An alphabet made of voices, music, and bodies, capable of communicating human emotions.
“CambiaMenti. Timeless Languages,” a proposal that combines the most innovative artistic expressions with the deep roots of our cultural tradition. In a constantly evolving world, art has the power to speak to every era, overcoming temporal and generational barriers, often anticipating future choices and languages. This is the goal set by the
XXII Edition of the Autumn Festival with the program presented this morning by artistic director Antonietta Santacroce in the Sala Verde of the Regional Citadel of Catanzaro, in the presence of Nicola Fiorita, mayor of Catanzaro, and Cosimo Caridi, head of Major Events of the Calabria Region - Tourism Department.
Statements by Antonietta Santacroce
«With the title “CambiaMenti. Timeless Languages,” – declared the artistic director – I wanted to emphasize from the title itself how theater and performing arts are adapting to the changing times. The world changes and the Autumn Festival responds with new ways of communicating, telling stories, involving. Within the program you will find alternative ways of storytelling, including new visual, sound, and non-verbal languages. The program was designed to offer a rich and diverse experience, in which the contemporary meets classicism. Ours will be an autumn of colors, of change, of theater, music, dance: twenty-four shows that intercept new trends in theater, music, and dance as well as pay tribute to tradition».
«Each event – she concluded – expresses emotions, tells stories, and interprets the world in an original way, to offer the audience a multifaceted panorama in which the artistic ferment of contemporaneity and the expressiveness of traditional codes converge. This year we are presenting 10 absolute national premieres, important original productions and co-productions, designed for this time and for our audience, the result of a living research, of an expressive urgency nourished by both contemporary languages and traditional forms. The Autumn Festival will be the place where the classic will dialogue with the present (Alice, Mauro Repetto 883, Romeo and Juliet, Heroes. Tribute to David Bowie with Paolo Fresu) and where experimentation will be storytelling, emotion, memory, and vision (Cleopatra, Medea, To my skin, Smile), but also where major events will find space (The Three Musketeers, Panariello) and the education of the younger audience will become a reality through shows dedicated to them (Peter and the Wolf, Sand Tales, Cosmos).
If dance will be at the center of attention in this edition of the Festival, combining the CambiaMenti and the evolutions that have taken place over the years, music and theater will not fail to enchant the audience with their variety and depth. A desire to propose in every field of art the aspects of the contemporary and tradition, which will distinguish this edition of the Autumn Festival. The diversity among the various visions represents the Timeless Languages, which make the world of entertainment even more fascinating. A kaleidoscope full of sensations and emotions that will take place from August to November with ten national premieres, original productions and co-productions of enormous prestige.
Anticipated by the usual Summer Edition, the Festival will begin its “journey” in the Arena of the Municipal Theater, with Caruso and Other Stories - Tribute to Lucio Dalla (Wednesday, August 6), a touching tribute by Pierdavide Carone accompanied by the Sicilian Lyric Choir and his resident orchestra: a concert that will offer a delicate and profound immersion in the artistic universe of the Bolognese singer-songwriter. The Grangia of S. Anna di Montauro will host the ballet Over The Rainbow (Thursday, August 7), by the Artedanza Company, with choreography by Giovanni Calabrò.
This will be followed by a double appointment with a thousand shades. Carmen Jazz Fantasy, an original production of the festival that represents a jazz tribute to Georges Bizet's masterpiece on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his death: it will take place in Squillace, at the Norman Castle (Tuesday, August 19), and in Borgia, at the Cloister of Palazzo Mazza (Wednesday, August 20). The Summer Edition will conclude in the Arena of the Municipal Theater of Soverato with a concert of great depth: Còtra - The Battente Guitar of the Francesco Loccisano Trio (Thursday, August 21), also a National Premiere and original production of the Festival: a tribute to Calabrian folk music, reinterpreted in the light of pop, jazz, and fusion musical influences.
Dance and the vibrant languages of the body
The dance section offers four profoundly different shows. The national premiere of To My Skin (Friday, October 10), by Cornelia Dance Company, with choreography by Antonio Ruz and Mauro de Candia, two great international names, will unite art with ecological reflection, inviting a deep examination of conscience and urgent action. Smile (October 23), by the Ocram Dance company, will feature choreography by Marco Laudani and Claudio Scalia and will also be preceded this year by an open contemporary dance class held by the two choreographers.
Evolution Dance Theater, after the success a few years ago with the exciting show Blu Infinito, returns to the Festival with Cosmos (Saturday, October 18), an exciting journey into unknown worlds, thanks to the fantastic choreography of Anthony Heinl (formerly of Momix), emphasized by futuristic lighting and breathtaking special effects that will drag the spectator into an unforgettable experience.
Finally, a great classic title: Romeo and Juliet (Saturday, November 1), to the immortal notes of Prokofiev, will be among the most anticipated moments of the program. Protagonist of the love story par excellence, the Balletto del Sud with choreography by Fredy Franzutti: a production that has successfully repeated the show in the most important Italian theaters.
Music and memories of the heart
On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of her birth, the figure of Jane Austen, the famous English writer, will be revived, in the Concert Hall of Palazzo ‘De’ Nobili’ in Catanzaro, in Dancing with Jane (Austen), a unique concert that will guide us on a musical journey, interpreting the music mentioned in her books, from late seventeenth-century English dances to nineteenth-century waltzes, evolving from court dances to bourgeois ones.
Great music will be the protagonist of three concerts that promise to be memorable. The new musical and comic show In Search of Spider-Man (Friday, October 17) by Mauro Repetto, former member of 883; Heroes. Tribute to David Bowie (Friday, October 24), with Paolo Fresu on trumpet and flugelhorn, Petra Magoni on vocals and a stellar band, who will pay homage to the ‘White Duke’; Alice in her latest show Master Songs (Sunday, October 25), will present some of the most significant songs of her discography and will not fail to perform the classics of our singer-songwriter tradition, remembering Battiato, De Andrè, Guccini, De Gregori, Dalla, and Fossati.
Theater: the mirror of our soul
The figure of Cleopatra (Saturday, October 11), at the Politeama Theater in Catanzaro, will be celebrated in the eponymous unpublished opera in two acts with original music by Alessandro Meacci and texts by Marco Maria Tosolini. An Absolute Premiere that focuses on female emancipation, rejecting modern ideologies that depict her as a “black widow” or a harsh politician of the Latin era. The work serves as a manifesto against collective addiction to gender stereotypes, instead celebrating the individual. The aim is to present a strong, independent, and far-sighted queen, detached from reductive narratives.
The Politeama Theater will also host the last two evening events of the Autumn Festival. For musical lovers, a great unmissable production: The Three Musketeers. Pop Opera (Thursday, October 30). Giò Di Tonno, Vittorio Matteucci, and Graziano Galatone will be the protagonists of Alexandre Dumas's story that never ceases to fascinate, thanks to the adventures of the three rowdy swordsmen. The contagious cheerfulness of Giorgio Panariello will conclude with his latest show E Se Domani... (Monday, November 3) the XXII edition of the Autumn Festival at the Politeama Theater in Catanzaro.
“Sunday at the Museum”: a new way to experience the show
The activity of the Autumn Festival also includes an interesting novelty: “Sunday at the Museum.” There will be three dates for those who want to experience something new and different with the magic of the show. Sunday, October 12, National Premiere of Medea with Agata Tomšič, based on the text by Heiner Müller, the most important German-language author of the 20th century.
Sunday, October 19, Santuzza and the Others, a National Premiere and original production of the Festival that pays homage to Italian melodrama through the most beautiful arias by Mascagni, Donizetti, and
Puccini, performed by the splendid voice of soprano Giorgia Teodoro, accompanied by pianist Giovanni Mazzuca.
Sunday, October 26, laughter and reflections, at the MARCA Museum in Catanzaro, with the monologue Picchiamoci by the writer, author, and storyteller Arianna Porcelli Safonov. Her openly aggressive stories will shake up and overturn commonplaces about gender violence.
The Autumn Festival for schools: theater for the new generations
The Autumn Festival has always focused on the world of young people with the aim of bringing them closer to the world of art and contributing to their cultural education. In this edition, two shows are dedicated to them and will therefore be held in the morning, involving schools.
Sand art will be the protagonist of the National Premiere “Fables in Music: Sand Stories” (Friday, October 24) with Pierpaolo Bonaccurso, Greta Belometti, and Fabio Tropea: old and new fables told by actors with live music and sand scenography.
Balletto del Sud will instead present Peter and the Wolf (Friday, October 31), which will debut in national premiere with new choreography by Fredy Franzutti. Maintaining the strong educational purpose of the original score, the show explores the characters in a psychoanalytic key, identifying them with specific archetypal human characteristics. A production that not only offers the beauty of music and dance, but also invites a deep reflection on psychological dynamics and the importance of music as an expressive and narrative vehicle.
The speeches
Nicola Fiorita: «The presence of so many people who love the city is not accidental, but is the sign of the success of this event. I place great trust in Tonia Santacroce, who has proven capable of fulfilling the role entrusted to her. The results she is achieving with the Politeama Theater, as Superintendent, show that we made the right choice in appointing her as Superintendent of our Theater.
The Autumn Festival is the flagship event of our city, an appointment that offers an extraordinary program in terms of quality and quantity, involving the entire community of Catanzaro. The Municipality supports this festival with a small contribution, recognizing its important value for our city. Catanzaro will always be grateful to you».
Cosimo Caridi: «I am particularly pleased to read the quality of the proposals of this festival. I know the Autumn Festival for having been, over the years, a spectator of many events that I greatly enjoyed. Hearing Tonia Santacroce speak, the great passion and great competence she pours into her work is evident. A rare example in Calabria, who manages to bring together the productive factors with which important results are achieved».
Also attending the press conference were Deputy Mayor Raffaele Amoruso of the Municipality of Soverato, engineer Salvatore Scerbo of the company Main Solution, representing the supporters of the Festival, manager Andrea Perrotta, of the company e-Bag of Soverato, Oldani
Mesoraca, delegate of the mayor of Squillace, notary Paola Gualtieri and Rosanna Muscolo, both representing the city associations.