From Nureyev to Zeffirelli, great music on TV

Those who were lucky enough to admire it live still remember it. Rudolf Nureyev the unreachable, the étoile who changed ballet forever, with Carla Fracci, the most loved of Italian theater, in a cornerstone like Giselle. It was 1980, at the Rome Opera House. An event hitherto reserved for a few passionate DVD collectors, which exceptionally returns "on stage" on Rai5 (channel 23). With the seasons closed ahead of time by the lockdown and the shows reduced (if not canceled) by too stringent health measures, the great Italian theaters and festivals of opera and ballet reopen in fact all on the Rai network more dedicated to culture and entertainment. From La Fenice of Venice to San Carlo of Naples, passing through the Regio of Turin or the Massimo of Palermo: from June to December, Rai Cultura in collaboration with the Anfols-National Association of Symphonic Lyric Foundations launches a long musical journey by airing a choice of shows among rare pearls found in the Rai archives or of the theaters themselves and instead very recent productions, often unpublished on the small screen. Appointment, from Monday to Friday at 10 am and on Wednesday even in the early evening at 9.15 pm. The main protagonist, until June 12, is the Rome Opera House. "The lockdown - Francesca Nesler, the head of Rai5's cultured music offer, tells ANSA - has 'forced' us to fill many empty spaces. With such important music and productions it always fills up well. We almost quadrupled the offer, going from 220-300 hours a year to 1,100 ". An increase that also concerns the afternoon strip of symphonic and chamber music such as musical documentaries, but which has its spearhead in this very special season dedicated to music theaters. "A cycle of shows - explains ANFOLS President Francesco Giambrone - which represents a precious opportunity to promote the country system" and which "puts at the center of Rai programming that precious and priceless heritage of the great melodrama of which the lyric-symphonic Foundations they are depositories "" With the videos - says Nesler again - we go back in time until the 70s, but we also found something from the '65. It is an extraordinary opportunity to send materials in formats perhaps not today , like 4/3, but of inestimable value. All restored for the occasion ". Next week, the Rome Opera starts immediately with Nureyev, protagonist of the "Marco Spada or the bandit's daughter", in the historic 1981 edition with the choreography of Pierre Lacotte, and then in the memorable "Giselle" with Fracci on choreography by Coralli-Perrot. But there is also the very recent Yevgeny Onegin by Tchaikovsky with the direction of Robert Carsen and the direction of James Conlon, the last production of the Theater before the lockdown, for the first time on TV. Week after week, the program continues with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the San Carlo of Naples and the Regio of Turin. While summer is all from the repertoires of the great arenas, from Verona to the Sferisterio of Macerata, to arrive in Parma in coincidence with the Verdi Festival and touching all the symphonic lyric Foundations and some traditional theater such as the Municipal of Piacenza until the end of the year for La Gioconda with Francesco Meli. "Among the archival surprises - continues Nesler - an edition of Puccini's Triptych (or Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicci) of the musical May of 1983 entrusted to three film directors such as Mario Monicelli, Ermanno Olmi and Franco Piavoli. They had always aired untied, one a week. After almost 40 years we will see them together again. At the Arena in Verona, the homage to Franco Zeffirelli, who passed away a year ago, is inevitable. But also an historian Renato Bruson from 1981 ". And the search is not over yet. For the curious, to complete the story, the return of "Prima della prima" (Thursday in prime time), to discover behind the scenes how many titles have been made. (HANDLE).(