Festival Puccini (Festival Pucciniano)
Photos courtesy of Festival Pucciniano. Turandot photos by Aldo Umicini and Giorgio Andreuccetti.
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| Country and Region | Italy — Tuscany |
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| Type of Festival | Drama, Music |
| Location of Festival | Torre del Lago Puccini, Tuscany, Italy |
| Festival Address Information | Fondazione Festival Pucciniano |
| Festival Description | The Puccini Festival 2008 will be characterized by one of the most important cultural events of the latest years: the opening of the new Theatre, around which will take form a cultural park, where to celebrate Giacomo Puccini, his music, his history and his art, on the lake Massaciuccoli which inspired him in his life. The Puccini Festival’s avant premiere will be held in the Great Open-air Theatre of Torre del Lago in cooperation with the National Committee for 2004-2008 Puccini Celebrations—an extraordinary opera concert of La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Riccardo Chailly. 2006 marks the 52nd edition of the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago which will open with the new staging of Tosca—sets and costumes by Igor Mitoraj, director Mario Corradi, with Norma Fantini, Marcello Giordani and Lucio Gallo, conducted by Maestro Alberto Veronesi. Following this staging will be two very successful productions—Turandot (sets by Pietro Cascella, costumes by Cordelia von den Steinen, director Daniele De Plano) and then the charming—La Bohème directed by Maurizio Scaparro with sets by the unforgettable poet and friend Jean Michel Folon, who died a few months ago and to whom a special tribute will be dedicated. For the first time ever in Torre del Lago a Japanese staging of Madama Butterfly. A special international co-production between Fondazione Festival Pucciniano and Sakai City Opera with great Italian and Japanese artists, a staging of the Puccini’s masterpiece by which the Japanese director Masayoshi Kuriyama has presented styles and environments of the Farthest East country. Finally, in Autumn will follow within the Principality of Monaco (October 2006), Fanciulla del West with sets and costumes by Nall, under the direction of Ivan Stefanutti with Daniela Dessì, Fabio Armiliato and Lucio Gallo will be staged at the Grimaldi Forum. During the summer several collateral events connected to Puccini’s music and contemporary art, both distinctive features of Torre del Lago Festival, will be presented in the most charming sites of Tuscany. |
| Festival Dates | July 10 - August 23, 2009 |
| Festival Links |
Festival Story:
A deep love lasting over thirty years linked Giacomo Puccini to the charming hamlet of Torre del Lago, which then was then renamed Torre del Lago Puccini to the pride of all its inhabitants. When the great composer first arrived here, at the end of the 19th century, he was searching and he found a picturesque and quiet place where his creative genius could spring forth. Puccini immediately liked the Lake and the small village, whose houses were mirrored in the blue-grey waters of Massacciuccoli lake, less than two kilometres far from the sandy beaches of Versilia, and the inhabitants welcomed him enthusiastically. Upon his arrival at the village railway station the young composer even found a welcome group and several artists, with whom later on he would have founded the Club de La Bohème, who gathered around him, happy to meet an already well-known person.
In those years an extraordinary artistic fervour of ideas and the people involved moved throughout the whole region—Florence, Livorno, and also Lucca—(where Puccini was born) were in close contact with Paris and the other European capitals. Painters and musicians used to meet in private houses and cafés, but then they went back where nature still offered them strong sensations in order to return to the roots of their inspiration, to find the purest lights and sounds. “Sunny beaches, fresh pinewoods, the lake always quiet, that is to say, the Eden”.
Puccini had two great passions, music and hunting, and the Massaciuccoli Lake was the ideal place where he could cultivate both. He arrived here in 1891, at the age of 33, and decided to live there in some rented rooms. Following the successes of Manon Lescaut (1893) e della Bohème (1896) he earned enough money to buy the his life-long home. It featured an ancient watch tower (after which Torre del Lago had been named) which he completely rebuilt. Marquess Ginori, owner of these lands, gave him permission to fill a part of the lakeshore in front of the house with soil in order to build the garden and the road. Just outside the house the small pier stood from where he left for his shoots, in particular to hunt bald coots and snipes. The house, which can be visited, still treasures the pianos on which he composed his masterpieces, memorabilia of the greatest performances, the prizes of his international triumphs, the paintings by his friend Ferruccio Pagni, whom the composer used to gather with other artists such as Plinio Nomellini and Tommasi brothers.
Puccini lived in Torre del Lago for thirty years and here he composed his main operas, among which Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), La Fanciulla del West (1910), La Rondine (1917) and Il Trittico (1918). In 1921 he moved to the new villa he had built in Viareggio, where he actually lived only three years, until his death in 1924. According to his son’s will, the Maestro is buried in a chapel built inside the old house at the lake.
The lake, can be toured by boat that leaves from the pier in front of Villa Puccini. Today the lake belongs to the Regional Park of Migliarino, San Rossore and Massaciuccoli, which covers 24 thousand hectares of beaches, pinewoods, and marshlands. Puccini and his music gave birth to the Puccini Festival, which following Puccini’s wishes has taken place on these lakeshores since 1930 and which is completely dedicated to his work.
Festival Events:
Opera Program 2009:
- LA BOHÈME
- July 10, 15, 19; and August 1, 14, 21
Conductor Marcello Rota (10th, 15th, 19th July-1st August)
Giuseppe Acquaviva (August 14 and 21)
Direction Maurizio Scaparro
Sets and costumes Jean-Michel Folon
Puccini Festival Orchestra and Choir
- July 10, 15, 19; and August 1, 14, 21
- TOSCA (New production)
- July 11, 17, 26; August 9, 20
Conductor Fabrizio Maria Carminati (July 11, 17, 26; and August 9)
Salvatore Percacciolo (August 20)
Direction Beppe De Tomasi
Sets Antonio Mastromattei
Costumes Pierluciano Cavallotti
Puccini Festival Orchestra and Choir
- July 11, 17, 26; August 9, 20
- TURANDOT
- July 18, 25, 31; and August 7, 22
Conductor Valerio Galli (July 18, 25, 31)
Mauro Roveri (August 7 and 22)
Direction Maurizio Scaparro
Sets Ezio Frigerio
Costumes Franca Squarciapino
Puccini Festival Orchestra and Choir
- July 18, 25, 31; and August 7, 22
- MANON LESCAUT
- August 2, 8, 13
(Co-production with Opéra de Nice Theater)
Conductor Alberto Veronesi
Direction Paul-Emile Fourny
Sets Poppi Ranchetti
Costumes Giovanna Fiorentni
Puccini Festival Orchestra and Choir
- August 2, 8, 13
Ballet Program 2009:
- Swan lake
- August 12
Moscow Ballet “Theatre La Classique” Directed by Elik Melikov
Conductor Giuseppe Acquaviva
Puccini Festival Orchestra
- August 12
- Giselle
- August 19
Moscow Ballet “Theatre La Classique” Directed by Elik Melikov
Conductor Gianmario Cavallaro
Puccini Festival Orchestra
- August 19
Concert Program 2009:
- Gala Concert
- August 23
Angela Gheorghiu
Conductor Alberto Veronesi
Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra
- August 23
Practical Info:
Venue:
- New Great Open Air Theatre of Giacomo Puccini’s Music Park
Torre del Lago Puccini, Tuscany, Italy
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