Boundaries, to be overcome, indeed to live to approach and dialogue. It is the theme of the fifteenth edition of the Taobuk Festivaland it was the common thread of the gala evening held in an ancient theater overflowing with that audience that followed the appointments of the literary festival in these days and which did not want to miss in his most important evening. The event that every year celebrates excellence in literature, but not only: a crossroads of ideas and thought, which in this edition in particular had a different declination, aligned with a socio -political situation that – as never before – requires to take the field, to play the most important game, that of peace and dialogue.
And immediately a thought to the children of Gaza with Paola Turci, and the beauty of diversity with Zadie Smith. The notes of the Iranian pianist Ramin Bahrami have excited and moved, with a thought to the innocent of his and all the countries at war. Even the President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani, in welcoming the Festival’s guests in Sicily, underlined the value of the reception, remembering the anniversary of the signature of the Treaty of Messina and Taormina – celebrated during the Festival – from which Europe was born “that we must try to create as” Europe of the peoples “that starts from the bottom”.
The evening was conducted by Antonella Ferrara, president, creator and artistic director of the Festival, and by Massimiliano Ossini. They received the Taobuk Awards for Literary Excellence The Spanish essayist Javier Cercas Mena, the American writer Peter Cameron, Amélie Nothomb, award -winning writer (also the witch in 2022 for the first blood novel), Zadie Smith, among the most influential voices of contemporary literature, and the beloved author Triestina Susanna. The Chinese artist and activist artists in the Weiwei and, for the cinema, Whoopi Goldberg, Gabriele Salvatores, Monica Guerritore, Pierfrancesco Favino are awarded. For music, Jessica Pratt, Oscar of the lyric “International Opera Award” for best soprano, Ramin Bahrami, an Iranian pianist whose interpretation is aimed at the monumental keyboard production of Johann Sebastian Bach, which Bahrami faces with respect and cosmopolitan sensitivity of which his culture and training is imbued, Andrea Sarri, a classic dancer, who is only 26. Years, he was appointed Premier Danseur (first dancer) of the Paris Opera last January, becoming the second Palermo to obtain this prestigious title, the National Coreographic Center / Compagnia Aterballetto, and the singer Paola Turci.
The participation of the Symphony Orchestra of the Massimo Bellini Theater of Catania, a musical co -producer of the evening, directed by the teacher Gianna Fratta, consolidated and appreciated. The ceremony will be broadcast on Rai 1 on 2 July at 11 pm, a program by Antonella Ferrara, with Michele De Mieri, Paola Miletich, Anna di Giambattista, directed by Cristiano D’Alisera, direction of photography Marco Lucarelli.
And tonight at 9.30 pm always at the Antico Theater another great event in the context of Taobuk, in the 50th anniversary of the first drafting of Stefano D’Arrigo’s masterpiece: “Horcynus Orca. Ghostly journey into the sea of Stefano d’Arrigo’s literature”. Horcynus Orca, one of the most original works of the second half of the twentieth century, tells the tormented return home, in Messina, of the soldier ‘ed. Cambria after September 8, 1943: the vision of the talents protagonists of the sold out of the Greek tragedies in Syracuse and the most admired inaugurations of the scale of the last decade will recreate him. The video images mapped are made by D-Wok with the creative direction of Paolo Gep Cucco, transforming the surface of the theater with changes of textures, digital waves, 3D effects, surface movements, illustrations created by AI.
The narrative will be reconstructed thanks to the music of Max Casacci, who will perform live the sounds of the orcas and the Mediterranean. On stage with him, to read the most poignant pages of D’Arrigo’s masterpiece, Caterina Murino and Linda Gennari, with another exceptional reader: Vinicio Capossela, and the friendly participation of Davide Livermore. The text of the show was adapted by the book by Andrea Porcheddu, Claudio Collovà and Eliana Rotella.
