The Macerata Opera is the name given to the coordinating bodies of the provincial and local government in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

, the provincial capital of the

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

region of Italy, which puts on performances of three or four operas each July and August under the name Macerata Opera Festival. From 1992 the Opera Association was founded by the municipality and the Province Association of Macerata to oversee the operations of the Festival. In addition to the main summer activities, the Association organizes many other musical events, ranging from the New Music Festival to the performances of baroque music in a number of historical sites and buildings. The Association also organizes international conferences.

Overview

While the Macerata Opera has organized the Macerata Opera Festival as a summer

opera festival This is an inclusive list of opera festivals and summer opera seasons, and music festivals which have opera productions. This list may have some overlap with list of early music festivals. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition, ...

, it actually began in 1921 with a performance of

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...

'' in the 3,000 seat (plus 6,000 standing places) Arena Sferisterio, a huge neoclassical

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

erected in the 1820s as a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

for a form of

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

called ''pallone al bracciale'', a sort of game with ball and bangle. After a disastrous second year due to the performance of '' La Gioconda'' being rained out, (and except for a popular concert by

Beniamino Gigli Beniamino Gigli ( , ; 20 March 1890 – 30 November 1957) was an Italian opera singer (lyric tenor). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tenors of his generation. Early life Gigli was born in Recanati, in the Marche, the son of a shoem ...

in 1929), the Festival did not begin again until 1967. The present layout of the arena allows for the seating of 3,500 to 4,500 people depending upon the specific sets. By the late 1960s, the Festival was re-established, presenting mainly popular 19th and early 20th Century Italian opera, most of which were Macerata premieres. Within ten years, the repertory was gradually broadened to include more modern and foreign works but, for financial reasons, the emphasis was on the bigger crowd-pleasers with as many big name international opera singers as possible. In addition, many

Regietheater Regietheater (German for ''director's theater'') is the modern practice of allowing a director freedom in devising the way a given opera or play is staged so that the creator's original, specific intentions or stage directions (where supplied) can b ...

-style productions were to be found such as film director

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

's ''

Madama Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Luther ...

'' set in a brothel and a

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' set in a motor cycle gang populated New York city. With the decline in international singer participation as the 1990s progressed, the last decade has seen a return to popular Italian operas given spectacular productions. From 2003 to 2005, the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Katia Ricciarelli Catiuscia Maria Stella Ricciarelli (born 16 January 1946), known as Katia Ricciarelli (), is an Italian soprano and actress. Biography Born in Rovigo, Veneto, to a very poor family, she struggled during her younger years when she studied music. ...

was Artistic Director. But 2006 saw changes at the Sferisterio with the artistic direction being taken over by Pier Luigi Pizzi and a summer festival concept created. A common theme evolved in the selection of operas to be performed and, at the same time, the reconstruction of the stage was undertaken. The 2006 season acknowledged the 250th anniversary of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's birth, with a production of ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...

''. Performances were moved to 9pm to take to allow the audience to enjoy the sunset. Seminars, discussions, and readings of literary works were added. Venues include

Teatro Lauro Rossi Teatro Lauro Rossi is a theatre and opera house in Macerata inaugurated in 1774 with a setting of the libretto ''L'Olimpiade'' by Pasquale Anfossi. It was renamed in honour of local composer Lauro Rossi in 1884, the year before the composer's deat ...

References

*Ercoli, E. H., ''Sferisterio'', Macerata, Associazione Arena Sferisterio, 2007 *Zeitz, Karyl Lynn, ''Italian Opera Houses and Festivals'', Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2005. {{ISBN, 0-8108-5359-0

External links

Macerata Opera Festival website, with photographs, in English
Opera festivals

Opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Classical music festivals in Italy Tourist attractions in le Marche

Overview

See also

References

External links