Great success with the public in the various activities developed so far by this edition of the Illica Festival of Castell'Arquato which, like every year, pays homage to the librettist and journalist Luigi Illica born in the splendid medieval village.
On Saturday 23 July, the monumental Town Hall Square of Castell'Arquato will be the setting for the Opera Le Maschere by Pietro Mascagni. A work rarely represented and built on a libretto by Luigi Illica that the Artistic Director of the Jacopo Brusa Festival, considers revolutionary: "it is a 'alternative work", says Brusa, who will direct The Masks, "in which the use of the metatheatre allows the listener to identify with the characters of the Commedia dell'Arte and to lightly investigate political aspects of contemporary life too".
The work will stage a bizarre pilgrimage into the world of the Commedia dell’Arte: instead of the usual realistic subjects, in strong colors, a disenchanted reinterpretation of the Venetian 'bautte'. The musical vocabulary of the opera takes up the ancient styles - madrigal, folk dances, dances and Bellini bel canto - and the Verdi's Falstaff, the reference model.
On stage, the Mayor of Castell'Arquato Giuseppe Bersani will introduce the evening, who will then leave the floor to the Vice President of the Piacenza and Vigevano Foundation Mario Magnelli, the Councilor for Culture and Tourism Gilda Bojardi and the Director of the newspaper Libertà Pietro Visconti.
It will then be the Master Jacopo Brusa to conduct and direct Le Maschere.
