- Title: ITALY: ANNUAL FESTIVAL OPENS IN SPOLETO
- Date: 29th June 1995
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA MEMBER PHILIP GOTTLING SPEAKING ABOUT PROGRAMME
- Embargoed: 14th July 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SPOLETO, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Entertainment,Travel / Tourism
- Reuters ID: LVA6Q9XDOYZQ00BBEXIV2EFI8EFY
- Story Text: Each summer since 1957, the beautiful Italian hill town of Spoleto has come alive to the sights and sounds of classical music, opera and the best in contemporary theatre.
This year's Spoleto festival features more than 150 performances ranging from operas to classical concerts, ballets, cinema, theatre and art exhibitions.
Among this year's highlights are performances of Faure's Requiem, Bizet's opera Carmen, and an outdoor recital of Scriabin's Prometheus staged with a high-tech laser light show, imagined by the composer when he wrote the work in 1908.
The festival was founded by Gian Carlo Menotti as a forum for new talent. Today it attracts some of the world's best young performers.
Framed by frescoes in Spoleto's 12th-century cathedral, a multicultural festival orchestra under the directorship of American Steven Mecurio opened its season with a performance of Faure's requiem.
Later in the main square, the festival orchestra staged Scriabin's Prometheus, with a light show more readily associated with super groups like Pink Floyd.
The director of Carmen, Carlos Saura, cast the aptly named American, Adria Firestone in the title role as a wild passionate gypsy. She said her Spanish, Italian background and years of dance classes had put her in good shape for the performance.
Another hit seems likely to be Shostakovic's anti-middle class opera, The Nose, based on a short story by Gogol. Described as a ferocious, surrealist, satire with free-wheeling tonal music, the work is considered among the more important avant-garde operas.
The three-week festival will run until July 16. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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