The sixty-seventh edition of Festival dei Due Mondi will be held to Spoleto from friday June 28 to Sunday, July 14, 2024 . Italy's oldest performing arts festival presents over 17 days and 20 venues more than 60 performances including Opera, Music, Dance and Theater, Performance and art installations, involving 30 international companies totaling more than 600 artists from from 20 countries. Artistic director Monique Veaute continues the path traced in recent years under the banner of interdisciplinary dialogue, putting the audience in front of to ever-new stimuli thanks to the creativity of the best artists on the contemporary scene. It is the myth to guiding the reflection of this edition, as an expression of the complex relationship between individuals and society, a founding element of Western civilization.
"The city and the Festival, an inescapable union for artists from all over the world, those who have performed on this stage in the past, and those of our time, who to Spoleto come, or return, with their imagery nourished by creativity, ethicality, hope, and the will to transform," says Monique Veaute "the Festival is not only a showcase of big names but a laboratory where ideas, synergies, collaborations, and artistic projects grow. This is why I look to young talents as much as to original proposals and new means of expression."
The Festival opens friday June 28 at the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti with a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos, opera in one act preceded by the suite from The Bourgeois Gentleman also by Richard Strauss as a prologue. The musical performance is by the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted from Iván Fischer, who is directing with Chiara D'Anna.
The opening title is joined by a second production ofopera: Orpheus and Eurydice by Christoph Willibald Gluck directed by Damiano Michieletto and theOrchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. The myth of Baùbo inspires French director Jeanne Candel, and the theme runs through the midday concerts with artists such as JACK Quartet, La Lira di Orfeo, musicians from the Budapest Festival Orchestra and theOrchestra from Camera di Perugia. Alessandro Baricco premieres his "Short and Heretical History of Classical Music." Back to Spoleto Barbara Hannigan conducts the National Orchestra of Santa Cecilia in the final concert and as a performer in a concert with great stars of jazz and contemporary music. Great attention is given to other music: coming exclusively to Italy is Daniel Lopatin, known as Oneohtrix Point Never, among the most influential names in international electronic music. Lizz Wright 's persuasive voice marks an unmissable appointment with African-American music.
Dance breaks through with world star Friedemann Vogel, a new creation by Wayne McGregor, a major production in Piazza Duomo by Yoann Bourgeois, with live music by Hania Rani, and again with Mehdi Kerkouche. A powerful new immersive experience is signed by the duo Adrien M & Claire B.
For theater is special guest Isabelle Adjani, who gives voice to texts by giants of French and Italian literature. The focus on young playwrights brings director Antonio Latella to back to work with students from the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art for four new shows. Davide Enia is expected to return with a portrait of his Palermo. The #SIneNOmine company presents the new show born from the workshop in the Spoleto House of Detention. Leonardo Lidi concludes his Čechov project with The Cherry Orchard and Umbrian director Liv Ferracchiati returns with Death to Venice.
Many events dedicated to the city, including free performances and initiatives for the whole family. Dancers from the Il Posto company transform the vertical surfaces of the city's buildings into a stage. Music is a game from kids is the educational project for elementary school children that brings to explore a preview of some of the music masterpieces in the playbill, with classroom activities and to theater. Back as a preview is Luca Marinelli 's play Una relazione per un'accademia, which was staged to great acclaim last year.
Strong is the Festival's sensitivity to the issues and challenges of our present: Stefano Mancuso returns to Spoleto both as a popularizer with a second lectio magistralis on the environment and as the promoter of a new project shared with the Festival organization linked to the city of Spoleto and trees. The partnership with Rai Per la Sostenibilità-ESG is renewed within the projects on social, economic and environmental sustainability initiated by the Foundation adhering to the goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030.
Artist Chiara Camoni signs the official poster of the sixty-seventh edition. Theopera Burning Sister was born on a small Greek island where the artist spent time in residence. "The Gaza Strip today. The civil war in Sudan. The migrant barges. Global warming, the great fires. All this is happening as I watch the light seeping into the water of the sea of Thassos that seems to be made of glass. Here Beauty aims to to become Perfection and today it becomes almost embarrassing, unsustainable," the artist says. "For days and days I collected flowers, leaves, seeds and seaweed. I strung them into long necklaces, which all together shaped a mysterious figure. On the last night, in a breathtaking sunset, we set her on fire. The Burning Sister does not sacrifice herself in the fire, but on the contrary finds her highest realization in the fire itself. In the moment of destruction, she achieves her form. In this coexistence of opposites, of contradictions, my works are often placed. Beautiful and terrible at the same time."
Surrounding the official playbill are collateral events and special events that make Spoleto a living place of modern-day artistic creation: meetings with artists, awards, art installations and exhibitions. The work of Fondazione Carla Fendi also continues with an exhibition by photographer Luis Alberto Rodriguez who reinterprets some precious costumes from the Festival's historical archive. to Palazzo Collicola the exhibition by Chiara Camoni, author of the poster, and those in collaboration with Mahler & LeWitt Studios. The Music from Casa Menotti review of Monini Foundation and the "A Window on Two Worlds" award continues. Also this year, the Festival hosts the theater review and workshops organized by the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art and the La MaMa Spoleto Open review that brings together the experiences of the most talented actors, directors and emerging companies on the international scene.
The 67th edition of Festival dei Due Mondi is promoted from Ministry of Culture, Umbria Region and Comune di Spoleto. It is realized with the support of Fondazione Carla Fendi (Main Partner), Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Spoleto and Banco Desio. We thank Intesa Sanpaolo (Premium Supporter) and Monini (Official Sponsor) and other supporters, partners and technical sponsors. Media Partners are: RAI (Main Media Partner), La Repubblica, Il Messaggero and Urban Vision. APA Roma is Advertising partner.