Festival del Garda Highlights: Antonella Elia, Contestants & Local Talents
A breath of fresh air at the Festival del Garda. Antonella Elia, with a performance hosting style out of the ordinary, characterized and further brightened the summer music event on Lake Garda.
Impatient with the usual meticulously prepared schedule by the writers, the popular showgirl created playful skits with the contestants, but especially with comedian Lucio Gardin, a master of humor. As an established professional, she still did not forget her institutional duties, including a crafty bow to the local authorities, starting with Mayor Maurizio Ferrari.
Interventions and performances
What truly captured the audience was Elia’s naturalness, wearing a long skirt and a sheer black embroidered blouse covering her bra, ready to improvise and thoughtfully save blunders for entertainment. In this relaxed atmosphere, amateur singers seeking stardom found it even easier to overcome nerves and showcase their singing talents.
Among them, the seventeen-year-old from Brescia, Siria Sbardolini, who in the interpreters’ category gracefully performed Luce by Elisa, the winner of the last Sanremo Festival. Behind her, in a tied ranking, were Laura Chiari from Manerbio (Nessun dolore by Lucio Battisti) and Argentine-born Verona resident Humberto Baldissera, who sang in Spanish his signature song by Frank Sinatra, My Way.
The last spot went to Damiano Di Giovanni from Verona, with a strong stage presence, performing L’acrobata by Michele Zarillo. In the original song section, a truly thrilling contest saw a narrow victory for Veronica Marchi.
The eighteen-year-old from Verona, from the Stadio district, sang Linea 31, a piece she wrote herself, performed on stage with the accompaniment of Maddalena, a violinist in her sixth year of study. Linea 31 recalls the orange-colored bus that, for many years, the young Marchi, a conservatory student, rode every morning to school.
Only the enthusiastic applause of the audience was reserved for the other Veronese contestant, Massimo Marchesi, with his Cambiare nel tempo, a song with a harmonic progression reminiscent of Pink Floyd. The show experienced one of its most intense moments, as often happens, with the performance of the Gamblers, a hip-hop dance crew composed of choreographer Nando De Bortoli and flexible dancers Deborah Arduini, Serena Parisotto, Lisa Lambo, Federica Bianchini, and Silvia Poletti.
Final performances
Key highlights of the Festival were the performances by Elisa Antonelli (Innamorata ancora) and the Desenzanese Diletta Orlandi (Rain on the Heart), productions by Cantalago directed by Andrea Vantini, who is also the author of Intorno al mondo, a catchy closing theme of the show.
