Theatre, dance and music. From 20 June to 13 September, the festival will bring 14 national premieres and 7 co-productions to Verona. No less than 48 evenings of live performances. Born in 1948, out of the desire to pay homage to The Bard and underline his bond with the city of Verona, present in Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, the Estate Teatrale Veronese – Veronese Theatre Summer – is realised by the Municipality of Verona in collaboration with Arteven, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Veneto Region.
A love that knows no end is also the love that binds Verona to William Shakespeare. A story that has never been interrupted, from the post-war period until today, not even during the pandemic. The Verona Shakespeare Festival is celebrating its 75th edition, a unique anniversary in Italy. The stage, trodden by Italy’s greatest artists, is ready to raise the curtain on a festive season. A celebration of sacred monsters of the Italian and international theatre. Nino Manfredi, Franco Zeffirelli, Mariangela Melato, Gigi Proietti, Franca Nuti, director Peter Brook, and again Giorgio Albertazzi, Vittorio and Paola Gassman, Renzo Ricci, Giancarlo Giannini, Isabelle Huppert, Paola Borboni, Petra Conti, Anna Proclemer, Annamaria Guarnieri, Monica Guerritore, Gabriele Lavia, Franco Branciaroli. The list of stars who, since 1948, have written the history of the longest-running Italian festival dedicated to William Shakespeare is endless.
THE PROTAGONISTS 2023. The programme of the seventy-fifth edition, the fourth signed by the artistic director Carlo Mangolini, brings some of Italy’s most popular artists and others to the stage of the Teatro Romano. Lino Guanciale, Andrea Pennacchi, Francesco Montanari, Adriano Giannini, Laura Morante, Giuliana De Sio, Alessandro Preziosi, Eva Robins, Giuseppe Sartori and Laura Marinioni for the theatre section. Music will be provided by Tony Hadley, Incognito, Manuel Agnelli, Paolo Fresu with Omar Sosa, Tigram Hamasyan, Lindsey Stirling and Daniel Norgren, as well as Massimo Lopez and Tullio Solenghi. Finally, in the field of dance, we have Anbeta Toromani, Balletto di Roma, Chiara Frigo, Arte3 and, in the field of circus theatre, the iconic ‘Alice’ from the Elysium Circus Theatre in Kiev.
THEATRE. On 6 and 7 July, the prose season opens with the national premiere of Letti d’amore, two evenings with a jazz quartet and a quartet of exceptional actors: Giuliana De Sio, Adriano Giannini, Francesco Montanari and Laura Morante, directed by Fausto Costantini. On 13 and 14 July, Eva Robins will be Miss Quickly in Le allegre Comari di Windsor, an overwhelming comedy directed by Andrea Chiodi. On 21 and 22 July, Alessandro Preziosi returns to the stage with Nando Paone, Roberto Manzi, Federica Fresco and Valerio Ameli in Waiting for King Lear, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy that explores the complex relationship between different generations. On 28 and 29 July, Lino Guanciale stars in Napoleone. La morte di Dio by Davide Sacco, a great historical fresco inspired by the famous Condottiero. From 24th to 31st August, the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival will present eight international proposals, national premieres and in the original language, with prestigious artists such as the Georgian Levan Tsuladze and the American Lisa Wolpe, as well as companies from the United Kingdom, Romania, Macedonia and Sweden. On 1 and 2 September, Giuseppe Sartori will be joined by the young people of the Spazio Teatro Giovani in a Romeo and Juliet #generazionesacrificio, performed by young actors and directed by Silvia Masotti and Camilla Zorzi. On 6 and 7 September, Andrea Pennacchi will present Shakespeare & Me, to recount his relationship with The Bard, based on his autobiographical book of the same name. On 12 and 13 September, Euripides’ Medea will be staged by Laura Marinoni, already celebrated in 2019 as the protagonist of Davide Livermore’s memorable “Elena”. A title that consolidates the collaboration with the Greek Theatre of Syracuse – INDA Foundation.
DANCE. On the 25th and 26th of July, Chopin’s Preludes, a perfect celebration of romantic love, will be interpreted by Anbeta Toromani and Alessandro Macario, an artistic couple as in life, in Preludes for Juliet. From 1 to 6 August, the Elysium Circus Theatre of Kiev will bring its pyrotechnic Alice in Wonderland to Verona. On the 8th and 9th of August, Fabrizio Monteverde will choreograph a new version of Romeo and Juliet. Now considered a classic in the Balletto di Roma repertoire, it returns in a new edition interpreted by Paolo Barbonaglia and Carola Puddu.
MUSIC. Space then goes international with musicians and singers from all over the world for eight unmissable concerts of Verona Jazz and Rumors, dedicated to the Japanese musician Ryūichi Sakamoto. On 20th June Paolo Fresu with Omar Sosa in a project that tells the story of food through music, treating it from the point of view of taste, ethics and aesthetics; on 23rd June the duo Massimo Lopez and Tullio Solenghi, supported by the Jazz Company of Maestro Gabriele Comeglio; on 24th June the Armenian Tigran Hamasyan with “The call within”. On the 27th, Tony Hadley, former frontman of Spandau Ballet, with “Mad about you”, together with the faithful The Fabulous TH Band and the Bruno Maderna Orchestra conducted by Danilo Rossi. On 28 June, Incognito, one of the most important acid jazz projects and groups in the world. On 9 July, Lindsey Stirling, with his hypnotic violin evolutions; on 16 July, the Swedish Daniel Norgren, who created the soundtrack for the winning film at the last Cannes Film Festival, ‘The Eight Mountains’.
