Romaeuropa Festival 2019 – November Calendar

Can you hearT me? is the winning project of the second edition of Macerata Opera 4.0 under 35, of which Romaeuropa is a partner. Born from the encounter between the direction of Lorenzo Ponte and Clio Saccà, the music of Marco Sinopoli, the dramaturgy of Eleonora Paris, the videos of Fabio Brusadin and the choreographed movements of Filippo Porro, this work tells the story of Orfeo, a musician and son of a society consumerist who urges him to bulimically desire new objects and partners. So he conceives of an erotic relationship with Agave, a girl he meets on sexchat. This liquid vortex of desires turns him into a prisoner unable to understand the world outside of his existence.

The Directorate General for the Promotion of the Country System and the Directorate General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Live Entertainment of the Ministry of Cultural and Activities and Heritage and Romaeuropa Foundation, have launched the first edition of the ‘Premio Vivo d’Arte’, an annual competition for young artists under 35 years of age in the disciplines of contemporary theatre, music and dance, reserved for artists of Italian nationality who are permanently resident abroad. REf19 presents the winning creation.

One of the Few Moments II is a site-specific work created by Hungarian Gyula Vàrnai for the Sala Santa Rita in Rome. The artist, known for his large-scale installations built as immersive environments, uses the architectural lines of the suggestive Roman space and alters them through the use of light. An internally illuminated model of the Sala Santa Rita oscillates and projects borders, windows, pillars and arches of light on the actual structure of the former church. Two architectures overlap, one symbolic and the other concrete, transforming the space into a phantom ship in perpetual motion.

Ascanio Celestini returns on stage to tell his anecdotes: stories collected by a stationmaster from obscure travelers who pass through without a trace. On this occasion, a gravedigger waits for a ‘deluxe’ corpse: an immigrant who has made a fortune abroad and who is returning home to be buried. Set within a narrative structure always open to improvisation, Celestinni’s jokes transcend worlds and cultures, describe people and trades and remind us that we can laugh at everything- especially at ourselves.

Trilogy in Two is a contemporary work around the theme of beauty. Divided into two acts, it is inspired by three figures: Faust, symbol of invention and selfishness, Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing and embodiment of solidarity and the city of Venice, a synthesis of water and mosaics yet counterposed to the new racisms. Dominating the stage, under the direction of Liberovici, are Helga Davis (star of the last edition of Einstein on the beach by Robert Wilson and Philipp Glass) and the Schallfeld Ensemble- an international contemporary music ensemble based in Graz.

The PMCE, under the direction of Tonino Battista, pays homage to Ivan Fedele through 2 offerings: Thanatòseros, a lyrical piece for soprano, tenor and ensemble inspired by the “Combat of Tancredi and Chlorinda” from Torquato Tasso’s “Liberated Jerusalem”, as well as Samuel Beckett’s radio play Words and Music. In the first piece, Fedele reflects on the relationship between love and death by creating a dramatic space of enormous tension through his construction of dialogue, his treatment of voice and an energetic instrumental support. In the Beckett’s piece he investigates the relationship between word and music, with actors Nicholas Hunt and Anthony Souter in dialogue with the ensemble.

The Sala Santa Rita of Rome is transformed into part of a valley where the last few thousand fireflies remaining on the planet are trapped. These are intermittent creatures, a digital swarm built by pixels of light controlled by an algorithm, taking over the space of the former Roman church. With this work, the duo Quiet Ensemble (Bernardo Vercelli and Fabio di Salvo) continue their research into the concepts of animate and inanimate, light and dark.

Musician Riccardo Nova and Giacomo Costantini, with Quattrox4 Company and Milano Musica Festival, build a spectacle in which contemporary music and contemporary circus merge to pay homage to the theatre of Samuel Beckett. Their inspiration is in fact Act Without Words I, a piece devoid of speech in which a man lost in a desert and without means of escape tries in vain to find some water. What happens if the characters, instead of one, become seven? Musicians and circus actors animate this world like puppets and puppeteers, reinventing the universe of the Irish playwright, writer and screenwriter, to converse with an audience of young viewers.

Which other artform allows us to experience the absence of balance as absolute freedom, if not the circus, with its colors and its magic? Big Up Circus transport us into magical worlds and through the body of the artists and their acrobatics they construct a series of dreamlike and playful tableaux that make us confront- in fun ways- limits, rules and difficulties.

Zonzo Compagnie transforms the spaces of the Mattatoio into a maze of sound and noise in which the little spectators, accompanied by a guide, are invited to undertake their own personal musical adventure. 100 mechanical birds interact with the audience in the modular installation project These Birds are flying to the North by Serge Verstockt; a curious collection of electronic instruments developed at STEIM will allow the young audience to “touch” the sound and the technology. Spotter dance interactive by Chris Koolmees invites us into a multimedial world through dance.

De Stilte, a Dutch dance company engaged since 1994 in the creation of children’s shows, translates the fantastic and surreal world of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland into movements and music. The dance recounts the metamorphosis that Alice experiences during her journey, by offering the audience of young and old different and novel ways to interpret this cornerstone of European literature.

French company Les Grandes Personnes invades the spaces of Testaccio with its giant puppets that are up to 4 meters high. Built from humble materials like papier mache and inspired by the crafts of Mexico and Burkina Fasso, street art, collage and art history, these huge toys will become the protagonists of the inaugural parade of the new edition of REf Kids, in a journey inhabited by their stories and in continual dialogue with the public.

Born as a tribute to the masters of minimalism, Minimalist Dream House by Katia and Marielle Labèque develops as a bridge between classical contemporary and rock music, thanks also to the presence of composer and guitarist of The National Bryce Dessner, who, alongside David Chalmin and the famous sisters, has a central part in the live performance. The result is an original creation for two pianos, two guitars and electronica. The programme includes musics from Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Timo Andres, Thom Yorke (involved for the first time in a classical composition), and the Bryce Dessner’s and David Chalmin’s compositions.

The publishing house, founded and directed by Fausta Orecchio (Editorial director) and Simone Tonucci (Commercial director)-who also take care of the graphic design aspects- was born in December 2001. Together with Else Edizioni, it offers a hands-on workshop on screen printing (serigraphy).

Juri is an intergalactic explorer and a red-nosed clown, a somewhat clumsy and lonely hero who boards his rocket to discover new planets and new forms of life. He invites the young public to join the crew of his spaceship and to embark on an extraordinary journey that brings them face to face with gravity, the moon, the stars and with our human fears and dreams.

Through collaborations with Damon Albarn, Herbie Hancock and Tony Allen, as well as through her voice and ability to merge tradition and pop music, she has garnered international attention: Fatoumata Diawara, a singer and actress originally from Mali, presents her album Fenfo originating in her homeland, in Burkina Faso, in Barcelona and in Paris. Statuesque, superb, elegant-as hailed by the international press- Diawara reinvents with her guitar the fast rhythms and blues melodies of Wassoulou, positions her heritage in a new era and brings a decidedly African perspective to the concept of ‘songwriter’.