They will be 150 people – between Orchestra, Choir, soloists and children’s choir – who will take to the stage on Saturday 5 October Politeama Theatre for the return of opera to Catanzaro with “Turandot”the last opera by the Tuscan composer Giacomo Puccini. This large presence on stage already says it all about the impressive setup created by Autumn Festival in co-production with the Teatri di Pietra Festival. It was presented this afternoon in the foyer of the Politeama Theater by the artistic director of the Autumn Festival, Antonietta Santacroce together with the director of the Calabria Philharmonic Orchestra, Filippo Arlia, and Salvo Dolce, the director who signs the singular mise en espace. «Turandot concludes the first weekend of this edition of the Festival – stated Santacroce – dedicated to the homage to Giacomo Puccini for the hundredth anniversary of his death. Doing it with his latest opera, perhaps the most beautiful, seemed like the best way to celebrate him: precisely out of respect for the great composer, in fact, the version that will be staged will be the original one, up to where Puccini wrote it, that is, until Liù’s death.”
«On our part there is always a reverential fear towards this title – explained maestro Arlia -, because it is among the most complex in operatic literature. It is Puccini’s mature opera. We arrive at the Politeama after the success in Sicily, we expect a good response from the Catanzaro public.” In fact, this “Turandot” debuted last August at the Teatro Antico in Taormina, obtaining notable response from critics and the public: «Our 5,000 attendances that evening are like having obtained a medal, because it is easy to fill the theaters with pop singers , but with opera, having these numbers is a source of pride”, underlined in his speech the director of the Sicilian Opera Choir, Francesco Costa.
Absent the soprano Chrystelle di Marco, expected in the city in the evening, part of the cast was also present at the presentation with the press. First of all the main male character of Turandot, Calaf, Eduardo Sandoval: «For a Spanish tenor it is a dream to stay in Italy, then sing this opera even more, like returning to sing in this wonderful theatre». In fact, Sandoval was also in the cast of Carmen which was staged some time ago, as was Leonora Ilieva, who will be the sweet Liù on Saturday evening: «It’s a role that I couldn’t wait to sing both from a technical point of view, because it’s very rich , but also because I feel it very close to my heart, temperamentally: his choice of love is the most romantic that exists.”
During the meeting it was also explained that there will be no amplification, «which is a real mortification of opera» it was said, and «this theater has amazing acoustics – reiterated Alberto Munafò Siragusa, president of the Sicilian Opera Choir , who will be the Mandarin on stage -, for us singers it is a very important condition.”
For the entertaining trio of Ping Pong Pang – «An added value of this production», commented Santacroce -, Davide Benigno (Pang) intervened: «It is not an easy role, in reality, since it is unique but divided into three parts and to succeed really well we must be very close to each other.” After a brief passage with Pietro Di Paola who will be unrecognizable in the role of the elderly Altoum, the conclusion was entrusted to Dolce who explained his directorial choices: «I always wanted to give priority to the music, without elements that could distract the attention . We are faced with a fantastic work so we could indulge ourselves, but we must not distract the spectator from the music which is the main element or, even worse, impose a directorial idea on the public”.
At the end of the conference it was also anticipated that during tomorrow’s matinee for schools, designed to introduce young people who are not familiar with opera at all, to make children more aware of what they will see on stage, there will also be short interventions during the staging by the director Salvo Dolce who will explain better to the children what happens on stage.
As for the other events of this weekend of the Autumn Festival – supported by the Calabria Region/Calabria Straordinaria, through the 2014/20 Pac funds; from the Chamber of Commerce of Catanzaro, Crotone and Vibo Valentia, from the Municipality of Catanzaro, as well as from various private bodies – we remind you that on 4 October at 6pm at the Carmine oratory there will be the “Lyrical Gala. Homage to Puccini” – national premiere, original production of the Festival -, dedicated to the most famous Puccini arias; on Saturday 5 October again at the Oratorio del Carmine at 11 am there will be the conference “The Pekins and the silk roads from China to Catanzaro”; at 6pm in the cloister of Palazzo De Nobili there will be the national premiere of the original Autumn Festival production “My journey to Beijing”.