Nourishing the Soul
The programme for the opening weekend is out
Vito Mancuso cuts the ribbon on the 51th opera season
Ludovico Einaudi live at the Sferisterio with In a Time Lapse
#nutrimilanima is the official hashtag to use on social networks
A huge event from Peking’s National Center of Performing Arts to reach Macerata in June

16 April 2015 – The bond between man and nourishment, in its broadest sense, is at the core of the 51th opera season of Macerata Opera Festival. “Nourishing the Soul” is a theme whose ancient roots are traced in primigenial cults, and which is variously embodied, with high symbolic value, in the four operas within this year’s programme: Rigoletto, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, La Bohème. As a support and accompaniment to the operas, the festival is this year again enriched by a host of events of great cultural value. All of them recall the issue of nourishment, essential for the human soul, with the opera standing out as the most precious form. The opening weekend’s programme was announced on 17 April 2015 by Associazione Arena Sferisterio’s President Romano Carancini, by Artistic Director Francesco Micheli and by the Manager of Technical and Artistic Operations, Luciano Messi.

As Carancini stated, “Tickets are selling very well, giving us good hopes for the coming months and for a possible repeat of last year’s success, with several sold-out performances. Three months before the beginning of the festival, a survey of box office sales confirms the outstanding figures recorded in 2014, which saw the 50th anniversary of the opera season in Macerata and the breaking of all records of the previous 10 years. Over 12,500 tickets have so far been purchased or booked, for an overall 560,000 euros.”
Francesco Micheli went on to say that “These figures are great confidence boosters, which will help us proudly face the 90 days to the festival. I would also like to highlight the strong ties between the Sferisterio, the community and the local associations. The two events presented today certainly bear witness to them.”

The Festival’s long opening weekend will be inaugurated by Vito Mancuso, ambassador to this year’s edition. Mancuso, a theologian and an author, has placed the soul at the centre of his studies on beauty, justice and the meaning of life. A researcher and theoretician of the soul as free energy, an author for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, director of the book series I Grandi Libri dello Spirito by Garzanti, which includes his most recent book entitled Questa vita, conoscerla, nutrirla, proteggerla, will be in Macerata on 16 July at 9 p.m.. He will cut the ribbon on the 51th opera season and deliver a keynote speech at the Lauro Rossi theatre. The event is co-hosted by Praxis, an association for social enhancement which gathers young psychologists, pedagogists and doctors operating throughout Italy, and whose interdisciplinary approach aims to provide support for self-improvement, employment and development.

Ludovico Einaudi’s concert at the Sferisterio

Along the lines traced by the Festival’s theme (Nourishing the Soul), Ludovico Einaudi’s concert, will be held on 19 July at 9 p.m. at the Sferisterio. Einaudi is an internationally-known Italian pianist and composer, much appreciated for the great empathy and strength of his music. In the wake of last year’s successful concerts by Patty Smith and Renzo Arbore, Einaudi will be on the Sferisterio stage with a strongly evocative and emotionally intense concert, one of an exclusive series of three, held at the Sferisterio, at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome and the Arena in Verona. “When you become aware of the limits of our own time, then you strive to fill the void with all your energy and live your life to the full, just like you did as a child”. These are the words used by Ludovico Einaudi to present the tracks of his last CD In a Time Lapse, which he will perform at the Sferisterio with an ensemble of strings, brass and electronic instruments.
Einaudi is brought to the Sferisterio by Macerata Opera Festival and AMAT – Associazione Marchigiana Attività Teatrali (Marche’s association for theatrical activities). His latest tour, started in 2013, brought him to the most prestigious European stages, from the Olympia in Paris to the Bayerische Philharmonie in Munich, having also performed in the USA, Canada and China.
Gilberto Santini, director of AMAT, declared, “We are extremely proud to be back to collaborating with Associazione Arena Sferisterio for the opera festival, a great event whose prestige has only increased over the past years. The collaboration, and the pleasure it gives us, become all the more special in the light of our recent application to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage to be recognized as a multidisciplinary newtwork, so that we will be able to open up to music as well as theatre and dance, which we have been promoting so far. Taking the art and talent of Ludovico Einaudi within the charming walls of the Sferisterio arena is the best possible present we could give to the Marche region to celebrate this special occasion. We certainly wish that our connection with the Associazione Arena Sferisterio will be constantly reinforced, considering the unique added value the Sferisterio brings to all musical projects in the Marche region.”

#nutrimilanima: web-based activities
Web-based activities are to bring the Festival theme all over the social networks with the contest named #nutrimilanima. Everybody is invited to share the hashtag and become part of the festival community by posting opinions, thoughts, feelings, passions and interests. Photos, quotes, pieces of poetry, music and much more can be shared on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram with the #nutrimilanima hashtag and be visible in real time on the sferisterio website (sferisterio.it).

China to reach us: a great event from NCPA
In the year of the international Expo, cultural exchanges and collaborations with China and the National Center of Performing Arts in Peking are brought to the fore, especially in the form of an outstanding event to be hosted in Macerata in June, 2015. The event is brought to Matteo Ricci’s birthplace with the support of the University of Macerata and its Confucius Institute.