D COME DIECI

TWO DAYS, ONE IN SEPTEMBER AND ONE IN NOVEMBER, TO CELEBRATE THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DONIZETTI OPERA FESTIVAL

Sept. 28 in anticipation of the new edition and Nov. 29 in the Dies Natalis to retrace the most significant moments of the ten editions of the festival dedicated to the Bergamasque composer.
Performances, meetings, activities for children, guided tours.
Free tickets and reservations online and at the Donizetti Theater box office.

Donizetti Opera, a festival dedicated to the Bergamasque composer, reaches the milestone of its tenth edition in 2024: for this reason, the path towards the debuts will be opened by a moment of celebration next Saturday, September 28, which will then be completed with another day, which has always been a fundamental moment in the programming, namely Friday, November 29, Dies natalis di Gaetano Donizetti. D come Dieci is the set of initiatives planned for these two days, designed to celebrate the ten-year milestone by retracing together with the public and the city the milestones of Donizetti Opera, remembering and commenting on the most beloved and important productions that have allowed us to discover new aspects and new treasures of the art of the orobic composer. Guided tours, performances, conversations, presentations of new initiatives, activities for children, singing workshops, but also screenings of some archival videos from previous editions and the now unfailing Talk with Gaetano, this time reserved not only for artists but for all citizens who want to confess to Donizetti’s bust their love for music. On Saturday, Sept. 28, we start at 10 a.m. (until 12:40 p.m., ticket 5 euros) with guided tours of the Donizetti Theater, which has also undergone, as is well known, a thorough restoration. At 2:30 p.m. (Music Hall) for the cycle DeCineForum a video of one of the festival’s great rediscoveries, the opera L’ange de Nisida , which even the composer had never seen staged and which was staged in the very theater-building site awaiting rebirth, will be presented and screened. Waiting for DO24, in the Donizetti Studio (4 p.m.). Qui Don Pasquale workshop for children ages 8 to 13 to prepare for the famous title on the program. From 5 p.m. onward in the Quadriportico Parla con Gaetano City Edition., that is, the chance to engage in an imaginary dialogue with the composer, in front of the Donizetti Opera Tube cameras. At 6 p.m. (Riccardi Hall) “The Perfumed Sigh” a new activity in which festival dramaturg Alberto Mattioli will accompany the audience to discover and vote for the perfumes created by Donizetti Ambassador Allegrini with Atelier Fragranze Milano to match the three operas scheduled for 2024.

7 p.m. A Donizetti is Forever, conversation and aperitif between music and precious thanks to another of the festival’s historic Ambassadors, Curnis Gioielli, who will bring Roberto Coin’s creations to the theater. Then one of the most anticipated moments, in the Great Hall (8 p.m., ticket 10 euros), the staging of Giovanni Simone Mayr’s opera, rediscovered in 2023, The little music composer: written as an essay for the students of the Lezioni Caritatevoli, the farce brings before the audience the life of Donizetti as a teenage student and his classmates, interpreted by today’s aspiring artists, the students of the Bottega Donizetti 2023 and those of the Bergamo Polytechnic of the Arts; on the podium is Alberto Zanardi, while direction and live narration are by Francesco Micheli who, together with Giorgio Pesenti, prepared a version specially designed for the festival, aimed at highlighting today’s talents. Mayr, constructed the score inspired by the very students of the Charitable Lessons-where Donizetti also studied-while grappling with the preparation of the final recital. His example still remains very valid today for the ability with which he knew how to cultivate and indulge the talent of his young people, giving them a very solid training in which were contemplated, among the gifts of the good musician, also lightness, irony and humor, as transpires from these pages and as Donizetti would soon demonstrate in some of his masterpieces. Donizetti is played by Eduardo Martínez, ironically presented as a young aspiring composer who is very sure of his talent (memorable are the lines, “Vasta ho la mente, rapido l’ingegno | pronta la fantasia, e nel comporre | un fulmine son io”). Despite the comic tone, the promotional intent of Mayr, who truly believes in the abilities of his young pupil, appears clear. Donizetti is joined by four fellow students, themselves originally in the role of themselves: Antonio Dolci, Giuseppe Manghenoni, Giuseppe Pontiroli and Antonio Tavecchi; on stage at the Donizetti Theater, Maria Elena Pepi, Sabrina Gárdez, Michele Galbiati and Floriana Cicìo will take the roles, respectively. The evening closes at the Balzer Globe (10:30 p.m.) with a new djset by MixOpera featuring Nicola Buttafuoco and some of his new creations to music by Donizetti. The festivities will continue on Friday, November 29, enriching the usual Dies Natalis program. So it will once again be possible to visit the Donizetti Theater(10 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.), while instead in the Upper Town the traditional musical Elevation is scheduled (11:15 a.m.) in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and the tribute to the funerary monuments of Donizetti and Mayr; students also (10:30 a.m.) will be involved in a flash mob in Piazza Vecchia to remember both Donizetti and Giacomo Puccini whose death centenary falls on the same day. It’s back to the Donizetti Theater (2:30 p.m.) for DeCineForum with the presentation and screening of the opera La Favorite staged in 2021 and recognized by the National Association of Music Critics with the Abbiati Award for best performance of the year. At the Donizetti Studio (6 p.m.) there will be a new singing workshop for youngsters who will then perform in front of the theater, while in Sala Riccardi the following returns A Donizetti is forever, a conversation and aperitif between music and precious thanks to another of the festival’s historic Ambassadors, Curnis Gioielli, who will bring Roberto Coin’s creations to the theater.

Already highly anticipated (8 p.m., free admission) is the special, live edition of Citofonare Gaetano, Amarcord, the format created to comment on the operas in the covid period through the web: for this special edition Francesco Micheli, Ricardo Frizza and Alberto Mattioli will gather on the Donizetti stage some of the artists who have marked the ten years of the festival and will preview excerpts from the first opera that left its mark in recent Donizetti interpretation, namely Anna Bolena in the 2015 edition. Final evening at the Balzer Globe where there will be a scheduled repeat performance of LU OpeRave (9:30 p.m., ticket 25 euros). Tickets and reservations for free admission are available at gaetanodonizetti.org or at the box office (Tuesday-Saturday 4-8 p.m.).