On November 29 shows, guided tours, meetings, activities for children, in the name of the composer and the first ten editions of the DO
At the Donizetti Theater “Ring Gaetano, Amarcord” with Francesco Micheli and many guests

The Donizetti Opera, a festival dedicated to the Bergamasque composer, reaches its tenth edition in 2024: the culmination of the celebrations is scheduled for Friday, November 29 Dies natalis of Gaetano Donizetti. D as in Ten is the set of these initiatives, carried out with the support of Stucchi S.p.A., started in September and designed to retrace with the public and the city the fundamental stages of the Donizetti Opera, commenting on the most loved and important productions that have allowed the discovery of new aspects and treasures of the art of the Orobic composer. All initiatives D as in Ten (except guided tours and LU OpeRave) are free with reservations on the site gaetanodonizetti.org or at the ticket office (Tuesday-Saturday 4-8 PM). Friday, November 29 starts at 10 AM (until 12:40 PM, ticket 5 euros) with Donizetti Welcome, the guided tours of the Donizetti Theater which, as is known, has undergone a profound restoration. In the Gavazzeni foyer, you can see the exhibition of posters of shows set up over these ten years and illustrated by various authors, identified by Studio Temp of Bergamo which, in 2015, designed the image of the festival. From 10 AM to 8 PM, in the exhibition hall next to the ticket office, you can visit for free the

photographic exhibition Ten Words for Ten Years curated by Clelia Epis and Floriana Tessitore with images by Photo Studio U.V., realized with the support of Assolari Luigi C.: «2015-2024, ten editions of the Donizetti Opera festival: to tell them – reads the presentation of the exhibition – ten keywords and many images taken from the iconographic heritage of the Foundation that documents the vision of artistic director Francesco Micheli and the spirit that animated it, feeding the city’s memory. As the opening image L’ange de Nisida, a symbol opera of these ten years and what characterized them: first of all Gaetano Donizetti and his music, but also courage, vision, rediscoveries, study, research, continuous public involvement, overcoming traditional boundaries, recognition from national and international critics. The ten words/sections that guide the collection of images are: theater and city, boundaries, rediscoveries, masterpieces, women, Covid-19, awards, night, masters, youth. The morning activities continue in Città Alta where, in Piazza Vecchia at 10:30 am, the choral flash mob G like Giacomo and Gaetano is scheduled; November 29 is also the date of Giacomo Puccini’s death exactly 100 years ago. For this reason, schools throughout Italy have been encouraged by Opera Education / AsLiCo in collaboration with AGIS to participate in a choral flash mob that, in Bergamo, will unite Donizetti with Puccini. The program includes two choirs from Turandot (“Là sui monti dell’est”, “O sole, vita, eternità”) and two from Don Pasquale (“Bella siccome un’angelo”, “Che interminabile andirivieni”).
At 11:15 am, the solemn moment of the Dies natalis is, as always, the Musical Elevation in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore with the laying of wreaths on the tombs of Donizetti and Mayr. The musical celebration is entrusted to the students of the Politecnico delle Arti “Donizetti – Carrara”, particularly the Brass Group, and is enriched by a project carried out with secondary schools designed to introduce students to the human profile of Gaetano Donizetti as well as that of the great composer. After attending a creative writing and expressive reading workshop conducted by Maria Teresa Galati from the Festival’s educational team, the students of ITCTS Vittorio Emanuele (classes 2B and 2D, teachers Marta Bongiorno and Chiara Caccianiga), IS Romero di Albino – Liceo Scienze Umane (class 1I, teacher Chiara Macchia), Liceo classico Paolo Sarpi (class 1F, teacher Rosa Maria Salvi) will read their letters dedicated to Gaetano Donizetti. The musical elevation will also involve students from the following schools: Primary School “N. Tartaglia” of Marmentino (BS), CPIA 2 of Treviglio, Students of the Musical Project of IISS “Ettore Majorana” of Seriate, I.C. “A. Mazzi” and IPIA “Cesare Pesenti” of Bergamo. We return to the Teatro Donizetti at 2:30 pm 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 the best show of the year. At Donizetti Studio, at 6 pm, Let’s Sing Donizetti! a new workshop led by Silvia Lorenzi to sing together the choirs from the participatory operas for young people created in recent years (Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, Chiara e Serafina, Don Pasquale etc.), with a final performance at 7:30 pm in front of the Theater.

In Sala Riccardi, at 7 pm, returns A Donizetti is Forever, conversation and aperitif between music and precious items thanks to another of the festival’s historical Ambassadors, Curnis Gioielli, who will bring Roberto Coin’s creations to the theater. The highlight of the program, at Teatro Donizetti at 8 pm (always free entry with reservation), is the special live edition of Citofonare Gaetano, Amarcord, a special edition of the format created to comment on the operas during the covid period through the web, but also a sort of Donizetti Revolution.

. Francesco Micheli insieme a Ricardo Frizza e Alberto Mattioli , will gather on the Donizetti stage some of the artists who have marked the ten years of the festival, including Corrado Rovaris, Valentina Carrasco, Javier Camarena, Roberto de Candia, Raffaella Lupinacci, Omar Mancini, and Carmela Remigio, who will perform Donizetti pieces accompanied on the piano by Giulio Zappa. There will be some surprises, videos, and messages from other artists and festival collaborators, and, as a preview, a video excerpt of the first opera that made a mark in the recent Donizetti interpretation, namely Anna Bolena in the 2015 edition. The evening will conclude at the Balzer Globe with the final performance of LU OpeRave (9:30 PM, tickets from 11 to 20 euros), the new electronic musical creation inspired by Lucia di Lammermoor involving Stefano Libertini Protopapa (creative director), ilromantico, and H.E.R., authors of the original music with musical consultancy by Alberto Zanardi. The libretto is by Maniaci d’amore (Francesco d’amore and Luciana Maniaci); the direction and choreography are by Mattia Agatiello, who brings to the stage his multi-award-winning and renowned dance company Fattoria Vittadini based in Milan at the Fabbrica del Vapore; the sets and costumes are by Andrea Cammarosano and Leonardo Persico; light designer Alessandro Andreoli. The performers come from diverse musical backgrounds – soprano Laura Ulloa (student of the Bottega Donizetti in 2021), the well-known vocalist David Blank, and the singer M¥SS KETA as the narrator, representing a fusion designed to speak to audiences of all generations, confirming the innovative and revolutionary strength of Donizetti’s poetics. «For Bergamo, these have been ten years of changes,» comments the cultural assessor Sergio Gandi, «lived with the usual initiative spirit that distinguishes the city. The Donizetti Theatre has played a very important role beyond these walls – which we strongly wanted to rebuild and modernize – and today the city’s awareness of the legacy left to us by Gaetano Donizetti is no longer a matter for opera lovers or a few connoisseurs but is an integral part of our identity, thanks to the work of the festival and a long journey culminating in Bergamo-Brescia as the Italian capital of culture. For this musical phenomenon, which saw Francesco Micheli as the most exposed standard-bearer, credit must also be given to the administration that supported its initiatives and the many private sponsors and partners who have accompanied it. The relationship between what we now affectionately call Gaetano and the city cannot go back and must always be at the center of our cultural policies.» «To accompany a “revolution” like the one we have seen in these ten years,» emphasizes the president of the Donizetti Theatre Foundation Giorgio Berta, «a solid organizational structure was necessary, grown over the years, like that of the Donizetti Theatre Foundation, which I have chaired since 2016. The challenges posed by Francesco Micheli over these years, as well as that of the restructuring and the pandemic, have been significant. However, we have faced them, respecting times and costs both in the happiest moments of the show, such as the rediscovery of the Ange de Nisida, and when moments of uncertainty and health and social emergencies had to be faced. Years in which we did not give up, but invented or identified new tools and new methods of audience engagement, such as the WebTV in 2020 with 11,000 viewers.

The Donizetti Opera, in the vision of Francesco Micheli and the growing commitment of all the workers of the Foundation, has managed to make all the people of Bergamo, starting with the young, understand the value of Donizetti as a composer and the universal message of his theater. We are grateful to Francesco also because he leaves us an additional gift: the programming set for the next two years, with an international co-production together with the Teatro Real of Madrid, which will see Micheli directing “Caterina Cornaro” and David McVicar directing “Maria Stuarda”.