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This year, the 37th edition of the Romaeuropa Festival is expected to feature a range of exciting performances. Over 400 artists, coming from all of the five continents, will take part in the biggest event of this fall. The program of the 74-day-long festival will host 80 shows: musical, theater, dance, contemporary circus performances, as well as digital art & crafts for children, with 155 installations located in 18 venues all around Rome!
With all the unfortunate events happening around the world, including the devastating invasion of Ukraine, the central theme behind all the performances is a notion of art as a tool, enabling free transmission of ideas for a peaceful cultural dialogue, thus, supporting humanitarian action. Invited performers are expected to serve as spokespeople for peace, using the power of their art to spread this beautiful message.
An impulse of hope connecting the past, present and future facilitated through the dialogue between all forms of modern art.
A dialogue with past
The concept behind this module is bringing a fresh interpretation to the pieces signifying the biggest cultural milestones of the twentieth century. For example, Berliner Ensemble arrives in Rome to present a new staging of Bertolt Brecht’s iconic “Threepenny Opera,” directed by one of the greatest living figures of opera and theater, Barrie Kosky. Prestigious Belgian ensemble, ICTUS, will perform Philip Glass’ masterpiece “Einstein on the Beach” in collaboration with the Collegium Vocale of Gent and Suzanne Vega as a narrator, in the interpretation by German composer and director Heiner Goebbels on the final evening of the festival.
When it comes to dance, spectators will be able to watch beloved Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels performing their new piece, choreographed by Noé Soulier, French contemporary dancer and choreographer, who got inspired by the history and architecture of the French Academy in Rome. Choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, together with ICTUS, also created a performance that gives a fresh look to the 1970s “Drumming” by Steve Reich. German choreographer Sasha Waltz will present a performance for Terry Riley’s “In C,” composed all the way back in 1964 and considered the first piece of minimalist music.
In addition, French choreographer Maud Le Pladec together with the musician Pete Harden, took on a challenge to recompose Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony No. 8” in different sequences of musical and choreographic variations. Along with the director Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe and musician (Jesse) Doon Kanda, who will perform a scene from the famous Madrigals: Guerrieri et Amorosi, by Claudio Monteverdi. The Italian choreographer Enzo Cosimi returns to the festival with the entire “Oresteia Trilogy of Vendetta,” while the director Martina Badiluzzi uses the “Myth about Penelope” to continue her research around female identities.
Last but not least, James Thierrée‘s unconventional and incredible universe – ROOM. A Swiss circus performer will showcase his musical theater, gathering on the stage an ensemble of thirteen musicians and dancers committed to transforming a room into a portal to an imaginary world.
A dialogue with present
Our present is defined by the conjunction of numerous national identities. A lot of them have been neglected by the biased, one-sided narratives handed down to us through restricted media channels. The artists of Romaeuropa Festival 2022 therefore try, with their performances, to reconstruct and widen cultural and human heritage, through expressing and representing those forgotten voices.
The choreographer Roduan Mriziga supervises dancer Dorotheé Munyaneza in a solo performance, combining forms of traditional ritual, dance, song and poetry to rewrite the memory of the populations of Northern Africa. South African dance icon Robyn Orlin together with another eight performers from her company “Moving Into Dance,” will perform a dance on Zulu rickshaws, light two-wheeled vehicles to showcase their creativity and cultural significance. Choreographer Bruno Beltrão from Brazil returns together with his dance crew “Grupo de Rua” to perform a choreographic essay in response against the repressive practices of the far right.
The Mexican dancing crew, “Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol” will present a performance that combines two different shows investigating the concept of democracy. One showcasing the cultural and historical background of Tiburón and another that represents a fictional and utopian Lázaro. Director Rabih Mroué in “Riding on a Cloud” brings to life a reconstruction of the Lebanese civil war and current social and political developments in Lebanon.
As for Italian history, Renato Sarti, supervised by the historian Mimmo Franzinelli, will depict the chain of events that, in the context of the serious political and social crisis, resulted in the March on Rome, the insurrection which brought Benito Mussolini to power in late October 1922, and the events that followed.
A dialogue with future
This section of the festival is curated by Maura Teofili, co-artistic director of the Anni Luce project, sponsored by REF. She believes in supporting creatives under 30 and gives them an opportunity to gain professional support, training and development perspectives through providing a platform for their theatrical research and artistic performances. Three names selected for this third edition of the festival: Greta Tommesani with CA.NI.CI.NI.CA, Elena Bastogi with Untitled (mâcher ses mots), Matrice Teatro with The dilemma of the hundred photovoltaic sunflowers.
In addition, the new edition of Situazione Drammatica, the new format of the contemporary dramaturgy, created by Tindaro Granata, is back, again as part of Anni Luce. “An absolute novelty for 2022” is the topic for this year’s special award by the REF, which selects the best dramaturgical proposals, representing attention to intercultural issues.
This section also includes the “Dancing Days” portion curated by Francesca Manica. Collection of the most surprising creations of the European choreographic scene. Among the performers of this season are dancer Franco-Malagasy, choreographer Soa Ratsifandrihamanana, French Leïla Ka, the German Philippe Kratz, Dutch Andrea Hannes, Belgian Cassiel Gaube, Italians Stefania Tansini and Pablo Girolami (in co-realization with Teatro Biblioteca Quarticciolo).
DNAppunti Coreografici is another project in support of choreographers under 35, promoted and supported by the homonymous network represented by Romaeuropa. The final award ceremony and in the national premiere of the winning performance of the last edition: Pas de deux by Jari Boldrini and Giulio Petrucci are also within the program of this year’s festival..
Lastly, REF will also host the Vivo d’Arte competition-award, promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. This project is dedicated to artists under 36 who permanently reside abroad. The competition is aimed at the selection of original works of contemporary creation developed in the disciplines of theater, dance and music that have at heart the theme of contamination and encounter with the culture of the country of residence.
A dialogue between generations
Following the intention to be equally accessible to the audiences of different age groups, the Romaeuropa Festival 2022 expands the diversity of performances with the addition of Compagnia Finzi Pasca. The dreamy atmospheres of Bianco su Bianco created by the fusion of dance, theater and acrobatics with all the performers becoming guides to the alternative universe made of lights and sounds, telling meaningful stories about difficulties of life and the value of friendship and love with a mix of laughter and irony..
The REF Kids & Family weekends are dedicated to children aged six and above. The Dutch Zonzo Company together with the musicians of the jazz trio De Beren Gieren will accompany the young audience on the journey to discover the great jazz player Thelonious Monk. Compagnia Quattrox4 will return with a new production of contemporary circus, while Factory Compagnia Transadriatica will re-read the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Concerts
This edition of the Romaeuropa Festival will be packed with concerts!
The award-winning composer and producer Ólafur Arnalds will present his monumental album “Some Kind of Peace” for the only Italian date of his European tour in the Cavea of the Auditorium Parco della Musica (in co-realization with Spring Attitude Festival).
Maestro Ryoji Ikeda, from Japan, investigates, with music for percussion n.2, the world of percussion and the purity of the sound they produce.
The Digitalive section, curated by Federica Patti, is dedicated to the investigation of experimental and electronic sounds, such as those of Franz Rosati’s Distantia, Libby Heaney’s live with Nabihah Iqbal in collaboration with RE: Humanis, the performance Beneath The Neural Waves by Sofia Crespo and Entangled Others Studio and the augmented reality sculpture by Auriea Harvey.
To the LineUp section! curated by Giulia Di Giovanni and Matteo Antonaci the task of exploring, with an eye to gender equality and inclusiveness, the new pop and urban sounds in Italian music. Among the protagonists are the Italian-Moroccan singer and performer LaHasna, the Iranian singer-songwriter NAVA and the producer and songwriter LNDFK, who grew up in Naples and the daughter of two different cultures (Italian mother and Arab father).
The Eclissi Talk section is completed by a special waiting for Coming Out Day created in collaboration with the Gay Center to stage the stories of the homonymous podcast created by Pietro Turano and produced by Cross Production: stories of revenge of lgbtq + people accompanied by a debate in the hall in the presence of the protagonists of the podcast and guests from the world of the Italian music and cultural scene.
Yup, finally, the meetings of Le Parole delle Canzoni, the format conceived by Treccani, which compares musicians and musicians with writers and writers to create conversations around the practice of writing in the context of the Italian songwriting and pop scene (between the protagonists of this edition the singer-songwriter Giovanni Truppi).
Click here to download the full program
Romaeuropa Festival 2022
Dates:
From September 8 till November 20
Locations:
AUDITORIUM PARCO DELLA MUSICA – MATTATOIO – TEATRO ARGENTINA – TEATRO BIBLIOTECA QUARTICCIOLO – TEATRO INDIA – TEATRO VASCELLO – MAXXI – VILLA MEDICI – TEATRO VITTORIA
Info:
