La Fenice Carnival 2020

La Fenice Carnival 2020

La Fenice Carnival 2020 in the company of the great contemporary dance with a ballet by John Neumeier dedicated to Eleonora Duse, Pergolesi’s funny masterpiece, La serva padrona, and a jewel of belcanto such as Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore; but also an original performance of prose and music set in late eighteenth-century Venice, entitled Fantasmagorie. Vita, morte e miracoli di Pulcinella (Life, death and miracles of Pulcinella): this is the rich and entertaining programme of shows that will be on stage for la Fenice Carnival 2020, in the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro di Campo San Fantin and at the Teatro Malibran during the Venice Carnival period, from Saturday 8 February to Shrove Tuesday 25 February 2020.

And the la Fenice Carnival 2020 program is even more enriched with the second edition of the Carnival Cocktail, the aperitif accompanied by DJ set that will take place in the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro La Fenice during the hottest days of the carnival in the lagoon: Thursday, February 20 and Sunday, February 23, after the performances of the Elixir d’amore at 7:00 pm and 5:00 pm respectively, the public will be able to toast, in costume, to the rhythm of the music of the console.

In the first days of Carnival 2020, the Teatro La Fenice will host a tribute to Eleonora Duse by John Neumeier. For his “choreographic fantasies” of 2015, simply entitled Duse, Neumeier was inspired by some episodes of the life of this legendary actress, who between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century influenced such diverse celebrities as Rainer Maria Rilke, Isadora Duncan, Arrigo Boito and Gabriele D’Annunzio. Enchanted by Duse’s artistic and professional charisma, her constant search for a new theatrical ideal and her many relationships of hate/love, Neumeier developed a subjective vision of her biography: renouncing a documentary approach, he invented situations and images to evoke the essence of that unique personality. Just as unique is the personality of her interpreter, Alessandra Ferri, who will play the role of Duse in dialogue with the dancers of the Hamburg Ballett John Neumeier, while the music of Benjamin Britten and Arvo Pärt will be performed live by the Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice conducted by Luciano Di Martino. After its debut in Hamburg in 2015, Duse has had many performances all over Germany: the one at Teatro La Fenice – on February 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, 2020 – will be the first Italian exclusive performance.

In a narrow circle, always within La Fenice Carnival 2020 program, two comic masterpieces of musical theatre, belonging to two very different moments in the history of melodrama, will follow one another. The servant mistress of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi made her debut in 1733 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples as a pair of interludes between the three acts of the superb Prisoner, a serious opera by Pergolesi himself. The light plot uses two long-running comic characters: the rich Uberto (bass) is a mature bachelor who lives alone with his cheeky maid Serpina (soprano) and his servant Vespone (silent role). After a series of intrigues and heated contrasts portrayed in five arias and two duets, Uberto finally agrees to marry Serpina. Based on similar earlier works by Albinoni and Hasse, Pergolesi and his librettist Gennarantonio Federico created a miniature masterpiece, an evergreen that still triumphs today in all opera houses around the world. The show – which will be directed by Francesco Bellotto and will see the baroque orchestra of the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello di Venezia led by the first violin concertatore Enrico Parizzi – is part of Opera Giovani, the project carried out by Fenice in collaboration with the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello di Venezia designed for the public of schools, families and new generations. Three performances are scheduled at the Teatro Malibran: on 13, 14 and 15 February 2020.

Gaetano Donizetti’s love elixir, a playful melodrama in two acts on a libretto by Felice Romani, made its debut at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan on May 12, 1832. His score, filled with enchanting melodies, is perhaps the most enjoyable ever composed by Donizetti in the comic genre. In the first act it is worth noting the vivacity of the self-promotional claptrap of the charlatan Doctor Dulcamara and his duet with the poor boy Nemorino, hopelessly in love with Adina, the capricious beauty of the village. The highlights of the second act are the choir “Cantiamo, facciam to toast”, the barcarola “Io sono ricco e tu sei bella”, the quartet “Dell’elisir mirabile”, the Adina-Dulcamara duet “Quanto amore”, and finally Nemorino’s suave ballad “Una furtiva lagrima”, a battle horse of the tenor repertoire. The show will be staged in the staging signed by director Bepi Morassi with scenes and costumes by Gianmaurizio Fercioni, while the Orchestra and Choir of the Teatro La Fenice will be led by Jader Bignamini. Nine performances are scheduled at Teatro La Fenice: on February 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 25, 2020.

Finally, for this wonderful La Fenice Carnival 2020, the Apollinee Halls of Teatro La Fenice will host the first performance of the musical theatre show Fantasmagorie. Vita, morte e miracoli di Pulcinella (Life, death and miracles of Pulcinella): freely inspired by the works of the Venetian painter Giandomenico Tiepolo, the play is set in Venice at the end of the eighteenth century and has as its protagonist the famous and old painter, who wanders around the city disguised as a comic rag head, to offer people his most incredible and innovative creation: The phantasmagoria, a show of images of his new paintings that, coming to life thanks to optical devices, opera music and Commedia dell’Arte actors, will bring to life the fabulous and bizarre life of Pulcinella, Neapolitan mask, told through his countless tragicomic deaths. The show is an idea of Michele Modesto Casarin, and is realized with his direction on dramaturgy and lyrics by Marco Gnaccolini, original music by Alberto Maron and scenes and costumes by Licia Lucchese. It will be performed by actors Susi Danesin, Claudio Colombo and Michele Modesto Casarin, sopranos Giuseppina Perna and Ilenia Tosatto and the Ensemble Harmonia Prattica. There will be numerous performances in the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro La Fenice: on February 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25, 2020.

Prices from 10 to 220 €. Carnival Cocktail tickets, including show and cocktails, are on sale from 160 € per person; while for those who already have a ticket for L’elisir d’amore it is possible to buy a separate ticket for Carnival Cocktail paying a supplement of 100 €. For information and reservations www.teatrolafenice.it, call center Hellovenezia +39 041 2424