Oriente is the theme of the 53rd opera season at the Sferisterio, coming in 2017 and inspired by Li Madou

The trilogy “Soul maps” will be completed with the 2017 edition of the festival, named Oriente:
Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Aida will be staged.
The creative duo Ricci/Forte at their debut as opera directors. On the podium Morandi, Zanetti and Frizza.

Turandot, Madama Butterfly and Aida: from the deep, blue waters of the Mediterranean sea, the Sferisterio festival looks far, to embrace the East. Oriente is the theme running through the 53rd opera season, to take place from 21 July to 14 August, 2017. The Sferisterio festival will follow the trail set by Li Madou, best known in Italy as Padre Matteo Ricci, the Jesuit who left Macerata to reach the Far East. The year 2017 closes the “Soul maps” trilogy, which started with “Nourish the soul”, in 2015, and carried on with “Mediterraneo”, in 2016.

Amongst the next season’s greatest news is the first ever stage direction for opera by Stefano Ricci and Gianni Forte, with a brand new production of Turandot to open the festival.  Ricci and Forte are contemporary theatre directors, widely appreciated for their style, which is both innovative and revolutionary. They stage loneliness and denial, the feelings of a whole generation. Ricci and Forte never stop researching, to convey the most excruciating dramas of the human soul and finally unveil a deep love of humanity and its emotions. The Marche Regional Orchestra will be conducted by Piergiorgio Morandi. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpygtd1tdyo

From China to Japan with Madama Butterfly: a new work, co-produced with Teatro Massimo in Palermo, with Nicola Berloffa as stage director, for the first time in Macerata. On the podium, Massimo Zanetti. 

The third step in the path to the East is actually an intermediate step: Egypt, traditionally a gateway to the East, will be revived through Francesco Micheli’s timeless Aida. This production, created in 2014 for the 50th anniversary of the opera festival in Macerata, is a co-production with Teatro Comunale in Bologna. The orchestra will be conducted by Riccardo Frizza.

For the 2017 edition of the festival, Anffas will be the Sferisterio charity partner. Anffas is the Italian association for families of persons with intellectual or relational disabilities. Founded in 1958, Anffass has over 14,000 members throughout Italy, operating through over 160 local branches which provide assistance and services to more than 30,000 individuals with disabilities and their families. On 11 August, 2016, with Medea on stage and Doctors without Borders as charity partner, the baton has been handed over symbolically to actor Cesare Bocci, as a sign of the three-year charity commitment of Macerata Opera Festival, to continue in 2017 with Anffas.

Tickets for the 2017 festival are already available for booking. Please, contact the Sferisterio Box Office.