{"id":68192,"date":"2024-06-07T21:34:10","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T21:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/stars-singing-under-the-stars-a-global-gala-celebrates-opera\/"},"modified":"2024-06-07T21:34:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T21:34:10","slug":"stars-singing-under-the-stars-a-global-gala-celebrates-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/07\/stars-singing-under-the-stars-a-global-gala-celebrates-opera\/","title":{"rendered":"Stars Singing Under the Stars: A Global Gala Celebrates Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/07\/multimedia\/07italy-opera-1-cvbh\/07italy-opera-1-cvbh-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Stars Singing Under the Stars: A Global Gala Celebrates Opera\" title=\"Stars Singing Under the Stars: A Global Gala Celebrates Opera\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If there was ever any question of what a Three Tenors concert on steroids might look like, the hundreds of performers belting out operatic greatest hits at the Arena of Verona on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arena.it\/en\/arena-verona-opera-festival\/la-grande-opera-italiana-patrimonio-dellumanita\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Friday night<\/a> could offer a good answer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Under a starry sky, there were sweeping overtures, including crowd-pleasers like the \u201cWilliam Tell Overture,\u201d heart-wrenching arias, and an oversize orchestra and choir backing A-list soloists in what was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime concert to mark the addition last December of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ich.unesco.org\/en\/RL\/the-practice-of-opera-singing-in-italy-01980\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">\u201cthe practice of opera singing in Italy\u201d<\/a> to the United Nations cultural organization\u2019s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The concert was a public acknowledgment of opera\u2019s cultural impact around the world, broadcast worldwide from the ancient Roman amphitheater that draws tens of thousands of opera lovers each summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Opera\u2019s \u201cgreat masterpieces are our heritage, and we Italians have given them to the world,\u201d the conductor, Riccardo Muti, said on Italy\u2019s main national TV channel minutes before the event began.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sitting in a raised balcony facing the stage, President Sergio Mattarella of Italy and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni were flanked by high-ranking officials while the audience was filled with fashionable glitterati, opera fans and dozens of ambassadors \u201cfrom countries where opera is loved,\u201d said Gianmarco Mazzi, the under secretary of state to the Ministry of Culture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Though most of the campaign for recognition took place under a previous, center-left government, the addition to the list by the U.N. agency, UNESCO, was a coup of sorts for Italy\u2019s conservative government, whose culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, has made it his mission to exalt Italianness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of his projects is a museum of Italian culture, to highlight the \u201ccontribution Italy has given to humanity,\u201d and his directorial appointments at the most important museums have favored <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/18\/arts\/design\/uffizi-simone-verde.html\" title=\"\">homegrown choices<\/a> where the previous government sought <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/11\/28\/arts\/design\/italy-museum-leaders-uffizi-capodimonte-brera.html\" title=\"\">international talent<\/a>. His selection in April of a leader for La Scala, Milan\u2019s great opera house, came with a statement trumpeting that the new boss, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/16\/arts\/music\/la-scala-opera-italian-leader.html\" title=\"\">Fortunato Ortombina<\/a>, was Italian, \u201cafter three foreign general directors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At Friday\u2019s concert, however, while Italy\u2019s 12 opera theaters and some conservatories supplied the orchestra and choir, many of the soloists were not Italian \u2014 a sign of opera\u2019s global attraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe universality of this patrimony is shown by the fact that there are Russians, there are Americans, there are French \u2014 there\u2019s everything here and they are all singing in Italian,\u201d said Cecilia Gasdia, the general manager of the Arena of Verona Foundation and a soprano who had her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1986. (She said she still sings, for herself, every morning before work.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOpera is our national theater, like Shakespeare is for the British,\u201d said Roberto Abbondanza, a baritone and the president of Assolirica, an association of opera professionals that was central to the campaign for recognition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Stefano Trespidi, the deputy artistic director of the Arena of Verona Foundation, said Italy\u2019s opera theaters and conservatories had never before joined forces for such an event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAll of Italian opera is here together,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the opera world celebrating itself and celebrating Italian opera.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Operatic theater began in Italy around 1600. Starting in Florence and developing in Venice, it became an \u201cextraordinarily expansive\u201d arrangement, quickly spreading throughout Italy, Europe and the rest of the world, said Lorenzo Bianconi, a musicologist and professor emeritus at the University of Bologna.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Though the drama took place inside theaters that catered to the wealthy, the music trickled out onto the streets. Traveling musicians would perform arias in far-flung village squares or on church organs after Mass, and there are even accounts of gondoliers singing the latest hits for their clients \u201cto show they were in the know,\u201d said Roberta Pedrotti, a music critic who has written several books about opera. Italian is speckled with phrases of operatic origin, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marco Tutino, an opera composer, said he became aware of the Italian language\u2019s importance to opera when he began to be commissioned to write operas in other languages. \u201cIt was the litmus test,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Opera is \u201can art, a culture that\u2019s founded on a vocal technique and on the Italian language, and that\u2019s why we have to protect this mark of origin,\u201d Mr. Tutino said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The gala concert \u201cshows a clear political will\u201d from the government to safeguard and promote opera, said Rosanna Savoia, a soprano who helped spearhead the recognition campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That marks a change, Mr. Abbondanza said, from a previous failed attempt to secure U.N. honors for Italian opera about a decade ago. Then, the government focused instead on seeking a listing for the \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/13\/world\/europe\/naples-pizza-unesco.html\" title=\"\">art of Neapolitan pizza makers.<\/a>\u201d China, he added, managed to register four operatic traditions before Italy made a serious pitch for its own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The UNESCO \u201crecognition is not a point of arrival but a point of departure\u201d to build on, Maestro Muti told the audience, to loud applause.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the night progressed, \u201cBravos\u201d ebbed and flowed. Ballets gave way to short scenes from beloved operas like Rossini\u2019s Barber of Seville, or Puccini\u2019s La Boh\u00e8me, delighting the audience. An over the top staging of an aria from \u201cTosca\u201d included incense, dozens of children as altarboys, and an army of golden-robed clerics. The crowd cheered. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Pedrotti noted that the first Three Tenors concert <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.udiscovermusic.com\/classical-features\/the-three-tenors-anniversary-rome\/#:~:text=The%20Three%20Tenors'%20legendary%20first,Caracalla%20on%20July%207%2C%201990.\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">in 1990<\/a>, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Pl\u00e1cido Domingo and Jos\u00e9 Carreras and broadcast live to millions internationally as part of Italy\u2019s celebrations for its hosting of the soccer World Cup, had been met with disdain from some opera enthusiasts. But it gave the genre a huge lift in popularity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Mazzi, the under secretary, said he hoped Friday\u2019s concert would also be repeated internationally, becoming \u201ca representation of Italian opera that tours the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There were international film festivals and sporting events, he said. \u201cOpera should be treated the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/07\/world\/europe\/italy-opera-gala.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If there was ever any question of what a Three Tenors concert on steroids might look like, the hundreds of performers belting out operatic greatest hits at the Arena of Verona on Friday night could offer a good answer. Under a starry sky, there were sweeping overtures, including crowd-pleasers like the \u201cWilliam Tell Overture,\u201d heart-wrenching [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/07\/multimedia\/07italy-opera-1-cvbh\/07italy-opera-1-cvbh-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3706,16149,377,26063,25490,1365],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68192"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68194,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68192\/revisions\/68194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}