Verona’s ancient Roman Arena was yesterday to host a star-studded classical concert to celebrate the addition of Italian opera singing to UNESCO’s list of intangible global heritage.
Some of the world’s finest singers were to perform arias, including Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, French baritone Ludovic Tezier and Italian soprano Eleonora Buratto.
More than 10,000 people were expected to attend the concert at the Arena di Verona, the largest open-air theater in the world.
Italian opera was added to the UN’s heritage list in December last year.
The citation acknowledged it as an art associated with specific facial expressions and body gestures involving a combination of music, drama, acting and staging.
“Italian opera is our common ancestor,” baritone Tezier said. “Opera is an Italian invention which has spread all over the world.”
Conductor Riccardo Muti was to direct 160 orchestra musicians and more than 300 choristers from prestigious Italian institutes, such as La Scala in Milan and La Fenice in Venice.
The program included arias from Madame Butterfly, La Boheme and Tosca, all by Giacomo Puccini and marking the centenary of his death.
However, there were also extracts from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata and Rigoletto.
“There is a real vocal pleasure in Italian singing, because the Italian language is itself extremely musical and sonorous,” Tezier said.
The Arena offered the ideal setting, as its atmosphere “is warm, conducive to opera. We experience truly magical moments,” he added.
“When you enter the arena, with this huge audience in front of you, you have a feeling of humility, you have the impression of being very small,” he said. “But at the same time you feel like a gladiator going into battle, because there is an exceptional energy that emanates from this place.”
The Arena in the northeastern Italian city was built in the first century AD to entertain Romans with gladiator fights, spectacular shows featuring wild beasts, and even naval battles.
The concert, which was to be broadcast live, kicks off the 101st edition of the Verona Arena Opera Festival, which runs to Sept. 7 and is expected to draw more than 500,000 music lovers.
The festival was created on Aug. 10, 1913, by the Veronese tenor Giovanni Zenatello.
Opera came into being around 1600 in Florence, with the founding of an academy promoting an innovative combination of sung text and music.
The first great composer of opera is considered to be Italy’s Claudio Monteverdi, who lived from 1567 to 1643.
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