Vittoriale 2023 Summer Event Revamps Program with Theater, Music, and Innovation
“Emotions.” This is how the 2000 summer event schedule at Vittoriale has been named, revamped in both style and content by the new artistic director of the Fondazione D’Annunzio, Prof. Paolo Bosisio. The news, after years of programming that was not always appreciated by the public, is numerous. First of all, the season “doubles,” spanning almost two months. The number of performances also doubles: 26 compared to the 13-14 of previous years. The most important theater on Garda Lake also presents renewed infrastructure: the 500-seat auditorium has finally been made functional and comfortable; the “mystic gulf,” which hosts the orchestras, has also been restored.
Organizational and Structural Innovations
Another novelty: from this year, it is possible to purchase tickets “online” (www.vittoriale.it), selecting the numbered seat among those still available. There are also three different subscription options: for all performances and for 5 or 10 evenings. Organizational, structural, and promotional innovations “designed with the goal,” explains Bosisio, “to increase the number of spectators, since a theater without an audience is an useless theater, and to revitalize Vittoriale as a whole.”
Program and Arts Featured
Regarding performances, the 2000 schedule features moments dedicated to “all sister arts,” with particular attention paid to the most universal language: music. The opening is a D’Annunzian production of Vittoriale, in collaboration with the Théâtre des Italiens of Paris, directed by Maurizio Scaparro. The show, titled “Extraordinary recital of the Martyr of Saint Sebastian, offered by Ida Rubinstein and Claude Debussy to Poet Gabriele D’Annunzio,” is an absolute novelty, alternating between recitation and Debussy’s live music, accompanied by singing and dance performed by a group of young professionals.
Concerts and Prose
The opening to young audiences is also reflected in concerts by two of the most important symphony orchestras in their youth divisions: the Australian Queensland Orchestra Council and the English London Symphony Orchestra. For prose lovers, the opening performance features William Shakespeare’s comedy “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” interpreted and directed by young professionals trained at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.
Dance and Opera
There are five dance performances scheduled. The State Ballet of Ukraine will present “Romeo and Juliet – Francesca da Rimini” and “Swan Lake,” two masterpieces of the great ballet tradition. Additionally, three contemporary dance shows are included, thanks to the collaboration with “Gardadanza”: “A fuego lento,” featuring set design and performance by Catherine Berbessou; “Antonio Ligabue,” with Compagnia Artemis Monica Casadei; and “Otello s’è perduto” directed by Laura Corradi.
The Garda stage will also host opera: Tosca (with performers Nausicaa Policicchio and Stefano Anselmi), Il Trovatore (Enrica Bassano and Andrea Elena), and La Traviata (again Enrica Bassano and Andrea Elena). These will be traditional operas, albeit with minimal staging. For operettas, Bosisio has entrusted Compagnia Edipus with Pippo Santonastaso.
Theatre and Light Music
Famous names appealing to the general TV audience are also scheduled for comic theatre and cabaret: Tullio Solenghi and the duo Gaspare and Zuzzurro. Finally, there is renewed focus on light music, with concerts by Enzo Jannacci and, for younger audiences, emerging artist Francesco Renga, formerly of Timoria. The season closes with a double English-language musical, Cats and The Lion King, featuring André de la Roche and Howard Ray.