Maestro Riccardo Frizza, internationally renowned conductor and musical director of Donizetti Opera since 2017, appointed as artistic director of the event on December 4th by the Board of Directors of the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, announces his vision for the festival for the 2025-2027 triennium. Under the banner of ‘evolution’, Maestro Frizza intends to continue the path undertaken in recent years with an innovative vision that combines continuity and future. While the event previously inaugurated its renewed format by revamping the artistic programming and permeating the city with the figure of Donizetti as an illustrious Bergamo native, now the aim is an evolution that brings Gaetano Donizetti the composer back to the center, as the absolute protagonist, accompanied by a cultural project that aspires to consolidate the festival’s position among major international events. Six fundamental guidelines will direct the event over the next three years, starting with internationality and high artistic quality, for a festival without borders. Indeed, Donizetti Opera intends to strengthen and expand its international dimension, focusing even more on artistic quality and musicological research, to position itself among the great events on the world cultural scene. High-level productions and active dialogue with audiences beyond borders will make the festival a reference point for enthusiasts and experts in the field, as well as for newcomers and curious individuals who want to approach the corpus of the famous Bergamo composer, attracted by events collateral to the artistic programming. The second strategic objective is building bridges between cultures, thanks to twinnings and co-productions. The festival aims to be a meeting place for different cultures and traditions: in this perspective, co-productions become true twinnings involving the Theatre and the city. They unite communities, interweave stories, stimulate new readings and visions, and create an artistic and cultural contamination that breaks down barriers and differences, for a deeply inclusive event. The third focal point is making Bergamo the cradle of Voice, thanks to renewed projects and new proposals embracing various arts and disciplines. Starting from the Donizettian bel canto tradition, the voice is celebrated in all its forms, as a contemporary symbol of excellence and creativity. The fourth objective is the construction of a Donizetti Network: the festival will consolidate the concept, which has made its way in recent years, of ‘Bergamo City of Donizetti’, aiming at further enhancement of the Foundation’s Study Center and the construction of a network that makes Bergamo the epicenter of Donizetti’s heritage to stimulate dialogue on a global level. Then, on the education and training front, initiatives will see Donizetti Opera for Life Skills: the festival renews its commitment to new generations, integrating Life Skills into educational paths, as recognized by the World Health Organization as positive behaviors in emotional, cognitive, and relational areas, allowing individuals to effectively face daily challenges, both in personal and relational and social terms.
The educational programs, designed for children and young people, in collaboration with schools and institutions of all levels, connect dreams, expectations, challenges, and visions of new generations with the universal language of music, in order to guide them to listen to themselves and their own voice as an expression of their vocation. The final point, completing the strategy, is the reflection that sees ‘the territory in the Theater and the Theater for the territory’. The Donizetti Theater, with its prestigious festival, is increasingly becoming the beating heart of creative Bergamo and is becoming the “House of the City”. A lively and accessible place, even beyond performances, not only for tourists but for the entire community. This is linked to an increasingly close and two-way dialogue with the city’s fervent third sector and the productive fabric of the territory, invited to reflect on the concept of harmonic leadership. “There is much of our Administration’s vision in the project of the new artistic director Riccardo Frizza for the Donizetti Opera 2025-2027: openness, inclusivity, and attractiveness. A project aimed at strengthening internationalization and relaunching the great composer Gaetano Donizetti, projecting Bergamo into the world on the notes of his music. Culture, we have always said, is a driver of growth, a dynamic resource for building opportunities. Director Frizza’s project goes in this direction, weaving networks of collaboration and planning with other cities, countries, and their cultures, enhancing musicological commitment and bel canto, investing in the education of new generations, and working to bring opera closer to people, not just to passionate audiences. Opera, in fact, is a profoundly universal art that speaks to everyone, beyond technical skills or specific knowledge, always capable of telling the passions, feelings, and stories that belong to every human being. Even those who are not “insiders” can enter the world of opera, because it does not require expertise to be moved by a powerful voice, a poignant melody, or a staging that amazes and sometimes questions. It is an immediate language that crosses time and borders and continues to speak to all those who want to be involved. We therefore expect a lot from this new phase and we are certain that it will be a further step towards the affirmation of Bergamo as a city of culture and ‘evolution’,” declares Elena Carnevali, Mayor of the City of Bergamo.
“In the programming proposed by Riccardo Frizza, I particularly appreciate the term evolution: starting from solid foundations to move to a subsequent phase of maturation, growing by relying on a strong and structured identity. It is in line with what we hoped for this new phase of the Donizetti Theater Foundation. The Donizetti Opera will have an increasingly international vocation, bringing new and unprecedented collaborations between our city and other national and European communities, and generating new lifeblood in the city’s artistic production. The theme of alliances is equally stimulating, especially with other important institutions of the city, so rich in different fields and disciplines. An alliance that can be expressed in the development of the theme of the ‘Voice’, the common thread of Donizetti’s production, and above all in the enhancement of Life Skills, a new and original way of bringing music into everyday life, with that usual attention to young generations that the Foundation has long expressed,” states Sergio Gandi, Councilor for Culture of the City of Bergamo. “The vision of Maestro Riccardo Frizza, already esteemed musical director and now also artistic director of the Donizetti Opera in whom we place full trust, has been favorably received and shared by the Foundation’s Board of Directors, which has grasped its innovation in continuity. This project not only celebrates the centrality of Donizetti’s figure but confirms the prospect of a festival directed towards an increasingly international future. We are certain that, under his guidance, the Donizetti Opera will achieve extraordinary goals, consolidating Bergamo as the capital of voice and bel canto, and a musical reference point in the world,” continues
Giorgio Berta, President of the Donizetti Theater Foundation. «Con la parola “evoluzione” vogliamo consolidare il ruolo di un festival che non si pone solo quale evento artistico di alto livello, ma anche come motore di crescita culturale, sociale ed economica per Bergamo. La nostra città, sede dei più alti studi donizettiani, merita un maggior riconoscimento internazionale per la sua capacità di approfondire, stimolare, innovare e innovarsi partendo dalla tradizione. Questo triennio vedrà, quindi, l’attenzione rivolta alla costituzione di reti e gemellaggi, in cui il dialogo con nuove realtà internazionali porterà la città e il suo Teatro quale esempio di eccellenza e innovazione», aggiunge
Massimo Boffelli, General Director of the Foundation. «Dopo la rivoluzione, di cui sono stato parte attiva negli anni scorsi, che ha radicato il festival nel tessuto della città di Bergamo, ora vogliamo guardare avanti, rafforzando le fondamenta costruite e immaginando un futuro di crescita dal respiro internazionale. Immagino un festival che evolve senza perdere la sua identità, che sperimenta e si consolida partendo dalla tradizione e forte delle sue radici, come la figura di Gianandrea Gavazzeni, padre della cosiddetta “Donizetti Renaissance”, con uno sguardo sempre più aperto al mondo», conclude il M° Riccardo Frizza. Con questa visione ambiziosa il direttore artistico Riccardo Frizza, coadiuvato da Marco Vinco nel ruolo di coordinatore della programmazione e dal rinnovato team del Donizetti Opera, si prepara a scrivere un nuovo capitolo nella storia culturale di Bergamo e del suo Teatro, per una manifestazione che, oltre all’autunno, animi tutto l’anno e che sia appuntamento imperdibile per il pubblico di tutto il mondo.
