Nervi International Ballet Festival (Festival internazionale del balletto di Nervi) held during summer in Nervi (now a quartiere of Genoa) from 1955 to 2004 [1] was the first event entirely dedicated to dance [2] [3] in post-war Italy. Together with the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto it is considered the most significant event of the Italian dance scene. [4]
In 1953, in Genoa Mario Porcile opened a classical ballet school, assisted by his friend and La Scala dancer Ugo Dell'Ara. In 1955 they opened the first Italian festival dedicated solely to ballet, set up for many years in the famous Nervi parks. [5]
Since then, and until 2004, the event has had 34 editions, set up until 1992 exclusively outdoors in the Parks of Nervi; from 1995 to 1999 the shows took place between Teatro ai Parchi and Teatro Carlo Felice, from 2000 exclusively to Carlo Felice and other theaters in the city center.
Lucia Aliberti is an Italian operatic soprano singer. She performed the bel canto roles of Bellini, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini, Vivaldi, Mercadante and so on.
Nervi is a former fishing village 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Portofino on the Riviera di Levante, now a seaside resort in Liguria, in northwest Italy. Once an independent comune, it is now a quartiere of Genoa. Nervi is 4 miles (7 km) east of central Genoa.
The Festival dei Due Mondi(Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of concerts, opera, dance, drama, visual arts and roundtable discussions on science.
There are 70 community bands, 110 community choirs, and about 20 secondary music schools. The region is famous for its music festivals, including the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and the Umbria Jazz Festival.
The Teatro Caio Melisso is an opera house located in Spoleto, Italy and it serves as the main venue for opera performances during the annual summer Festival dei Due Mondi.
The Teatro Carlo Felice is the principal opera house of Genoa, Italy, used for performances of opera, ballet, orchestral music, and recitals. It is located on the side of Piazza De Ferrari.
Fabio Grossi is a retired Italian dancer and ballet teacher.
Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz is a Norwegian-Italian operatic soprano.
Piazza De Ferrari is the main square of Genoa. Situated in the heart of the city between the historical and the modern center, Piazza De Ferrari is renowned for its fountain, which was restored in recent years along with a major restyling of the square.
Francesco Meli is an Italian operatic tenor particularly associated with the romantic repertoire.
Daniela Malusardi is an Italian choreographer, teacher and dancer.
Studio Festi is an Italian artistic project and production centre bringing into being shows and grand installations. Founded in 1982, by Valerio Festi and Monica Maimone, Studio Festi operates from its main offices in Velate, its workshop in Venegono Superiore (Varese) and, in 2010, it set up a branch in São Paulo, Brazil.
Le Testament de Villon is an opera composed in 1923 by the American poet Ezra Pound, with assistance from George Antheil. It is based on Le Testament, a collection of poems written by François Villon in 1461.
Andrea Liberovici is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music and a theatre director.
Natale de Carolis is an Italian operatic baritone, who has had an active career in major opera houses internationally since the early 1980s. He is particularly associated with the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Gioachino Rossini.
Marisa Anna Solinas, best known as Marisa Solinas, was an Italian actress and singer.
The Ring Around Quartet is an Italian vocal quartet active in early music.
PierLuigi Samaritani was a renowned opera director/production designer, who began his career at a young age, working alongside some of the greatest names in theatre, opera and ballet, such as Lila de Nobili, Giancarlo Menotti, Franco Zeffirelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Rudolf Nureyev and many more. Samaritani had an enormous talent, which allowed him to take on all the roles the theatre, opera and ballet demanded, making sure to always be involved in all aspects of his productions even when delegating. From the creation of his "sketches" of the set, which were more like works of art in and of themselves to the smallest change in an extra’s costume, he was a true perfectionist preoccupied with every detail. His productions graced the stage of countless opera houses and theaters, amongst them La Scala di Milano, Teatro Regio of Parma, The Metropolitan Opera House, American Ballet Theatre and the Festival of Two Worlds at Spoleto, where he collaborated for many years, alongside his dear friend, Gian Carlo Menotti. The Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto founded in 1947 in Spoleto, by Adriano Belli created a special award carrying the name of Pier Luigi Samaritani, awarded each year to the set designer with the best set design of the opera season.
The Villa Saluzzo Serra is a civil building in the Nervi district, in via Capolungo, in the municipality of Genoa. Municipal property, and located in the parks of Nervi, it has been the seat of the Genoa's Gallery of Modern Art (GAM) since 1928.
There is little doubt that the Festival dei Due Mondi (or Festival of the Two Worlds) in Spoleto and the Nervi Dance Festival… constitute the two most interesting and significant events of the Italian dance scene.