A diptych of works that reinterpret myth and classical tradition through a 20th-century lens, two masterpieces that take us to the roots of our culture, united under the direction of Jean Renshaw, the Anglo-German artist already welcomed by the Festival, and the conducting of Nicolò Umberto Foron, an international talent leading an opera in Italy for the first time.

Alfredo Casella’s The Tale of Orpheus, a rarely performed one-act chamber opera, was composed in 1932 to a libretto by Corrado Pavolini, based on Poliziano’s Fabula di Orfeo. The myth of the Thracian singer, a poet among poets, and his quest for the beloved Eurydice in the Underworld, has traversed the long history of the arts as a powerful reflection on death and the very nature of the journey. Casella offers a classicist interpretation, rooted in the grand tradition of Western music, shaping the instrumental and polyphonic discourse with clarity and precision.

Pulcinella, a ballet with singing in one act from 1920, was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, the brilliant impresario of the Ballets Russes. The work fuses archetypal masks from Mediterranean tradition with the music of Pergolesi and the Neapolitan 18th century, characterized by theatricality and rhythmic and gestural vitality. Through a distinctly 20th-century lens, the Russian composer filters these elements with his own unique hand, disrupting rhythmic regularity, intervening in harmony, and giving every piece a new instrumental color.

Locandina

*

Pulcinella

Matteo Falcier, Tenor

Roberto Lorenzi, Bass

The Tale of Orpheus

Orchestra and Choir of Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari

Chorus Master, Marco Medved

New production of the Festival della Valle d’Itria

*Artists from the "Rodolfo Celletti" Belcanto Academy of Martina Franca