Michela Gerosa

The summer edition of Bergamo Jazz at the Lazzaretto, organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Filippo Siebaneck's passing by the Teatro Donizetti Foundation and the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, in collaboration with the Municipality of Bergamo and with the support of BCC Milano, continues with another appointment of absolute importance. After the performance by Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren's Mare Nostrum trio, which was crowned with great public success, Thursday, July 10 (9:30 PM; tickets from 25 to 40 Euros) features the concert by Kurt Elling, the most acclaimed of today's jazz singers, who, together with the Yellowjackets, one of the most iconic bands in the jazz-fusion area, will retrace the legendary musical exploits of Weather Report on this special occasion. It will be a concert-event with the explicit title “Celebrate Weather Report”, featuring Kurt Elling's brilliant baritone timbre and his prodigious ability to improvise on any melody, and the formidable technical expertise of saxophonist Bob Mintzer, keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Dane Alderson and drummer William Kennedy. Together they will approach Weather Report's music – especially from the period when Jaco Pastorius was in the group – with due respect, but taking those liberties worthy of every true jazz musician, infusing new nuances into pieces now considered classics. Kurt Elling is today's embodiment of the most authentic male jazz singing. Winner of two Grammy Awards, for which he has been nominated 16 times, the Chicago vocalist possesses such a variety of colors that he fears no rivals in his field, leading him to be defined as a "Sinatra with superpowers." Perfectly at ease with fast tempos and particular stylistic techniques such as vocalese, Kurt Elling also knows how to be a refined interpreter, displaying elegance and a palpable poetic sense. The Yellowjackets are one of the most renowned brands of what is commonly called fusion-music. Formed in the late seventies by guitarist Robben Ford, who would soon go solo, the Yellowjackets still base their foundation on one of the founding members, keyboardist Russell Ferrante, who has been joined along the way by saxophonist Bob Mintzer, drummer William Kennedy and, more recently, Australian bassist Dane Alderson. With over 25 albums behind them, the "yellow jackets" are a perfectly oiled musical machine in all its gears, still capable of challenging themselves and charting new sonic trajectories. Founded in 1971 by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, keyboardist Joe Zawinul and Czech-born double bassist Miroslav Vitous, riding the wave of Miles Davis's revolutionary electric turn in the preceding years, Weather Report remains a cornerstone in jazz's expressive evolution at the crossroads with other musical genres, including the most sophisticated pop. The entry of phenomenal bassist Jaco Pastorius into the group's ranks would bring Weather Report to levels of popularity typical of a rock band.   For the last of the three concerts at the Lazzaretto, Bergamo Jazz will welcome back to the city on Friday, July 18, after over 50 years, Herbie Hancock, one of the brightest stars in the

BERGAMO JAZZ SUMMER 2025 @LAZZARETTO Concert on Friday, June 27, 2025, at 9:30 PM with Mare Nostrum Paolo Fresu/Richard Galliano/Jan Lundgren   Three extraordinary concerts of international scope that are added to the usual Bergamo Jazz programming in March, three special events organized as part of the summer initiative promoted at the Lazzaretto by the Department of Culture of the City of Bergamo: Fondazione Teatro Donizetti and Bergamo Jazz, together with the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, with the support of BCC Milano, will bring highly prestigious artists to the Lazzaretto who reflect the long tradition of two of the most important music festivals not only in the city. It begins on Friday, June 27 with an authentic supertrio that bears the “name of Mare Nostrum and which aligns the trumpet of Paolo Fresu, one of the most beloved Italian jazz musicians, even” abroad, the masterful accordion of the Frenchman Richard Galliano and the piano of the Swede Jan Lundgren, a refined specialist of the 88 keys. Mare Nostrum was born in 2005 from the “encounter between three strong personalities of European jazz: at the” beginning it was an experiment whose success pushed Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren to continue on the path of “original fusion between different influences, from folk music to classical, from French” songwriting to jazz. All with the Mediterranean Sea in the background, which has always been a crossroads of cultures, of ancient and modern stories, a symbol of dialogue between peoples, but also of terrible tragedies that one would like to put behind but which are unfortunately still relevant today. The Mare Nostrum designed by Paolo Fresu, Richard Galliano and Jan Lundgren is a sea of sounds, a utopia of beauty in which each of the three musicians is reflected, putting their respective wealth of experiences at the service of a common musical and poetic vision. Since 2007, the group has produced four albums, all for the “German label ACT Music, the” last of which includes a touching reinterpretation of “La vie en rose” and “Hope”, an anthem to hope that the trio dedicates to a world that needs today more than ever the values of dialogue and inclusion that Mare Nostrum has always advocated. Paolo Fresu has been an institution of Italian jazz for the last three decades. As a leader and sideman, he has participated in over 350 recordings, released by various labels, from Splasc(h) to Blue Note, from ECM to Act. Richard Galliano is a unique innovator of the accordion and a singular voice of his instrument. Encouraged by Astor Piazzolla, he created the New Musette, a personal version of traditional French music, which has become one of his trademarks. He has recorded more than 50 solo albums in jazz, classical music, and various musical styles from around the world. His impressive list of collaborations includes artists such as Chet Baker, Eddy Louiss, Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Serge Reggiani, Claude Nougaro, Barbara, Juliette Greco, Nigel Kennedy, Enrico Rava

On Saturday, July 5th (5 PM), in the “Gavazzeni” Foyer of the Teatro Donizetti, the “final event of The Center of Music is scheduled, a series organized by the Teatro Donizetti Foundation in collaboration with the” Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo. The “Ensemble Locatelli, a group specialized in baroque music, will close the series of six concerts, with a tribute to the music of Alessandro Scarlatti, marking the 300th anniversary of his death this” year. Love in the Moonlight, the title given to the concert, is an invitation to be enveloped by beauty, to reflect on the power of “love and on the” eternal dialogue between humanity and the divine. The performance will feature talented interpreters, accompanied by original instruments that will restore all the sonic purity of Italian baroque. The “intimacy of the voices and the warmth of the strings will frame a narrative where” musical art meets the magic of myth. At the center of the program will be the serenade "Diana and Endymion," one of the hidden gems of the baroque repertoire. This masterpiece, inspired by the classical myth of the love between the moon goddess and the young shepherd, unfolds through suspended emotions and haunting melodies that evoke the mystery and poetry of the night. Alessandro Scarlatti, an unsurpassed master of expressiveness and theatricality, guides us through the torment and ecstasy of a divine love, delivering a work imbued with grace and depth.

Jazz is the protagonist of the penultimate appointment with The Center of Music, a series organized by the Donizetti Theater Foundation in collaboration with the "Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo. On Saturday, June 28 (5 pm), the concert of the quartet led by saxophonist Gabriele Comeglio is scheduled in the ‘Gavazzeni’ Foyer of the Donizetti Theater, joined on this occasion by pianist Claudio Angeleri, bassist Marco Esposito, and drummer Federico Monti." Just over 100 years after his birth and 70 years after his passing, Gabriele Comeglio has created a tribute to Charlie Parker, titled Bird Lives, which musically narrates the wandering and chaotic life of Charlie Parker: the inventor of bebop, along with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. An atypical figure on the jazz scene, Bird managed to revolutionize it with the new language of bebop, which would make him immortal. Shortly after his premature death in 1955, the phrase "Bird lives" would appear on several walls in New York's Greenwich Village. The program proposed by Gabriele Comeglio's quartet for The Center of Music features famous compositions that made the Kansas City saxophonist famous, from Scrapple from the apple to Dizzy Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia, from Lover Man and My Little Suede Shoes to Now's the time. Saxophonist, arranger, and orchestra conductor, Gabriele Comeglio was the first alto sax of the RAI Orchestra in Milan for thirteen years, as well as the director of the Jazz Class Orchestra of Pomeriggi Musicali. With his big band, the Jazz Company, he has participated in numerous concert seasons and collaborated with artists of the caliber of Bob Mintzer, Jerry Bergonzi, Randy Brecker, and Franco Ambrosetti, among others. He has composed music for successful television programs, written scores for theater, musicals, and ballet, and has also conducted the Sanremo Festival orchestra and the Swiss Radio orchestra, collaborating on albums by Zucchero and Francesco De Gregori. He created the television theme for "Che tempo che fa" and wrote arrangements for Mina, Antonacci, Ron, and Battiato. Recently, the Dodicilune label has released the CD The Journey, a testament to a long artistic journey, made up of numerous and memorable encounters with great figures of Italian, European, and overseas jazz. The “final appointment with The Center of Music will take place on Saturday, July 5, and, thanks to the” Ensemble Locatelli, will offer a dive into the music of Alessandro Scarlatti.

Music with a smile on your lips: this is somewhat the premise of the fourth event of The Center of Music, a series organized by the Teatro Donizetti Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo. The concert-show, scheduled for Saturday, June 21st (5:00 PM) in the "Gavazzeni" Foyer of the Teatro Donizetti, is titled Così fan tutte (or maybe not?) and will feature the popular actor Enrico Beruschi together with the Gruppo Fiati Musica Aperta. It's a "semi-serious journey through the loves of melodrama" that starts with two questions: is fidelity in love achievable? Does an authentic and satisfying monogamy exist, or is it just a concept of affective relativity? Così fan tutte (1790), the female (or anti-feminist, depending on the point of view) piece of the Mozart-Da Ponte trilogy, lives on similar questions. With Medea (Luigi Cherubini, 1797), everything seems to have changed: betrayed love becomes revenge, to produce the most intolerable pain. L'elisir d'amore (Donizetti, 1832) presents itself as a "fairy tale", in which good ultimately triumphs after being put to the test, but it is precisely through the test that the true nature of people emerges and feelings mature. Enrico Beruschi was born in Milan on September 5, 1941. Before dedicating himself to the entertainment world, he worked for 15 years as an accountant and commercial deputy director at Galbusera. Although he did not complete his studies, his career took a decisive turn in the 70s when he decided to pursue a career in entertainment. Success came in 1977 with the television program for children Qua la zampa. From there, Enrico Beruschi became a regular presence in successful television programs such as Non stop, La sberla and Luna Park. In the 80s, he reached the peak of his career with Drive In, where, thanks to hilarious gags, he won over the audience, becoming one of the symbolic comedians of the show. In addition to television, Beruschi has dedicated himself to theater, music, and cinema, demonstrating a rare versatility. The Gruppo Fiati Musica Aperta was founded in 1976 by Pieralberto Cattaneo. Since then, it has established itself at the 1981 Stresa International Competition and participated in important concert seasons in Italy and abroad. It has recorded an album of unpublished sacred and chamber music by Donizetti and Mayr, also realizing numerous modern premieres of 19th-century Italian music. It also operates in the field of contemporary music, presenting world premieres of Italian composers, many of which are dedicated to the Group itself, which currently includes Giovanni Perico, flute, Angelo Giussani and Giuseppe Cattaneo on “oboe, Savino Acquaviva and Roberto Bergamelli on clarinet, Ezio Rovetta and Massimo Capelli on horn, Ugo Gelmi and Roger Rota on bassoon, Domenica Bellantone on” harp, Giampiero Fanchini on double bass. Direction by Pieralberto Cattaneo. The next event of The Center of Music will be dedicated to jazz: on Saturday, June 28th, the quartet of saxophonist Gabriele Comeglio will pay tribute to the genius of Charlie Parker.  

On Saturday, June 14 (5:00 PM), the series The Center of Music, organized by the Donizetti Theater Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo, continues with The Diary of Adam and Eve, a concert-show based on Mark Twain's text adapted by Silvia Rossetti. On stage, the brilliant and contrasting voices of the two biblical characters, interpreted respectively by Marco Montanari and Rendy Anoh. The original music by Danilo Comitini, performed by the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jacopo Rivani, completes this hilarious and surprisingly contemporary tale. A poetic and amusing journey through differences, misunderstandings, and irresistible attractions to tell the oldest story: the birth of love between two diametrically opposed beings. Pianist and composer, Danilo Comitini was born in England in 1986. In Italy, he first studied piano and then composition at the G. Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. He then began his studies at the “National Academy of Santa Cecilia, in Ivan Fedele's class, where he graduated with honors. After completing the Advanced Training course at the Academy in Rome, he attended the Master's Degree in composition held by professors Klaus Lang, Marco Stroppa, George Benjamin, Alberto Posadas, and Unsuk Chin at the Milan Conservatory.” His music has received important recognition and has been awarded by some of the most influential personalities in the compositional landscape such as Michele Dall'Ongaro, Silvia Colasanti, Beat Furrer, Frédéric Durieux, Bruno Mantovani, Alessandro Solbiati, Daniele Zanettovich, Claudio Ambrosini. His compositional activity led him to win several international competitions, including the International Competition "2 agosto" with the piece 'Resa al labirinto', performed by the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and broadcast live on television and radio by RAI. In the three-year period 2017-2020, he was composer in residence for Ente Concerti di Pesaro, for which two orchestral pieces and one chamber piece were written. From 2021 to 2024, he was composer in residence for Orchestra Corelli in Ravenna. His latest works have been commissioned by organizations such as Ravenna Festival, Cantiere d'Arte Internazionale di Montepulciano, Sagra Musicale Malatestiana, Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini, Orchestra Corelli. The next appointment with The Center of Music will feature, on June 21, the Gruppo Fiati Musica Aperta with the show Così fan tutte (or maybe not?), a semi-serious journey through the loves of melodrama conducted by actor Enrico Beruschi.

On the evening of June 21, the audience of Teatro Donizetti will transform into a stage to welcome the public engaged in the choral performance of a pop song with Donizettian echoes It will also be possible to visit Teatro Donizetti for free and taste the new cocktail Furioso Gaetano created by Tassino Eventi dedicated to the Donizetti festival Only for the entire day of the Music Festival, on the occasion of the opening of ticket sales for Donizetti Opera 2025, it will be possible to purchase every order of festival seats at a special price, with a greater reduction for those who participate in the experience Donizetti Opera feat. HardCoro Bergamo, Teatro Donizetti, Saturday, June 21, 2025   A unique choral experience in the grand hall, free guided tours of Teatro Donizetti, the new cocktail dedicated to Donizetti Opera, and special promotions to secure tickets for the 2025 festival right away: these are all the initiatives that the Teatro Donizetti Foundation is implementing to celebrate the upcoming Music Festival on June 21, opening the theater's doors to the city and involving everyone in a great novelty for Bergamo. It starts in the evening at 7:00 PM with Let Me Introduce You to Donizetti, the guided tour to discover the Theater, curated by Clelia Epis. The history of the monument, curiosities, masterpieces of the historic rooms, and the wonder of the theater hall will be revealed to the public, who can book for free their visit, choosing between two shifts, the first at 7:00 PM and the second at 7:45 PM, through the Eventbrite platform: www.eventbrite.it/e/ti-presento-il-donizetti-tickets-1402463137999?aff=oddtdtcreator From 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM the Bar of the Gavazzeni Foyer will be open and you can taste for the first time Furioso Gaetano, the new non-alcoholic cocktail dedicated to Donizetti Opera 2025, created by Tassino Eventi: the blend includes non-alcoholic bitter, red conviv, and pink grapefruit soda, which will give an intense and fragrant taste, with a coloration inspired by the velvets of the curtain and the theater. But the great anticipation is for the “arrival in Bergamo, in the name of Donizetti, of one of the most surprising realities of recent years, which only needs a place, a date, a pop song, and many people who want to sing to create a” truly unique experience. We're talking about HardCoro, a pop-up format part of a worldwide movement of pub choirs that is becoming popular in Milan and brings together music lovers, making them “experience being part of a choir and protagonists of the evening. Led by musician Michele Acocella, the amateur and extemporaneous choir learns the structure of a song in a few steps, harmonizes the voices, and, within” a couple of “hours, performs the” entire song in multiple voices with extreme satisfaction and enjoyment for the participants. And in the following days, the video, shot by filmmaker Alvise Tedesco, allows reliving the performance on social media. At Teatro Donizetti on June 21, the bar will be raised: the public will

10 events that add to the 14 titles of the Prose Season and Other Paths, already presented in recent weeks: the 2025-2026 Theater Season of the Donizetti Theater Foundation is confirmed to be rich and multifaceted, covering a time span that “overall goes from December 2025 to May 2026. The OperaConcerts section, Family Opera, the Operetta Season, and the year-end Musical complete a” varied offer, involving the main theatrical spaces of the city, the Donizetti Theater and the Teatro Sociale. "With its substantial Theater Season, the Donizetti Theater Foundation occupies a prominent position in the framework of ‘our city's cultural offer’, comments Sergio Gandi, Councilor for Culture of the City of Bergamo, ‘Spoken theater, music in its many forms, events related to the Christmas holidays, end of the year and new year: all this, together with other festivals and international events such as Donizetti Opera and Bergamo Jazz, contributes to a proactive vitality, which has the merit of covering a wide time span throughout the year, shared by the’ city administration". For Giorgio Berta, President of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, “The Theater Season reflects the variety and breadth of interests and orientations that we pursue with constant commitment. A commitment comforted by unequivocal positive results, which are the fruit of valuable teamwork, to which is added the fundamental support of the City of Bergamo and numerous other public and private entities. To all of them goes the most heartfelt thanks, mine personally and of the entire Board of Directors of the Foundation”. "The Theater Season is a now widely tested and recognized format, within which different proposals coexist in perfect harmony, from Prose in its most classic sense to the branches of experimental theater embodied by Other Paths, from concert music to ‘opera, from’ operetta to musical", adds Massimo Boffelli, General Director of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, "The Theater Season is also the result of synergies with important regional institutional and associative realities. My thoughts go first of all to OperaLombardia, whose circuit we have always been part of and of which we will host a new production. And then to the I Piccoli Musici Choir, which is about to reach an important milestone, to ‘the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra and the’ Ensemble Locatelli, all now well-established partners of our Foundation". OperaConcerts OperaConcerts is the Section of the Theater Season that, Thanks to Specific Projects and Repertoires, Spans Different Musical Genres, Connecting Them “one to” another, Fostering Collaboration with Important Institutional and Associative Entities in the Lombardy Region. Transversality already distinguishes the first event on Saturday, December 13, with the emblematic title Disney In Concert: the voice of Giorgia Semeraro, accompanied by seven musicians from the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, will reproduce the Disney magic in a musical key, which for over a century has made both adults and children dream with its now classic film creations and unforgettable melodies, revised and arranged for the occasion by Domenico Clapasson. On Saturday, December 20, the Ensemble Locatelli directed by Thomas Chigioni will

Bach: from organ to bow is the title of the concert that on Saturday, June 7 (at 5:00 PM) the Ensemble Locatelli will hold in the Ridotto Gavazzeni of the Teatro Donizetti, as the second event of The Center of Music, a series organized by the Teatro Donizetti Foundation in collaboration with the Department of Social Policies of the Municipality of Bergamo. Specialized in Baroque repertoire, the Ensemble Locatelli will perform pieces originally conceived by Bach for organ, specifically rearranged by its own director, Thomas Chigioni. The concept of the program is to transfer some of Bach's greatest organ music pages to “the other great expressive medium available to the German composer: the” string “orchestra. In fact, Bach can be considered a”“pure”“composer, whose music transcends the limits of the instrument for which it was conceived and can well be adapted and transcribed for other instruments. The” most striking example in this sense is the collection on which the composer focused his energies in the last days of his life: “The”“Art of Fugue”. Composed without indicating the instruments intended for “performance, this collection of counterpoints demonstrates how for Bach music was absolute, and how the instrument was only the means to an ultimate end, the Divine. A passionate scholar of works by composers from the Bel Paese, Bach adapted numerous Italian concertos for”“organ: Bach's great compositional expertise and care in voice management allow for the opposite journey and the creation of new versions for string” orchestra with original arrangements.   The next event of The Center of Music will feature, on June 14, the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra with the show The Diary of Adam and Eve.

The final performance of the 2024-2025 workshop of Project Young, one of the main educational initiatives linked to the Prose Season and Other Paths of the Teatro Donizetti Foundation, is titled If We Were Shadows. The show, which will involve the young participants of the training course for young actors under the direction of Fabio Comana, will take place on Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8 in the spaces of the Teatro Sociale at the following times: Saturday, June 7 at 4:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 8:00 PM; Sunday, June 8 - 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM. If We Were Shadows is an itinerant performance, a walk through the corridors, rooms, and other usually hidden corners of the Teatro Sociale inspired by the ancient history of the place and the desire to engage in creating a sort of theatrical collage, representing brief original fragments that refer to characters from different eras and situations. It all stems from a suggestion: when the audience leaves the theater, when even the “last staff member closes the door behind them and the hall plunges into” darkness, someone inside the theater begins to breathe. These are the characters from the many stories that theater has seen performed coming to life. Freed from the constraints of the stage, but imprisoned in the space and time that the authors have decided for them, these characters are eager to meet and express themselves freely, sometimes to rebel. The show requires reaching some spaces via stairs. The performance, reserved for small groups of spectators at a time, aims to offer the young participants of Project Young, 15 individuals between 21 and 28 years old selected from 30 candidates, the opportunity to put into practice the training course that began last October. During this course, they were able to meet various stage professionals, guests of the Prose Season and Other Paths, as well as young newly-professional ex-Young participants. Actors involved: Francesco Baldin, Sofia Bolchi, Martina Citroni, Martina Di Caro, Leila Gervasoni, Beatrice Gotti, Carolina Grossi, Clara Marchesi, Matteo Masolini, Elisa Mercurio, Giulia Pizzaballa, Marta Salvi, Letizia Sanchioni, Valeria Spertini, Daniela Tasca. Maria Graia Panigada, Artistic Director of the Prose Season and Other Paths, emphasizes the educational value of the "initiative she conceived: ‘The young people of Project Young inhabit the rehearsal room of the Teatro Donizetti guided by Fabio Comana. Their journey is one of searching for a true theater, in which to let themselves be represented and, for some of them, in which to seek their life's profession. Following their artistic and human journey is for me a source of encouragement for everything I accomplish within’ the Teatro Donizetti Foundation: these young people give me a sense of future, of possibility, of vitality for our theater". "Last year, with the intense experience lived by the students of Project Young under the inspiration of a master like Cesar Brie, a three-year journey concluded during which I had the opportunity to see the technical preparation and motivation of