Here is the full program of the upcoming festival. The Sferisterio Arena – built in Macerata in the first half of the 19th century to host the game with ball and bangle and then turned into a venue for opera performances not to be missed in the summer by all opera lovers – will host a new production of Carmen by Georges Bizet (July 20, 23, 28, August 6) directed by Daniele Menghini; on the podium, the musical director of the festival, Donato Renzetti. The second title will be the most iconic production of Sferisterio, Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata by (July 22, 30, August 5, 13) by Josef Svoboda and Henning Brockhaus. On the podium, Domenico Longo. The third title will be a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti (August 12, 14, 17, 19) entrusted to Jean-Louis Grinda with Francesco Ivan Ciampa on the podium.
A “festival within the festival” will be also designed around the myth of the Sevillian cigar-maker, the protagonist of Prosper Mérimée’s novel. In addition to Bizet’s opera, there will be two other unmissable events. First, the legendary flamenco show Carmen (August 4) created in 1983 by Antonio Gades and Carlos Saura and performed by the Compañía Antonio Gades. Then, two milestones of silent cinema: Carmen by Cecil B. DeMille and A Burlesque on Carmen by Charlie Chaplin (August 11), with live soundtracks and Timothy Brock on the podium. Also, there will be an event dedicated to Carmen, Carmen MOF – My Original Feelings, for secondary high schools; it is organized by the theatrical company “Fabiano Valenti” of Treia and designed by Francesco Facciolli and Fabio Macedoni (Lauro Rossi Theatre, May 25-26).
Don Giovanni, a character created in the seventeenth century by Tirso de Molina and then the subject of many adaptations over the centuries, is also linked to the myth of seduction and has inspired the dance show Don Juan (July 27) by choreographer Johan Inger (which was awarded the “Danza&Danza” award in 2020). The show is a co-production by the Arena Sferisterio Association with the National Dance Foundation / Aterballetto and a large group of other theatrical institutions.
The 2023 festival will also feature a symphonic concert, the masterpiece of sacred music by Giuseppe Verdi, the Requiem Mass (July 29). It is a co-production with the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna, which will also propose the same piece in Bologna (August 2, Piazza Maggiore) for the celebrations in memory of the massacre at Bologna Central Station. On the podium, Donato Renzetti, who will conduct the Bologna orchestra and choir as well as a quartet of vocal soloists: Eleonora Buratto, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Antonio Poli and Roberto Tagliavini.
