The warm rain of mid-November and the mists typical of this season of the year remain outside and you forget them when the curtain rises at the Alighieri Theater in Ravenna and the wonderful colors of Pier Luigi Pizzi’s theater light up on the stage. Those yellows and purples that only he knows how to use courageously and impeccably, the orange cloaks, a coral red that lights up and warms the scene thanks also to Oscar Frosio’s skilful use of lights. Entitled “The Invisible Shows Love”, the Autumn Trilogy of the Ravenna Festival has once again renewed the successful dialogue between Pier Luigi Pizzi, the Byzantine Academy and Ottavio Dantone, masterful interpreters of the baroque repertoire. After the 2024 edition dedicated to Monteverdi and Purcell, the 2025 Trilogy was entirely dedicated to Georg Friedrich Händel, with two new productions by Orlando And Alcina and the execution of Messiahin this case with Dantone at the helmCherubini Orchestra and the very good Choir of the Siena Cathedral “Guido Chigi Saracini”.
“Ottavio is a very scrupulous musician in respect of the composer’s style, always capable of finding the reasons for the music, but he also has a profound sense of theatre. With him I always find a meeting point and the right solutions to make the dramaturgy more fluid”, says Pizzi. The understanding between the director and the conductor who has dedicated himself to the study of the baroque repertoire for forty years is there and it shows. The two shows work and enchant the audience who came to the Alighieri Theatre, even from abroad, with a large group of Norwegian enthusiasts. In the cast double commitment for the artists involved in the two titles, such as the highly acclaimed Martina Licari, Elmar Hauser and Christian Senn. The protagonist of Orlando is the talented Florentine countertenor Filippo Minecciaan appreciated specialist in this repertoire, while in the role of Alcina the stage presence of the Piacenza girl stands out Giuseppina Bridelli.
On the occasion of the Autumn Trilogy the Byzantine Academy presented the recording and concert project Baroque Anatomy. The project involves the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos together with pieces related to each other in terms of geography, genesis and personal history of the composers. The first stop on this journey is the CD Baroque Anatomy #5 – The eye presented by HDBSonus. The Fifth Brandenburg Concerto (famous for the long harpsichord solo) is accompanied by pieces by Georg Philipp Telemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. A live concert tour is planned from February 2nd with stops in Trieste (Teatro Verdi), Rome (Aula Magna Rettorato La Sapienza), Bologna (Teatro Auditorium Manzoni) and Vicenza (Teatro Comunale).
(photo by Zani Casadio and Luca Concas)
