The Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca has announced the titles for the 2024 season which will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The season will open on July 17, 2024, with Bellini’s “Norma” in an 1831 version. The opera will be presented as an homage to the festival’s past and will be presented with two sopranos singing the roles of {…}
The Festival della Valle d’Itria has announced its 49th edition. The season opens with “Il Turco in Italia” conducted by Michele Spotti and directed by Silvia Paoli. Performance Dates: July 18 – August 6, 2023 Francisco Soriano will conduct Massenet’s “L’Adorable Bel-Boul” with Davide Garattini Raimondi directing. Performance Dates: July 19 & 20, 2023 Also on offer is Pietro Auletta’s {…}
The Festival della Valle D’Itria in Martina Franca has announced a conductor change for “Beatrice di Tenda” The company noted that Fabio Luisi has tested positive for COVID-19 and will therefore not be able to conduct the Bellini work. As a result, Michele Spotti will conduct the opera on July 23 and 25, 2022 at the Palazzo Ducale. Spotti is {…}
The 48th edition of the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca has announced its 2022 season. The season, which will be held between July 19th and August 6, 2022 in Martina Franca, will be the first program under new artistic director, Sebastian F. Schwarz. The opening night of the season will be on July 19 in Martina Franca’s Palazzo {…}
Rai 5 is set to stream Nicola Antonio Manfroce’s rarely performed “Ecuba” on August 3. The performance comes from the 2019 Festival Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca and was helmed by legendary director Pier Luigi Pizzi. The production features rising star Lidia Fridman in the title role, Norman Reinhardt, Mert Süngü, Roberta Mantegna, Martina Gresia, and Lorenzo Izzo. Sesto Quatrini {…}
(Credit: Clarissa Lapolla) The Festival Valle d’Itria is set to open livestream its opening night production of “Il Borghese Gentiluomo.” The production will be shown on Web TV della Fondazione Paolo Grassi and on Italiafestival.tv at 8 p.m. CET. Featuring music by Richard Strauss, the Moliere play has been adapted by Quirino Principe and Valeria Zaurino. The production is directed {…}
The Festival della Valle d’Itria will move forward with a revised 2020 edition. The festival, which takes place in Martina Franca, Italy and is set to celebrate its 46th edition, will showcase two rare operas at the Atrio of the Palazzo Ducale. The first title will be Richard Strauss’ “Arianna a Nasso” conducted by Fabio Luisi in a new Italian {…}
The Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca has announced its 46th season. The festival is slated to take place between July 14 and August 2, 2020 and once again looks at rarely performed works and rediscovered works. Here is a look at this year’s programming. The first opera in the season will be Mercadante’s “La rappresaglia,” a comic melodrama {…}
Nicolà Vaccai (1790 – 1848) was an Italian composer determined to make a success in the field of opera. Unfortunately, and despite limited success, he was ultimately to fail, eclipsed in his early years by the genius of his contemporary, Gioacchino Rossini, and unable, in his later years, to adapt to the rapidly changing tastes exemplified in the new dramatic {…}
Often attention is focused on the stars of the opera world, but below the stellasphere there exist thousands of other singers, directors, conductors, and musicians pursuing their careers. Some are fairly well established and make comfortable livings on the stage and in the concert halls, some struggle to maintain a full calendar, while others are winding down as retirement approaches, {…}
In 2012, a version of Handel’s “Rinaldo,” written for Naples in 1718, was discovered in a castle in England. It is a reconstructed version, by a lesser-known baroque composer, Leonardo Leo, who had also included parts by Vivaldi and numerous other composers. This pastiche is the version that is being performed at the Festival della Valle d’Itria, 300 years after {…}