The Verbano Cusio Ossola Chamber of Commerce, as a part of the territorial marketing initiative aimed at the development and promotion of the territory, presents three cultural events of great international interest:
- LetterAltura, Festival of mountain, travel and adventure literature- Umberto Giordano Festival - Baveno- Tones on the Stones International Festival of music, theatre and dance
LETTERALTURAFESTIVAL OF MOUNTAIN, TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE LITERATURE
From 25th to 29th June 200 the Town of Verbania will host journalists, photographers, writers, philosophers, poets and artists who will take part in debates, exhibitions, encounters and films dedicated to the world of Mountains and adventure travel.Then, over the first three weekends of July, the festival will move to higher ground within the VCO to enjoy, together with the tourists and mountain lovers, flavours, scents and traditions of the Verbanio Cusio Ossola territory.
5-6 July: Domodossola, crossroads among the mountains crocevia tra i monti12-13 July: Strona valley in valle dei Gratagamul19-20 July: Antigorio and Formazza valleys, at the source of the River Toce
The guests present at Letteraltura 2008 include : Vandana Shiva, Serge Latouche, Carlin Petrini, Nives Meroi, Marc Batard, Franco Brevini, Ettore Mo, Antonio Ferrari, Folco Portinari, Anne Menatory, Roberto Giardina, Lorenzo Cremonesi, Patrick Edlinger, Valeria Palumbo, Marco Revelli, Massimo Cirri da Caterpillar and for the children Silver (creator of Lupo Alberto).For information: Associazione Culturale LetterAltura www.letteraltura.it.
BAVENO FESTIVAL UMBERTO GIORDANO
From 27th June to 12th July 2008, Baveno will host the XI edition of the Festival Umberto Giordano, the traditional cultural and musical event dedicated to the famous composer (1867-1948), whose 60th anniversary of his death occurs this year.
This year the Festival Umberto Giordano will be better than ever with events dedicated to music and discovering great composers such as Vivaldi, Puccini and Giordano himself, through a display of signed manuscripts, concerts and recitals in historic places including Villa Fedora, as well as photographic and film displays.
The Festival Umberto Giordano was created in Baveno in 1998 to mark the centenary of the opera Fedora and the fiftieth anniversary of Giordano's death. At the time a renowned lake resort, Baveno was Giordano's favourite holiday resort and often a great source of inspiration for his compositions.
Born as an event dedicated to great composers and musicians of the 1800s and 1900s, from post-Verdi to their European and American contemporaries, the Festival Umberto Giordano has gradually enriched its programme extending it to other periods and genres of music, poetry and even other forms of art and entertainment.Some of the events of this year's Festival Umberto Giordano are:
Saturday 28th June at 21.15 - Sala Stendhal in Villa FedoraAnteprima in homage to Giacomo Puccini: Giacomo Puccini: d'arte e d'amore, from an idea by Stefano Masi and Massimo Crispi a production of the Teatro della Centena (Rimini). Music by Giacomo Puccini with the Duo Enfants Terribles, Massimo Crispi, tenor & Marco Rapetti, piano, with the participation of Luca Catanzaro, Narrator, Luca de Sensi video editor and under the direction of Stefano Masi, also responsible for video and stage scenery.
Friday 4th July at 21.15 Ss Gervaso and Protaso ChurchVenerdi 4 luglio ore 21.15 - SS: Gervaso and Protaso churchSigned manuscripts from the Turin National Library: Antonio Vivaldi, sung and played by theAstree chamber group of the Academia Montis Regalis, Anke Hermann soprano.
Sunday 6th July at 21.15 - Sala Nostr@domus. Il cinema negli anni di Giordano [cinema in the years of Giordano], with music by Nino Rota, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin. Paola Lopopolo vocals, Emilio Vapi flute, Luigi Zanardi piano.
In addition Villa Fedora will host a display within its walls entitled Puccini in scena open to the public daily throughout the festival.
For the complete festival: www.festivalgiordano.it.For information and bookings: Citta di Baveno Tourist Office, tel/fax: 0323/92.46.32.E-mail: turismo.baveno@reteunitaria.piemonte.it - www.festivalgiordano.it.
TONES ON THE STONES: International music, theatre and dance festival
On Thursday 10th July 2008 the second edition of Tones on the Stones gets underway, the International festival dedicated to music, theatre and dance which this year offer an impressive six dates which embrace different styles and language, in which the protagonists will excel in their respective artistic expression.
The first date will be the opening party on 10th July, when at 22.00 the town of Verbania will host the most famous and phenomenal contemporary dance company Momix, performing at the renewed area of the Parco Arena in Villa Maioni. The show will be performed again on Saturday 12th July.The suggestive staging that will act as the backdrop to the show composed of enormous stone blocks extract from the VCO quarries will be displayed to give visitors an idea of the imposing and suggestive areas that will host the events to come, a unique opportunity to have contact with this precious material from the Verbano Cusio Ossola territory.
From the exciting spectacle of Momix to the intimacy of Lectura Dantis (11-12-13 July 2008), with Elisabetta Vergani narrator, Filippo Fano on piano and David Brutti on saxophone Elena Bucci narrator, Ramberto Ciammarughi on piano and Pino Menzolini narrator in the afternoon and evening of 19th and 20th July.The reading of Dante's Inferno will be set in the Casino Visconti Quarry in Ornavasso. This quarry, in the heart of the mountain and recently recuperated by the Associazione Linea Cadorna, can be reached by passing through a 200 metre tunnel that leads to a splendid pink marble hall. On Saturday 12th July at 21.30, the Moro Serizzo Quarry in Crodo will hold the concert Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares, performed by the renowned Bulgarian vocal group that has exported the roots of its country throughout the globe, thanks to its extremely modern musical language. This highly original group's concert is both a unique and profound experience: Their sound emanates a special primordial force that penetrates the listener and takes him to an abstract dimension. This return to one's cultural roots is further enhanced by the setting of the event: the imposing walls of serizzo marble, a noble material that in many ways represents the history and culture of the VCO territory.
On Saturday 26th July at 21.30, the festival come sto a close with Dedicato a Puccini, a lyric-symphonic show dedicated to the great maestro, in the year of his 150th anniversary from his birth. The sixty members of the Bruno Maderna Orchestra directed by Marco Boni, together with soprano Maddalena Calderoni, tenor Agim Hushi and baritone Emilio Marcucci, will perform on a breathtaking stage sculpted in Palissandro Marble in the Tosco Marmi Quarry in Crevoladossola.
For information: Organizzazione Festival (bookings and information) +39 334 153 6056 - info@tonesonthestones.com - www.tonesonthestones.it.Atelier la Voce dell'Arte: +39 349 3548887 - direzioneartistica@tonesonthestones.com.Centro Servizi Lapideo: 0324/33.88.22 (9.00-12.30 e 15.30-18.30).
Press office CCIAA Verbano Cusio Ossola Silvia Trovato Comunicazione, Milano. Tel: 02/45.48.41.90, 348/0006859.info@silviatrovato.com.