom late antique scholar Procopius of Caesarea writes in his Secret History<\/em>, the daughter of a bear trainer in the hippodrome of Constantinople and of an actress and dancer. However, Theodora \u2013 introduced to the ambiguous, often obscene, profession of her mother \u2013 makes the impossible possible: in 527 she is crowned Augusta<\/em> of the Eastern Roman Empire at Justinian\u2019s side and, since the very beginning, she concerns herself with political, military, and religious matters. She is still revered as a saint by the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Church, together with Justinian.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, I was a little afraid of facing this contradictory figure \u2013 says Barbara Roganti<\/strong>, who wrote the libretto and directs the performance \u2013 and I understood that if you try to narrate Teodora, you lose her. We tried to meet her instead, not making this opera into a lesson or an inquiry, and choosing a labyrinthine, mosaic-like narrative over a linear one. The many historic sources left a mark on the creative process, here a word and there a colour; the language is modern but, in its bare simplicity, feels almost archaic. I like to think that, similarly to the portrait that must have been sent to Italy so that the anonymous mosaicists could include the Empress\u2019s features in their work, a small gesture from which so much love for and interest in Theodora spring, our work includes something of a redemption. For instance, in the way it gives Theodora, whom Procopius describes as devoid of any talent in acting and singing, the marvellous voice of Roberta Mameli.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeodora<\/em> is very different from my other works \u2013 explains Mauro Montalbetti<\/strong> \u2013 and invites the listeners to recreate within themselves the image of Theodora, whom we wanted to observe more as a woman than as a historical figure. Behind this composition, there is a research work starting from the tradition of Monteverdi\u2019s madrigals to build a model relationship between sound and word, with clear references to an antique vocality which is, however, projected into our age. Thus music is born from text, a very musical one, thanks to Barbara Roganti\u2019s poetic skills, guiding us to the most \u2018resounding\u2019 words we could find. The suggestive Basilica of San Vitale \u2013 a unique, magical place \u2013 is mirrored by the attitude of the instruments and the added value of the reverberation and the acoustic of this magnificent space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through five movements that mark the time of the performance and introduce different episodes and sound-scapes, the opera is permeated by the sense of the rite and the theatre, connecting Theodora the actress to Theodora the Empress, the rules on stage to the one regulating the imperial court. Between the two points \u2013 the low life in the streets of Constantinople and the rooms of the palace, but also the earthly power and the spiritual one, both comprised by the imperial seat \u2013 Theodora\u2019s history is never univocal. The choir alternates rumours and history, adoration and slander, understanding and misunderstanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cRevered as a saint and cursed as a demon,\u201d was written about her; but how to narrate an image that for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cRevered as a saint and cursed as a demon,\u201d was written about her; but how to narrate an image that for...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ravenna Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Ravenna-Italy\/Ravenna-Festival\/195404175440?ref=ts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-04T15:03:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-04T15:21:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Giorgia Orioli\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Giorgia Orioli\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/\",\"name\":\"Stream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-04T15:03:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-04T15:21:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c35cb58d9fa4029c3666f263096fa7fd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":853},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stream for Teodora until 3 July\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/\",\"name\":\"Ravenna Festival\",\"description\":\"Ravenna Festival \u00e8 uno dei pi\u00f9 importanti festival multidisciplinari di Italia: concerti, teatro, danza, musical, opera con i migliori artisti del mondo.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c35cb58d9fa4029c3666f263096fa7fd\",\"name\":\"Giorgia Orioli\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/641ede1d9d4da5b4cee8dc2b80ff227c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/641ede1d9d4da5b4cee8dc2b80ff227c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Giorgia Orioli\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/author\/giorgia-orioli\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival","og_description":"\u201cRevered as a saint and cursed as a demon,\u201d was written about her; but how to narrate an image that for...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/","og_site_name":"Ravenna Festival","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Ravenna-Italy\/Ravenna-Festival\/195404175440?ref=ts","article_published_time":"2021-06-04T15:03:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-04T15:21:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Giorgia Orioli","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Giorgia Orioli","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/","name":"Stream for Teodora until 3 July - Ravenna Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg","datePublished":"2021-06-04T15:03:15+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-04T15:21:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c35cb58d9fa4029c3666f263096fa7fd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Teodora\u00a9MarcoBorrelli_31052021_04691.jpg","width":1280,"height":853},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/teodora-in-streaming-fino-al-3-luglio\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stream for Teodora until 3 July"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/","name":"Ravenna Festival","description":"Ravenna Festival \u00e8 uno dei pi\u00f9 importanti festival multidisciplinari di Italia: concerti, teatro, danza, musical, opera con i migliori artisti del mondo.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c35cb58d9fa4029c3666f263096fa7fd","name":"Giorgia Orioli","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/641ede1d9d4da5b4cee8dc2b80ff227c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/641ede1d9d4da5b4cee8dc2b80ff227c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Giorgia Orioli"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/author\/giorgia-orioli\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23191,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23188\/revisions\/23191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ravennafestival.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}