Michela Gerosa

Carrozzeria Orfeo returns to Bergamo, again for the Donizetti Theatre Foundation's Altri Percorsi series: after Miracoli Metropolitani, set in an old auto body shop adapted as a kitchen and presented at the Teatro Sociale in 2023, the Upper City theater hosts Thursday, Jan. 15 (8:30 p.m.) We will save the world before dawn, a show that unfailingly reflects the company's unprejudiced and brilliant spirit. The show is not suitable for audiences under the age of 14. We'll Save the World Before Sunrise is an account of the lives of some of the guests in a luxury rehabilitation clinic located on a satellite in space, a new tourist destination for the super-rich, specializing in the treatment of contemporary addictions-sexual, emotional, work, psychotropic drugs. They are all victims of these and their own selfishness, products of a world where words like community and kindness are almost entirely banished except to be exploited for propaganda and commercial purposes. What is left is a confused and frightened humanity, overwhelmed by the obsession with this constant having to sell yourself, with the terror that no one will ever want to buy you. "After having explored in several shows the world of the last, the outcasts, the excluded and the losers, in this new production we intend to investigate the world of affluence and apparent success, through the narrative of the first, the winners, the ruling class, the rich, paradoxically, however, imprisoned in the same vortex of asphyxiating responsibilities, castrating duties, guilt and unhappiness that belong to everyone and, therefore, shattered by everything that the capitalist mentality cannot buy: self-love, purity of feelings, sincere affections, the search for authentic meaning in existence," Gabriele Di Luca specifies in the dramaturgy notes. All of this is explored in full Carrozzeria Orfeo style, "thanks to an eye that is always lucid and, perhaps, disillusioned, which intends to capture, with irony and even extreme fun, the paradoxes, contradictions and grotesque deformations of reality through characters overflowing with humanity, irony and pain. The show, after all, wants to tell about a society that is increasingly sad, yet, saturated with happy pictures in which there no longer seems to be a place where we can recognize ourselves as authentic subjects, let alone in social projects that require our dedication and loyalty." Carrozzeria Orfeo, formed in Mantua in 2007, has since its inception expressed its creative urgency inspired by a strongly "Pop" artistic ideal, popular, in the highest sense of the term; that is, a theater that thinks of the spectator from its conception and writing, with stories that wish to trigger reflections on the present in order to investigate, not without depth and fun, the crucial nodes of human existence. The company's primary need is to offer theater that is adherent to the themes of reality precisely in order to problematize anthropologically foundational nodes and intercept the most fragile intimacy of the spectators. The goal is to bring more and more audiences to the theater, demonstrating that civic and social engagement can

Operetta Season 2026 The Merry Widow with the Corrado Abbati Company Sunday, January 11 at the Donizetti Theatre The Operette Season 2026 of the Donizetti Theater Foundation is just around the corner: on Sunday, January 11 (3:30 p.m.) the first of three titles on the bill is scheduled at the city's main theater, The Merry Widow, a classic of the operetta repertoire brought to the stage on this occasion by the Compagnia Corrado Abbati. An operetta in three parts by Franz Lehár to a libretto by Victor Léon and Leo Stein based on the play L'Attaché d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac, The Merry Widow is still one of the most performed shows in the world. And if it still fills theaters today and audiences enjoy it and applaud warmly, something special must be wrong with it. The Merry Widow is, in fact, a myth that despite its age shows no wrinkles. Built on fertile musical inventiveness, with iconic songs such as the march "Women, women eternal gods...," the operetta rests on the sympathy of a text steeped in themes that are still relevant today: power, money, jealousies, love. Compagnia Corrado Abbati's edition makes the most of the innate theatrical sense and dynamic narrative that distinguish the performances of the director and actor who directs it, as well as a colorful staging that highlights the elegance of Lehár's music with its iridescent, romantic hues and frenzied rhythmic jubilation. Starting from the term "lightness" given by Italo Calvino in the first chapter of the American Lectures, namely "lightness as a reaction to the weight of living," and aware that in the collective imagination the term "operetta" is combined with the term "smile," the director's intention in this edition of The Merry Widow is not to deny what is the typical characteristic of operetta: the desire for reassuring emotions. The work was, therefore, to create a show capable of arousing cheerfulness, as, moreover, was the intention of the author who scattered The Merry Widow with many cues on a diplomatic plot, where secret desires and erotic or political interests are not hidden and are resolved to the rhythm of a waltz but also of a can-can. A rhythmic sweep that the director has taken into account, recreating a sense of elegance and balance of the theatrical machine, capable of capturing the jubilant and irrational momentum of joyous escapism. Also capable of arousing enthusiasm and desire to party together, breaking down the fourth wall to foster exchange and empathy between hall and stage.   Plot At the Pontevedro embassy in Paris, there is great excitement. Mrs. Anna Glavari, the young widow of the very rich court banker, is arriving. The ambassador, Baron Zeta, has been instructed to find a Pontevedrian husband for the widow, and this is to keep the lady's millions in dowry, back home. For if Mrs. Glavari were to pass into a second marriage with a Frenchman, her capital would leave the Pontevedrian National Bank and it would be economic ruin for

HISTORY LESSONS 2026 Cultural capitals First encounter The Athens of Pericles with Laura Pepe Saturday, January 10, 2026 at the Donizetti Theater   The Lessons in History at the Donizetti Theater: a now traditional event, conceived by Editori Laterza and produced in co-production with the Donizetti Theater Foundation of Bergamo and with the support of BCC Oglio e Serio, the lecture series is entitled, in its third edition, Cultural Capitals. Five meetings are planned, dedicated to as many cities that over the centuries have made their mark on history, contributing to the birth and development of important cultural movements, whose influence later proved fundamental. It begins on Saturday, Jan. 10 (11 a.m.) with Laura Pepe, already the protagonist of the first edition of History Lessons, and with The Athens of Pericles, the cradle of democracy and political management of public affairs. To say "Athens of Pericles" is to think of the golden age of democracy, the time when literature, poetry, philosophy, theater, and the figurative arts reached their zenith, the reconstruction of the acropolis. In reality, as is often the case, there are deep cracks behind this image of perfection: internal strife, contestation of power, and a foreign policy marked by much abuse. Laura Pepe Teaches Institutions of Roman Law and Ancient Greek Law at the University of Milan. In addition to books and academic essays on criminal law and family law in antiquity, he has written several textbooks on ancient history and Latin grammar for upper secondary school. He has published Athens on trial. Athenian law through judicial orations. (Bologna 2019), The sinews of Zeus. Body, soul and immortality in Greek myth. (Milan 2023), A day with the giants. Ancient Greece in six lessons (Milan, 2023) and edited the series "Life of the Ancients" (35 volumes, 2020) and "Mythical Loves" (20 volumes, 2024) for Corriere della Sera. She collaborates as a science popularizer with the television channel Focus. For Laterza, she is the author of Gli eroi bevono vino. The ancient world in a glass (2018), The Voice of the Sirens. The Greeks and the art of persuasion. (2020), Wonderful Stories of Young Greeks (2022) and Sparta (2024). History Lessons will continue on Jan. 17 with Alexander March the Great, who will talk about Venice and the dawn of books: it is in fact on the lagoon that everything changes and that the book publisher begins to have that valuable role of cultural mediator preserved to this day. For the third event, scheduled for January 24, Alessandra Bucossi will address the theme. Constantinople, the new Rome, where the first city stands for the emblem of cosmopolitanism, unparalleled witness of those cultural transfers between East and West at the origin of the Byzantine world. Rome, city of the gods will instead be the focus of the Feb. 7 meeting with Maurizio Bettini: a still "pagan" Rome, creator of unprecedented religious suggestions mediated by the customs of the Italic peoples and the Greek tradition. Finally, on Feb. 14, the spotlight will

The year 2026 is approaching and the Donizetti Theater Foundation is preparing to welcome it in the best possible way with two now traditional events. On the evening of Dec. 31 (10 p.m.) at the Donizetti Theater, the singers and dancers of the BIT Company will present the musical The Dream Factory, a journey into the world of Alice, Aladdin, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast in the company of Oniricus, the Merchant of Dreams. At the stroke of midnight, toasts in the historic halls of the city's main theater. Tickets: 40 to 80 euros. On the morning of the first day of 2026, the Social Theater (11 a.m.) will instead host the traditional New Year's Concert with theItalian Philharmonic Orchestra. The Dream Factory is a show designed for the whole family, with enchanting costume changes, danced, acted and sung live. Viewers will be taken to faraway lands, enchanted castles and through stormy seas, where raging waves crash on reefs of wondrous mermaids. The Dream Factory is the factory everyone has always dreamed of. It is the factory where all our imagination is produced, to bring to life what has always been alive within us but which we often forget. The dreams left behind, which are believed to belong only to childhood, are actually the key to access the deepest truths and give space to the intensity of emotions. In the dream factory, building dreams costs nothing; in this magical place people work to give dreams to those who have stopped dreaming. And so one can get on Aladin's flying carpet to the East, or ride through enchanted forests and kingdoms, enter the forest of the Lion King or fly with Mary Poppins. In the BIT company's show all the magic of theater occurs: the dream comes true on stage, in the lights and colors of the costumes; the dreamers are the spectators, but also the performers who represent all those fairy tale characters so dear to minds that for a moment, just a moment, can once again become free to fantasize. Direction and choreography by Melina Pellicano. Music adaptations by Marco Caselle. Costumes by Marco Caudera. Starring Mario Levis as Oniricus. The New Year's Concert will be a journey through the masterpieces of Johann Strauss II and Johann Strauss I. The waltzes, polkas and marches that made the Strauss dynasty famous will be performed by the Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, creating an atmosphere of pure magic and elegance. The Strauss family has left an indelible mark on the history of Viennese music, giving the world some of the most famous waltzes and polkas of all time. Johann Strauss II, known as the "Waltz King," composed masterpieces such as "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" and "Voices of Spring," which evoke images of elegance and festivity. His father, Johann Strauss I, created the famous "Radetzky-Marsch," a piece that embodies the martial and patriotic spirit of the era. The Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana features a vast repertoire that includes not only

A project of Fondazione Teatro Donizetti with Donizetti Opera Festival, Vittorio Polli and Anna Maria Stoppani Foundation with Victor de Sabata and Aldo Ceccato Music Library, and International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo A concert series, lecture series, scholarship and exhibition in memory of the great master from Bergamo on the 30th anniversary of his death Bergamo, January 31 to November 29, 2026   Bergamo, city of the Thousand, but also and above all the city of Gaetano Donizetti. And it is precisely in the city that gave him birth that we want to remember thirty years after his death the Maestro Gianandrea Gavazzeni (July 25, 1909 - Feb. 5, 1996), conductor, composer and writer, among the most dazzling protagonists of twentieth-century music, to whom much is owed in the rediscovery of Donizetti's legacy and the redefinition of Bergamo's role on the international musical map. That is why the Donizetti Theater Foundation with the Donizetti Opera Festival, the Vittorio Polli and Anna Maria Stoppani Foundation with the Victor de Sabata and Aldo Ceccato Music Library, and the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo intend to celebrate this legacy, paying tribute to the man and the artist through a rich program of events spanning the entire year 2026, from January 31 to November 29. The project, which networks institutions, archives, theaters, scholars, established performers and new promises, weaves music, critical reflection, exhibition activities, training and the development of young performers into a concert series, a lecture series, a scholarship and a documentary exhibition, to restore the multifaceted figure of Maestro Gavazzeni. The program aims to delineate both the figure of the artist, writer and intellectual, as well as that of the popularizer and pedagogue, who conceived of music-making as an opportunity to educate the public to listen, as well as a common heritage for the cultural growth of the individual and society. States Sergio Gandi, Councillor for Culture of the City of Bergamo: "Cultivating the memory of those who have carried the name of Bergamo outside its walls is one of the main duties of a public administration. It is all the more so for figures like Maestro Gianandrea Gavazzeni, whose dutiful homage is deeply intertwined with the memory and rediscovery of Donizetti. To him we owe an important action in consolidating the Bergamo composer's fame on the world opera scene, through the direction of little-known operas, the revival of forgotten titles and a tireless enhancement of Donizetti's heritage. I sincerely thank the Donizetti Theater Foundation, which has become the interpreter of a collective need, and the valuable network of collaborations created around it, which once again shows the richness of our city's musical landscape: the International Piano Festival of Brescia and Bergamo, the driving force behind so many prestigious musical initiatives, and the Polli Stoppani Foundation, which in recent years has been increasingly integrating itself into the city's cultural offerings. From this valuable participation has emerged an intense and varied program, which will animate the whole of 2026

For the Opera&Concerts section of the Donizetti Theater Foundation's Season of Theaters, Sunday, Dec. 21 at the Teatro Sociale (3:30 p.m.) is scheduled the usual Christmas Concert of the vocal ensemble I Piccoli Musici directed by Mario Mora. The concert has special significance this year, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the founding of the I Piccoli Musici Music School and Choir. Founded forty years ago as an educational and musical reality dedicated to the youngest children, the School has been able to grow over time, becoming a point of reference in the Italian choral scene. After the first years of training and comparison with other children's choirs, since the 1990s I Piccoli Musici have embarked on a path full of exciting experiences: participation in competitions, concerts, national and international festivals. To celebrate this important milestone, several commemorative events and concerts are planned. In particular, the Christmas Concert for the City of Bergamo will feature a choir composed of current treble voices and female voices: former choristers from the 1990s and 2000s, who, with enthusiasm and gratitude, will return to sing in the choir that made them grow, artistically and humanly. The choir will be accompanied by a string quintet and will perform the most beautiful Christmas melodies written for this ensemble. The concert will be enriched, moreover, by the presence of two talented pianists, Martina Mora and Elisa Arminio, graduates of the "Luca Marenzio" Conservatory of Brescia, who will perform a refined excerpt from the four-hand transcription for two pianos of Tchaikovsky's famous Nutcracker . The famous ballet, set precisely on Christmas night, has over the years become one of the musical symbols of the holidays thanks to its fairy-tale atmosphere and enchanting melodies that evoke magic, wonder and Christmas spirit.

The Opera&Concerts section of the Donizetti Theater Foundation's Theater Season continues on Saturday, Dec. 20, at the Teatro Sociale (8:30 p.m.) with a concert by theLocatelli Ensemble featuring the complete performance of one of the greatest masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach and all classical music: The Brandenburg Concertos. During the first part of the evening the first, fifth and sixth concertos will be heard, while in the second part the second, fourth and third. The Brandenburg Concertos are considered one of the most representative compositional cycles of the Baroque era, testimony to the composer's extraordinary ability to innovate within the musical forms of his time. Composed in 1721 and dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg Christian Ludwig, these six concertos offer an extraordinary variety of instrumental and structural combinations, embodying a perfect balance between compositional complexity and expressive clarity. Each concerto is a world unto itself, characterized by a singular choice of timbre and skillfully interwoven dialogues between the soloists and the ensemble, in which virtuosity and inventiveness blend harmoniously. Through this cycle, Bach demonstrates a unique ability to enhance the peculiarities of each instrument, bringing them to interact in novel and surprising ways. The freshness and energy that pervade these works, combined with their profound technical sophistication, make them a landmark not only for the Baroque repertoire, but for the entire history of music. Listening to the Brandenburg Concertos is a journey through a soundscape of extraordinary beauty and variety, a perfect example of Bach's mastery of combining artistic invention and formal rigor, offering an experience that continues to excite and inspire centuries later.

Donizetti Theatre Foundation The Theater Season 2025-2026 Other Pathways The ghost songwriter by and with Ivan Talarico Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Social Theater   Begun with Natale in casa Cupiello, a classic by Eduardo De Filippo re-proposed in an original way by Luca Saccoia, the Donizetti Theater Foundation's Altri Percorsi review, dedicated to Benvenuto Cuminetti, continues Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Teatro Sociale (8:30 p.m.) with The Phantom Singer, a theater-song performance written and performed by Ivan Talarico. Duration 1 hour and 5 minutes without intermission. Ticket prices: 20 euros, reduced 16 euros. The Ghost Songwriter is a journey into the world of Italian songwriting but also a reflection on authorship in art. At a time in history such as the present, when the use of artificial intelligence has opened a wide discussion on the role of authorship and creativity, the show is a pataphysical investigation of authorship through the biography of singer-songwriter A. F.. The show's presentation notes state that A.F. was a singer-songwriter from Veneto, born in 1923 and disappeared from the scene in 1969. Her artistic journey was unfortunate: all the songwriters she met liked her songs and many plagiarized them. From those plagiarisms were born great masterpieces of Italian music and beyond; from Domenico Modugno to Lucio Battisti, from Luigi Tenco to Patti Smith, everything was written by A. F., but no one knows and she remained a ghost. This amazing and incredible story starts from a rare book found by chance: a long interview with an unknown singer-songwriter who is the real author of hugely successful songs. Through the interview, Talarico traces her history, her movements between Rome, Genoa and Milan, her relationship with many famous songwriters, her retirement from the stage and the disappearance of this giant but forgotten figure. How was his disappearance possible? And more: how do creative mechanisms work, what is an idea, who can truly call themselves the author of something? Ivan Talarico is a singer-songwriter, author and thespian. In 1999 he founded the theater company DoppioSenso Unico together with Luca Ruocco, with whom he writes and performs shows between the absurd and black comedy (among others La variante E.K., gU.F.O., Operamolla and Il successo non è successo). Since 2003 he has been writing and producing stage music for shows and soundtracks for short films. In 2009 he resumed writing songs and performing in concert. From 2013 he began a collaboration with writer Claudio Morici; over the years they will stage a series of readings with songs.With Gorilla Sapiens Editions he publishes two books of poems, Ogni giorno di felicità è una poesia che muore (2014) and Non spiegatemi le poesie che devono rimanere piegate (2016).He is among the eight winners and prize for Best Lyrics at Musicultura 2015 and is called as a guest, at the Ariston Theater, of the 2016 Tenco Prize. He is among the founders of the variety show Sgombro, since 2016 among the most followed in the Roman underground, in which he plays the

Benvenuto Cuminetti Archive 323 films of performances from 1983 to 2001 in digitized edition Twenty-five years ago, on September 6, 2020, Benvenuto Cuminetti, a fundamental figure in the theatrical, and more generally cultural, life of the City of Bergamo during his years as Artistic Director of the Prose Season of the Donizetti Theater, as well as creator of the Altri Percorsi review, left us. Today, the Donizetti Theater Foundation remembers his work by dedicating to him the Prose Season and Altri Percorsi 2025/2026 and with the establishment of theBenvenuto Cuminetti Archive which, over the course of three years, will lead to the digitization of the films, now preserved in analog format, of 323 performances staged at the Donizetti Theater from 1983 to 2001, totaling more than 700 hours of footage. The digitization of such impressive material, edited by Gianfranco Rota, will form a valuable documentation available for consultation at the Donizetti Theater Foundation Study Center. Among the many materials that theBenvenuto Cuminetti Archive will make available for viewing in digital format will be titles that remain in the collective memory, such as Six Characters in Search of an Author e Murder in the Cathedral, plays that, directed by Patroni Griffi and starring Giulio Bosetti, debuted in Bergamo and whose open rehearsals allowed a behind-the-scenes look at a production. Also available will be works with the marvelous set designs of Lele Luzzati, to whom Cuminetti also dedicated an exhibition, and performances by actors of the caliber of Vittorio Gassman, Aroldo Tieri, Lina Volonghi, Paola Borboni, Valeria Valeri, Tino Carraro, Anna Proclemer, Salvo Randone, Franco Parenti, Lucia Morlacchi, Corrado Pani, Turi Ferro, Alberto Lionello, and Carmelo Bene will be on view. But also artists who were beginning their journey in the 1980s and 1990s: this is the case of companies such as Ravenna's Teatro delle Albe or Laboratorio Teatro Settimo. For some of these shows, the footage in the Foundation's archive is the only existing copy, which makes it even more valuable. "We are particularly pleased to be able to announce the creation of theBenvenuto Cuminetti Archive, a fitting tribute to the man who made our theater grow to become one of the most important theatrical performance venues nationwide," comments Massimo Boffelli, General Director of the Donizetti Theater Foundation, "As part of our activities, scientific research and historical documentation play a role of absolute importance: the archive dedicated to Benvenuto Cuminetti fits right into this vein, underscoring the value of a legacy that we want to share with our audiences and with theater scholars." Maria Grazia Panigada, Artistic Director of the Prose Season and Other Paths, remembers the man who can be considered his elective teacher this way: "I believe that our theater owes Cuminetti in so many ways: it is as if he was the founder of the Donizetti Theater as far as prose is concerned. Not because it wasn't being done before, but because Cuminetti set a precise cultural policy and carried it out: convinced that a civic theater

Alessandro Barbero presents St. Francis December 15, 2025 - 6:30 p.m. at the Donizetti Theater Alessandro Barbero returns Monday, Dec. 15, to the Donizetti Theater in Bergamo (6:30 p.m.; tickets sold out) to present his new book dedicated to St. Francis, which was released last September and immediately entered the bestseller lists. The special event is organized by the Donizetti Theater Foundation in collaboration with Editori Laterza and is supported by Intesa Sanpaolo, BCC Oglio e Serio and Sitip Spa. Max Pavan, head of news services for Bergamo TV, will introduce. At the end of the meeting Alessandro Barbero will be available for signacopies in the "Gavazzeni" Ridotto of the Donizetti Theater. "We are delighted to welcome the return to our theater of Alessandro Barbero, one of the most revealing figures in Italian culture in recent years, a scholar and popularizer who knows how to communicate great events and historical figures like no other."-comments Massimo Boffelli, general director of the Donizetti Theater Foundation - "Barbero was the protagonist, with great success, of the first edition of Lezioni di Storia in 2024 and having him back with us for a special event, thanks to the now well-established partnership with Editori Laterza and the sponsors supporting us on the occasion, has a special significance in reaffirming the importance and value of our cultural proposals." "Intesa Sanpaolo is pleased to support an initiative capable of enhancing the dissemination of culture and knowledge, values that are central to the growth of the communities in which we operate. The collaboration with the Donizetti Theater Foundation confirms our commitment to fostering cultural projects that enrich the territory and help make it more attractive and inclusive," says Daniele Pastore, Regional Director Lombardy North Banca dei Territori of Intesa Sanpaolo. "Supporting initiatives that promote knowledge, in-depth study and cultural dialogue is an integral part of the mission of our bank, which has always been close to the growth of the territory and the enhancement of its best energies. The meeting with Professor Barbero represents an extraordinary opportunity because it offers an original and rigorous look at a central figure of our tradition such as St. Francis. We are therefore particularly proud to support the Donizetti Theater Foundation in such a high-profile cultural project, which confirms the theater's role as a point of reference for the cultural life of the city and province," says Andrea Corti, Head of the Bergamo Micromarket of Bcc Oglio e Serio. "We are pleased to support a cultural event of such great appeal, capable of bringing history, popularization and civic participation into dialogue. The presence of Professor Alessandro Barbero at the Donizetti Theater represents a valuable opportunity for the city and for all enthusiasts. We deeply believe in the value of culture as an engine of growth and sharing, which is why we are proud to contribute to the realization of such high-level initiatives," comments Silvana Pezzoli, vice president and commercial director of Sitip Spa. During the “meeting, Alessandro Barbero will explore the many