(Credit: Fabrizio Sansoni)

The Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca has announced that Silvia Colasanti will be the new Artistic Director and the director of the Accademia del Belcanto “Rodolfo Celletti.”

Colasanti, a well-known composer, said, “I take on the artistic direction of the Martina Franca Valle d’Itria Festival and the ‘Rodolfo Celletti’ Belcanto Academy with the awareness of receiving an important and precious legacy, constantly nourished by the passion and intelligence of those who preceded me and by the numerous skills of those who participated year after year in the creation of the shows. Exploring new territories, bringing under-represented works back to life on the stage, bringing abandoned compositional paths to light, communicating with the territory, and valorizing young artists: this is the soul of the Festival which I would also like to bring the powerful lesson of the 20th century, the evolution of musical theatre, the promotion of creativity and contemporary languages, the possibility of communicating the complexity of today with authentic expressive energy with the aim of soliciting historical reflections and explaining how today’s aesthetic diversities are the consequence of different ways of rereading and interpret tradition, in a relationship of continuity and dialogue with the past.”

The news was announced by the board members of the festival which include Michele Punzi (Centro Artistico Musicale “Paolo Grassi”), Gianfranco Palmisano (Comune di Martina Franca), Roberto Venneri (Regione Puglia), Stefano Semeraro (Provincia di Taranto), and Piermassimo Chirulli (Comune di Cisternino).

Colasanti has composed numerous works including “Oltre l’azzurro,” “Esercizi per non dire addio,” “Tre risvegli,” “Minotauro,” “Proserpine.”