On Friday 4 July the seventh edition of the Lyric Festival of the Teatri di Pietra started the seventh edition, which this year also is confirmed among the most anticipated cultural events of the Mediterranean summer landscape. To welcome the public for the inaugural evening was the extraordinary scenario of the Argimuscosuggestive plateau in the Montalbano Elicona area, also known as the “mirror of the stars”.
A place out of time, nestled between the Peloritani and Nebrodi mountains, which has transformed itself for the occasion into an authentic natural theater, capable of harmoniously blending the majesty of nature with the emotional intensity of music. The rarefied atmosphere, the megalitis with enigmatic shapes and the horizon open on the sky created a unique context for an event that enchanted the large audience present.
The evening, conceived as a sound tribute to the spirituality and beauty of the creation, celebrated the 800. anniversary of Canticle of the creatures of San Francesco d’Assisi With an original suite signed by Corrado Neri, inspired by the famous music by Ritz Ortolani for the film “Brother Sole, sister Luna” by Franco Zeffirelli. To direct the concert, the orchestra in the residence of the Sicilian lyrical body, under the guidance of the artistic director Francesco Costa.
The music program intertwined elements of sacred and profane, history and contemporaneity, thanks also to touching tributes to two high masters of Italian music: Franco Battiato and Ennio Morricone. Their melodies, suspended between poetry and spirituality, resonated among the ancient rocks, amplified by the silence of the landscape and the careful and moved presence of the spectators. A sensory experience also enhanced by the performance of the soloists Alberto Munafò, Leonora Ilieva, Emanuele Collufio. The success of the event is testified by the great turnout of the public, also reached from other provinces, confirming the growing call that the festival exerts not only among lyric enthusiasts, but also among those looking for authentic cultural experiences, immersive and related to the territory.
The Festival, which will develop from July to September with over forty appointmentsit will touch the main archaeological parks and ancient theaters of the island, but also lesser known and great landscape value, with the aim of enhancing the historical and environmental heritage of Sicily through the evocative force of musical art.
As pointed out by the artistic director Francesco Costa, the festival is “a collective rite, a bridge between past and present, where music takes place alive and the myth starts to breathe with us”. A concept also shared by the mayor of Montalbano Elicona Antonino Todaro and Gaetano Santoro, a private manager of the Argimusco Landowners area, who have expressed their thanks to the Sicilian opera choir for having given life to a virtuous synergy between art, environmental protection and enhancement of the territory.
Ultimately, the inauguration of the 2025 edition of the Lyric Festival of the theaters of stone represented a moment of rare intensity: a cultural and emotional experience that has been able to merge the charm of the Sicilian landscape with the universal language of music. An extraordinary beginning for a review that, year after year, is consolidated as one of the most significant in the international artistic panorama.