THE SECRETS OF THE GREAT ITALIAN OPERA HOUSES
Thanks to the collaboration with Andrea Scarduelli, a prominent figure in the international performing arts scene, in particular music, we are launching a series of ten episodes dedicated to curiosities and anecdotes related to ten Italian Opera Houses that I have selected for you.
Andrea Scarduelli will show us how to approach Opera Houses in an original way, how to grasp their individual, unique and unrepeatable characteristics.
Theaters are not just elegant buildings suitable for hosting shows. They have a life of their own, real, infused by the people who work there and the spectators who attend them. Enjoy your viewing, good listening and, above all, have fun.
Dr. Stefano Fossati
Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, Hong Kong
I thank Dr. Stefano Fossati, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong for the opportunity he offers me; to tell you the story of ten Italian opera houses.
An opera house is a sort of secular sanctuary in which, when the curtain opens or when the curtain rises, one enters a fairytale dimension from which one suddenly emerges only when the applause that seals the show brings us back to reality.
It is not only the walls, the friezes, the velvets of the beautiful buildings, designed according to the golden rules of acoustics that make a theatre a real theatre.
They are the composers who have written music and operas for that institution and for its audience; it is the singers who instilled life and gave voice to the characters of the operas, the conductors who concerted and directed them, the directors who they have staged and the workers who have allowed this to happen.
The opera is a special, fairy world, the only one in which a character, even if mortally wounded, continues to sing until the last moment of life and I will tell you about the magic.
Andrea Scarduelli
Andrea Scarduelli
International music critic, record producer and specialist in Performing Arts, he has collaborated with important luxury companies and with the most famous cultural institutions in the world: Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Metropolitan Opera House in New York, Los Angeles Opera, War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, Kennedy Center and Library of Congress in Washington DC, Shanghai Grand Theater, Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi in Tokyo, Museum of Glass Hakone, Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, Opéra de Paris, Wiener Staatsoper, Salzburger Festspiele, Salle Garnier de Monaco, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Kungliga Operan in Stockholm, Savonlinnan Oopperajuhlat in Finland, Konzerthaus Berlin, Torre del Lago Puccini Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Italian Cultural Institute in Hong Kong.
Since 2015 he has been superintendent, artistic and musical director of the Antonio Belloni Theater. Since 2016, supervisor and artistic director of the ‘World Water Day Photo Contest’ international photo contest sponsored by the United Nations. From 2016 to 2019 he was superintendent, artistic and musical director of the Politeama di Seveso.
His activities in the arts and business sectors have been the subject of articles published by ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Wall Street Journal’, ‘TheTimes’, ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’, ‘Asahi Shimbun’, ‘Le Figaro’, ‘Kurier’, ‘El Mundo’, ‘El Clarin’, ‘Il Corriere della Sera’, ‘Il Sole 24Ore’, ‘Repubblica’, ‘LaStampa’. Since 2020 he has been working in Hong Kong on an international project for a prestigious multinational.
Episode list:
1) Teatro alla Scala, Milan —– 04 Jun 2021 – Watch the video/ Read the text
2) Teatro Antonio Belloni, Barlassina —– 11 Jun 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
3) Arena di Verona —– 18 Jun 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
4) Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice —– 25 Jun 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
5) Teatro Massimo, Palermo —– 9 Jul 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
6) Teatro di San Carlo, Naples —– 16 Jul 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
7) Teatro Regio, Parma —– 23 Jul 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
8) Teatro Comunale, Bologna —– 30 Jul 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
9) Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza —– 06 Aug 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text
10) Teatro Bonoris, Montichiari —– 16 Aug 2021 – Watch the video / Read the text