La giara

Two new productions conducted by Andrea Battistoni

Teatro Regio, Wednesday 12 June 2019 at 8pm

On Wednesday 12 June, at 8pm, two brand new productions take to the stage at the Regio: La giara by Alfredo Casella – a new ballet commissioned by the Teatro Regio from the Compagnia Zappalà Danza – and Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni in the new staging created by Gabriele Lavia. An evening of double splendour and continuous cross-referencing between ballet and opera, Pirandello and Verga, tradition and cutting-edge, with one common denominator: Sicily. The Orchestra of the Teatro Regio, present at both productions, is conducted by the maestro Andrea Battistoni. The Chorus, involved in Mascagni's masterpiece, is led by Andrea Secchi.

LA GIARA | The choreographer Roberto Zappalà stands out for having propagated like no other “a vivacious and vibrant south” throughout audiences across the world thanks to his dance with great visual impact. His love for his land and for dance training activity led him to found the homonymous Company and in 2002 Scenario Pubblico, a National Production Centre of which he is the Artistic Director. He has also worked for major organisations such as the Ballet School at the La Scala Theatre in Milan, the Swedish company Norrdans, the Dutch company ArtEZ and the Goteborg Ballet.

Compagnia Zappalà Danza, founded in Catania in 1990, is today recognised as a prominent protagonist in the panorama of Italian contemporary dance, standing out for its development of a personal language (MoDem, acronym of Movimento Democratico (Democratic Movement)), for its collaborations with major international festivals, such as MilanOltre, and for the awards it has won, including that of National Dance Production Centre from MiBAC.

In the novella by Luigi Pirandello, the jar is a prison, a literal one for the repairer of jars Zi’ Dima, closed inside it, and a symbolic one for Don Lollò, the master, prisoner of “stuff”. Alfredo Casella realised its emblematic nature, poised between irony and grotesque, creating from it a musical score in 1924 at the request of Ballets Suédois, with choreography by Jean Börlin and scenery and costumes by Giorgio De Chirico. Music filled with rhythmic and melodic inspirations from Sicilian folklore, transposed, however, into an ideal and timeless dimension, made up of emotions. It is these emotions and these symbolic inspirations that Zappalà uses in the choreography, scenery and lighting, suggesting a space in which the jar is both the container of the dance and a narrative dimension; a closed place, limited but protected, in which life - movement - flows, from which to observe what is going on outside, suggestive ambivalence that involves the audience in the performance. The production has as its stars eleven male performers. Direction, choreography, scenery and lighting are by Roberto Zappalà, the dramaturgy is by Nello Calabrò, the costumes are by Veronica Cornacchini and Roberto Zappalà, and the choreography assistants are Ilenia Romano and Fernando Roldán Ferrer. The new staging is by Scenario Pubblico/CZD.

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA | In the second part of the evening, Cavalleria Rusticana, the masterpiece by Pietro Mascagni, comes to the stage in a new performance with direction by Gabriele Lavia and scenery and costumes by Paolo Ventura, the multifaceted Milanese artist who revolutionised contemporary photography. The novella by Giovanni Verga, a drama of jealousy which also tells of a culture and a territory, was put to music by Mascagni in 1890, marking the history of opera and the opening of a new page of musical theatre, towards a sonorous expression of narration and passion, which we can only forcibly limit to the definition of verismo.

Lavia, a reference point of contemporary Italian theatre and cinema, for about thirty years now has, in addition to his major career as an actor, director and dubber, added the direction of lyrical operas; he returns to the Regio with another verismo title, with references to his Sicilian origins, after his much admired Pagliacci.

The opera was to be performed by Daniela Barcellona, who had to pull out of the engagement due to family issues, and by Carlo Ventre who could not take part due to commitments incompatible with his presence at the Regio. In the cast we find exceptional names: Santuzza is Sonia Ganassi, one of the best mezzo-sopranos of her generation, she is regularly invited to the world's most prestigious theatres (New York Metropolitan, Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan) where she works with conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano and Daniel Barenboim. Following her innumerable successes, in 1999 the music critics awarded her the Abbiati Prize. She returns to the Regio after having played Angelina in La Cenerentola in 2004 and Messa da Requiem conducted by Gianandrea Noseda in 2013 at the Wiener Konzerthaus and at Dresden's Kreuzkirche. Turiddu is Marco Berti, the tenor who sang under the guidance of conductors such as Antonio Pappano, James Levine and Daniel Oren; in his international career he has played all the main opera roles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on the main Italian stages, as well as at the New York Metropolitan, London's Covent Garden, Staatsoper in Vienna and Berlin. The role of Alfio is played by Marco Vratogna, a baritone admired for the beauty of his timbre and his scenic presence. Specialising in verismo and the Verdi repertoire, he has recorded for major record companies such as Dynamics, and has had several successes at the Turin Regio, the most recent in Edgar, Un ballo in maschera and Tosca. The cast is completed by: Michela Bregantin(Lucia) and Clarissa Leonardi (Lola). During the nine performances, the following will alternate in the main roles: Cristina Melis (Santuzza), Francesco Anile (Turiddu) and Gëzim Myshketa (Alfio). The choreographic movements are by Anna Maria Bruzzese and the lights by Andrea Anfossi. 
The musicologist and pianist Marco Targa, for the Conferenze del Regio, on Wednesday 5 June at 5:30pm at the Piccolo Regio Puccini, will lead the presentation meeting of the two operas entitled: Folclore inventato e verismo in Casella e Mascagni. Entry is free.

Tickets on sale at the Teatro Regio Ticket Office, Piazza Castello 215 - Tel. 011.8815.241/242, at Infopiemonte-Torinocultura, at Vivaticket stores, online at www.vivaticket.it and by telephone at no. 011.8815.270. Ticket prices: performance of 12 June: €170 - 135 - 120 - 100 - 70 - 55; performances of 14, 16, 18 and 22 June: €95 - 80 - 75 - 70 - 60 - 29; performances of 13, 15 and 21 June: €90 - 75 - 70 - 65 - 55 - 29; performance of 19 June: €60 - 55 - 50 - 45 - 40 - 29. Tickets reduced by 20% for under 30s and by 10% for over 65s. One hour before the shows, any tickets still available will be sold with a 20% reduction on the full price. For the performance of 19 June there are no reductions. For further information: Tel. 011.8815.557 and www.teatroregio.torino.it.

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