the
bestinRome
From November 30th at Teatro dell’Opera
Muti conducts Rossini’s ‘Moise et Pharaon’
M
aestro Riccardo Muti returns to
Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera with
this four act opera and ballet which premiered in Paris in 1827. Giaccomo
Rossini originally wrote the work with a
three act Italian libretto entitled ‘Moses
in Egypt’, loosely based on the biblical
story of the Israelites. This latest production is directed by Pier’Alli with choreography by acclaimed Chinese dancer
and designer Shen Wei and a prestigious
cast featuring Ildar Abdrazakov as
Moses, Nicola Alaimo as Pharaoh and
Riccardo Muti
Eric Cutler as Aménophis, the heir to the
Egyptian throne. Performances are on December 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th
and 12th but there will also be a special charity evening at 7pm on
November 30th with proceeds going to support development and poverty
eradication projects of the Rome based lay Catholic community of Saint
Egidio. For details on that performance contact Agenda Sant’Egidio on 066780550 or call the opera house on 06-48160282 or www.operaroma.it
MUSIC
From 30th at Auditorium
Conciliazione
Paolo Conte’s
bittersweet memories
P
opular Italian singer, songwriter, poet and pianist, Paolo
Conte, sets off from Italy this
month on a European wide tour
that is scheduled to take in Paris,
London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam
and Lisbon. After five concerts
in Milan, Conte will be performing at the Auditorium in Via
della Conciliazione from
November 30th to December
the best
CLASSICAL MUSIC
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Nov 25th and 27th at Teatro Olimpico
Berkeley and McEwan’s ‘For You’
T
he prodigious talents of composer Michael Berkeley and author
Ian McEwan come together in this two act opera which made its
2008 debut in London’s Royal Opera House. Featuring a famous conductor and serial womaniser with a sick wife and a Polish maid, it was
described by the Times critic as “ironic, blisteringly funny, fast-paced,
pithy and with a surprise comeuppance for the ghastly main character
that makes the end very dark indeed. Typical McEwan, in other
words.” The author and the composer first worked together in 1983
with a pacifist oratorio entitled ‘Or Shall We Die?’ denouncing the
stockpiling of deadly
nuclear weapons. For the
Italian premier of this latest
work at the Teatro
Olimpico, Vittorio Parisi
conducts the Ensemble
Roma Sinfonietta with
soloists Piia Komsi, Virginia
Kerr, Harriet Williams,
Hector Guedes, Daniel
Broad and Philip Sheffield.
Tickets from euro 17 to euro
27 or euro 10 for students,
www.concertiiuc.it or 06Ian McEwan
3610051.
93
Paolo Conte
4th, presenting songs from his
latest album ‘Nelson’ dedicated
to a favourite “pet with an ear
for music” which appears on the
cover. Following on from the
2008 ‘Psiche’ and the 2004
‘Elegia’, this latest collection
showcases the best of Conte’s
elegant and erudite style, at
times humorous, nostalgic and
bittersweet, evocative of bygone
days. His solo career took off in
1974 with a self-titled LP featuring his famous gravely voice
and colourful compositions blending jazz and South American
rhythms
with
typically
Mediterranean motifs. For
tickets and details see www.concerto.net or 06-684391.
TROVAROMA
JAZZ
SHOW
Ben 10 Live
Enrico Rava
I
nternationally acclaimed Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava
has long been the driving force behind a new generation
of jazz musicians and recently
set up an ensemble known as
the Parco della Musica Jazz
Lab. After their first two successful projects, a selection
from the Gershwin songbook
and a reworking of the Rava
Noir album, the ensemble
now presents a selection of
Rava’s original compositions,
ranging from free jazz to
swing, bop and tango influences. See Rava and the band at
Parco della Musica on Friday
26th as part of the Roma Jazz
Festival, tickets euro 15 with
concessions, details on 0680241281.
EXHIBITIONS
94
TEOTIHUACÁN, CITY OF
THE GODS
This itinerant exhibition presents for the first time in Europe the mysteries of the legendar y Teotihuacán civilisation from pre-Columbian
Mexico. On display you can
see over four hundred and
fifty exhibits including ceramics, masks, ritual and ceremonial objects, jeweller y,
sculptures, wall paintings
and ar chitectural decorations, almost all of them on
loan from Mexican museums. At Palazzo delle
Esposizioni in Via Nazionale
194, open from 10am to
8pm, Fridays and Saturdays
till 10.30pm, closed on
Mondays. Tickets euro
12.50, bookings on 0639967500, until Febr uar y
27th 2011.
VAN GOGH
The show, which runs until
Februar y 6th 2011, features
seventy of Van Gogh’s masterpieces brought together
from museums and galleries
acr oss Eur ope and Nor th
America, plus some thir ty
works by other major ar tists
who provided inspiration for
his work, fr om Millet and
Pissar ro to Cézanne, Gauguin and Seurat. At the Vittoriano Complex in Via San
TROVAROMA
F
Enrico Rava
Pietro in Carcere, opening
hours from 9.30am to
7.30pm Mondays to Thursdays, to 11.30pm Fridays
and Saturdays and to
8.30pm on Sundays. Tickets
eur o 12 or eur o 8.50 for
concessions, fur ther details
and bookings on 066780664.
1861: THE RISORGIMENTO
PAINTERS
This exhibition in the former
stables of the Quirinale palace explores the events that
took place in the three years
leading up to the unification
of Italy in 1861. Many of the
ar tists on display here - Gerolamo Induno, Eleuterio Pagliano, Federico Faruf fini or
Michele Cammarano - were
the so-called ‘soldier painters’ who had fought in the
front line for independence of
their nation and were able to
depict some of the most tragic and moving experiences
of those years. Open 10am
to 8pm Sun to Thurs and until 10.30pm Fri and Sat,
tickets euro 10, see
www.scuderiequirinale.it or
06-39967500. Until Januar y
16th.
LEONARDO DA VINCITHE GENIUS AND HIS
INVENTIONS
‘Leonar do Da Vinci – the
genius and his inventions’
is the title of this exhibition
rom the creators of Winx
Power Show, Scooby Doo
Live on Stage, Winx on Ice and
the Hello Kitty Show comes this
latest production featuring a
ten year old American kid, Ben
Tennyson, who discovers an
alien device that changes him
into a series of monsters to help
him defeat the evil Vilgax and
Eon. Based on the Cartoon
Network TV series Ben 10, the
show will delight younger fans
with its special effects and the
breathtaking acrobatics of Ben,
Gwen, Uncle Max and Kevin as
they combat their wily enemies
determined to take possession
of the magical Omnitrix. At the
Gran Teatro on 27th and 28th,
details on 02-27225 or
www.mas.it
which brings to life 45 of
the Florentine ar tist’s creations, from the first flying
machines to the hydraulic
saw, the printing press and
the earliest attempts at a
robot. The show, which has
already enjoyed great success in Germany and
Austria, will be open daily
from 9.30am to 7.30pm
until April 30th 2011 at
Palazzo della Cancelleria,
7/5, 06-69887616 or
www.mostradileonardo.com
ROME: THE COLOURS
OF THE RISORGIMENTO
‘Rome: (almost) all the colours of the Risorgimento’ is
the title of this exhibition at
the Museo di Roma in Palazzo Braschi until Januar y
10th 2011. Around a hundred paintings, sculptures
and other works of ar t from
public and private collections recall two decades of
the city’s histor y, from the
declaration of the shor t-lived Roman Republic in
1849 to the defeat of Garibaldi at Mentana and the
storming of the city at Por ta
Pia in September 1870. In
Piazza San Pantaleo.
Tickets euro 8 with concessions, details on 060608 or
see www.museodiroma.it
con la collaborazione
di Philippa M. Hitchen