Italian Culture is taking over The Culture Show of RTHK Radio 4 this July! Our director Alice was interviewed by the host Stacey Rodda to talk about the places, art, and music that have left an indelible mark on history.
In the four-part interview, Alice talks about the work we are doing and different aspects of Italian arts and culture from Marco Polo to Puccini; La Scala to La Fenice; from the National Museum of Cinema to the Uffizi; from Villa Borghese Gardens, Rome to St Francis Basilica, Arezzo; from Verdi to Farri.
In the first episode we find out about the work of the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong and talk about one of the most famous Italians to initiate cultural exchange – Marco Polo. 2024 is the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death (8 Jan 1324) and we will hear music inspired by his story – extracts from Tan Dun’s Concerto for Orchestra, a work that describes the exoticism of Marco Polo’s geographical, musical and spiritual journeys.
In the second episode we take a brief tour of some of the most famous opera houses and companies of Italy. We link La Scala to Le Corsaire, La Fenice to Bruno Maderna, and San Carlo to Verdi’s only chamber music work.
In the third episode we talk about film influenced by literary works; the current state of the film industry in Italy; recent releases; and the composers who create the scores to this influential genre.
In the final episode we visit a few of them: Galleria dell’Accademia, Bargello Museum, Borghese Gallery, Uffizi Galleries, National Museum of Cinema and the Egyptian Museum in Turin, which houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquties, and is considered the second most important Egyptological collection in the world after Cairo. Of course we make a few musical connections along the way.
