Monopoli resonates with the Ritratti Festival, XVII edition, a Festival that since 2005 has been bringinging music in the some of the most beautifil venues in Apulian Region.
Starting on sunday, August 1, is the second part of 2021 scheduled program, with a new section called «Cineritratti». The musical kermesse will lead into a journey back to 1924, the era of silent movies, through Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr.’s funny gags live soundtracked by Ensemble ’05. This special evening, starting at 9.30 pm in
Piazza Palmieri, at the very heart of Monopoli old town, inaugurates a new series of productions linked to the world of the big screen and will see Ritratti Festival residence musicians perform
the original music by American composer Stephen Prutsman, winner of a Grammy Award and partner artist in many collaborations with the Kronos Quartet and the St. Paul Chamber
Orchestra, but also with Tom Waits and the legendary voice of Yes, Jon Anderson.
The Ensemble ’05 will be lead by the first violin Cecilia Bercovich, a musician with a sophisticated artistic itinerary in which the collaborations with Pierre Boulez, Matthias Pintscher, Heinz Holliger
and Krystof Penderecki in the Lucerne, Salzburg and Bayreuth festivals stand out. The other violinist will be Rocio Gonzales, and the group will feature also Leonardo Papa, violist Maria Marinez,
cellist and Antonia Valente at the piano.
Ritratti continues on Monday 2 August (9 pm), in the charming atmosphere of the ancient cloister at Palazzo San Martino, with the program”Russian Tales”, a recital that bears the aphorism “The manuscripts do not burn” as a subtitle. from the novel “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov. A concert to affirm the immorality of the masterpieces, just like the cult book by the Russian writer, inspirer of the concert that the Ensemble ’05 Festival dedicates entirely to some of the most representative composers of the Tsars Country. Violinist Cecilia Bercovich, cellist Maria Martinez and pianist Antonia Valente will perform Michail
Ivanovič Glinka’s Trio pathétique, the Duets op. 39 for violin and cello by the lesser known Reinhold Moritzevič Glière, the version for violin, cello and piano of the waltz from «War and Peace », the ambitious project with which Sergej Prokofiev translated Tolstoy’s literary
masterpiece into a play of thirteen paintings, and the Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano by Dmitri Shostacovich, also in the version for violin, cello and piano. Closing in the name of Igor Stravinskij with the famous”Russian dance” from the ballet “Petruška”.
On Tuesday 3 August (9 pm), another concert will be hosted in the cloister of Palazzo San Martino: a recital by soprano Claudia Urru, winner of the 23rd edition of the “Valerio Gentile”
Vocal competition, held last December unfortunately only in an online mode, due to the pandemic emergency. A traditional appointment that of the Ritratti Festival with the talents of the important Apulian competition, which in the last edition consecrated one of the singers in great ascent after the success obtained in the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s “Magic Flute” staged at the Royal Opera House of Music, in Oman, in a staging signed by Davide Livermore with the musical direction of Diego Fasolis. In Monopoli it will be heard in an anthology of Opera Arias and Songs by Donizetti, Rossini, Lehár, Bernstein and Tosti accompanied on the piano by conductor Giuseppe La Malfa.
Grand finale on 5 August (9.30 pm), in Piazza Palmieri, with the new project “Mind Games”, a “fluxus tribute” to John Lennon by an artist who is a point of reference for Ritratti Festival originally premiered productions, singer Cristina Zavalloni, one of the greatest interpreters of classical music of the twentieth century but capable of ranging between jazz, electronics and experimentation. The artist will be at the center of a multidisciplinary show created by stage
director Piera Mungiguerra and full of scenic expeditions: on stage the Moto Perpetuo ensemble featuring Alberto Tacchini (piano), Massimi Felici (guitar), Cristiano Calcagnile (drums) Gabriele
Panico (live electronics) and Andrea Grossi (double bass).
Ritratti is a Festival supported by national Mic, the Puglia Region and the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Municipality of Monopoli
Tickets presale on www.ritrattifestival.it and box office on site on concert evenings.
Info: 3393770307