Page 17 - Demo

Data Pagina Foglio
18 luglio 2017 traduzione inglese 3 di 5
Verdi in the East
Riccardo Mu leads a united Iranian-Italian orchestra Irina Muraveva
One of the most significant contemporary music projects - basically meaning the crea on of a humanis c gesture in an atmosphere of poli - cal confronta on, sanc ons and wars, - has been carried out by the Italian maestro Riccardo Mu and his wife - producer and opera director Chris ne Mazzavillani Mu . Their project, named “Roads of Friendship,” takes place every year in various parts of the world and this year was held in Tehran and Ravenna, where a combina on of Italian and Iranian musicians under the direc on of Riccardo Mu performed the music of Giuseppe Verdi.
Not surprisingly, the “Road of Friendship” was born in Ravenna, the small and ancient Italian city, which has experienced different ages, reli- gions, civiliza ons - the Roman Empire and the barbaric, Byzan ne influence and the papacy, the traces of the Vene an Republic and the mys- cal “Divine Comedy,” Dante synthesized in An anthology of the world. The ashes of Dante rest here, in the Ravenna tomb, below the walls of the church of San Francesco. The city itself - a real treasure of art, a crossroads of cultures, sealed in the beauty of its mosaics, in the luxury of gold, violet, turquoise, ancient and Byzan ne ornaments ... shining on the walls and vaults of churches and basilicas.
In 1990, a music fes val was founded here by Riccardo and Chris na Mu , with a mul cultural format - music, theatre, poetry, cinema, bal- let, and the culturological vector, directed every year on a new topic. Over 28 years, the mo o of the fes val has included Dante’s “Love that moves the sun and other stars,” and “The Journey Between Symbolism and Utopia,” “The Long Road to Freedom,” “The Light on the Way to Damascus,” “Mozart,” “Pilgrims and Wanderers, “” 1914. The year that changed the world. “ This year’s fes val, under the mo o “The Noise of Time”, addressed the topic of the 100th anniversary of the October Revolu on, which from the perspec ve of a European view not only led to the collapse of the tsarist empire, but also radically changed the daily reality, thinking and ideals of the society, the country itself, futuris c revolu onary euphoria in which Was quickly replaced by disappointments, totalitarianism, the dictatorship of Stalinism.
Presented at this year’s fes val was a futuris c opera based on Alekseya Kruchenyh‘s poem “Victory over the Sun” (a performance from Stas Namin Theatre), Dmitri Shostakovich’s music – the Seventh Symphony in a performance by the Honored Group of the St. Petersburg Philhar- monic under Yuri Temirkanov, the first concerto for piano, trumpet and orchestra (Soloists Denis Matsuev and Ukrainian Bogdan Dehtyaruk), as well as a project curated by the Ravenna fes val called “ErosAntEros 1917” - on the poems of Alexander Blok, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Velimir Khlebnikov, Sergei Yesenin, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Gershenzon with the music of Shostakovich’s Eighth Quartet, dedicated to the vic ms of fascism and war. In the hall of the Dante’s library was held the “History Lesson” with the par cipa on of the poet Olga Sedakova, Ukrainian theologian and philosopher Alexander Filonenko and Catholic Bishop of Moscow Paolo Pezzi.
“Music is more than economics, poli cs, verbal languages – it can touch the strings of the human soul and it does not require transla on.”
A large culturological block was also represented at the fes val - “A Passage to India”, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of India’s independence. The concerts featured Indian classics - carna on music (southern India) and Hindustani (northern India). Famous sitarist, actress and composer, the daughter of the legendary musician Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar presented her new work “The Land of Gold” (at the Diego Fabbri The- atre in Forli). Also perfoming at the fes val were the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov and Kirill Gernstein, who performed Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in the composer’s second edi on, and the famous Chicago Children’s Choir, which unites young people from different social strata. In their charming vocal show, the Chicago children performed in the church of San Giacomo in Forli with a programme en tled “From Leonard Bernstein to Jus n Timberlake”, presen ng a medley of daring Protestant hymns, spirituals and music by Bernstein, the hits of Michael Jackson and Timberlake. The finale of the fes val in Ravenna will be a gala concert of the stars of the Russian ballet “Svetlana Zakharova and her friends” in the Palazzo Mauro de André. And in November the second part of the fes val will unfold - the opera, where tradi onally they will show a triptych - this me in the context of the “turn of the twen eth century”: “Cavalleria Rus cana” by Pietro Mascagni, “Pagliacci” by Ruggero Leoncavallo and “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini.
Interwoven with the history of the Ravenna fes val, the humanitarian musical project “Roads of Friendship” has already been linked for twenty years.
From Italy to Iran
Riccardo Mu is convinced that music is more than economics, poli cs, verbal languages, it can touch the strings of the human soul - it does not require transla on. That’s why, star ng with the first historical concert in 1997 in Sarajevo, Mu is conduc ng his project “the Roads of Friendship” in different ci es and problem areas of the world.
Riccardo Mu : “Twenty years ago, we were deeply shocked by the tragedy that happened in Sarajevo, and wanted to convey our message about the value of the no ons of brotherhood, peace, love. We went to Sarajevo with the orchestra and the La Scala choir on a military plane, as the airport for civilian flights was closed. And people were grateful to our impulse: all together we gathered in a bombed city and held a concert in a specially constructed arena for 9,000 people. We invited the Symphony Orchestra and Sarajevo State Choir to perform with us. I’m sure that music destroys all barriers and misunderstandings, because words can be misunderstood, and music is always perceived through the heart.”
Over the course of 20 years “The Roads of Friendship” has passed through Beirut, New York, Moscow, Istanbul, Cairo, Damascus, Nairobi, Tokyo and other points around the world, collec ng everywhere thousands of people - in open spaces and in the ci es’ concert halls. Riccardo Mu :