December 2nd, 2015 - Damiano Michieletto is back in London, where he directs the most famous Italian diptych at the Royal Opera House: Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, staged from December 3 with reruns until January 1. By his side there are production designer Paolo Fantin, costume designer Carla Teti and light designer Alessandro Carletti. "I tried to find a link between the two stories - explained Damiano Michieletto - because even though we’re talking about two works that weren’t conceived to be performed together, the two composers were in competition with each other – and we can thus find common elements: religion mixed with folklore and convention, love, jealousy and murder. Both works were musical interludes and these characteristics make them similar. We will set them in the same imaginary town in Southern Italy: Cavalleria rusticana will take place in the home of mother Lucia, a bakery; Pagliacci takes place in the parish hall, used as a theater. The two works are also related because the troupe of clowns is already present in Cavalleria Rusticana, and the characters of the two stories intertwine and tie into a sort of continuum. My intent is to bring out the truth in these two stories, which is why I’ve tried to highlight the impact, passion, and fun." It’s a particularly intense period for the Venetian director, who in a few months strung together a series of new shows, from Guillaume Tell in London’s Zauberflöte and in La Fenice in Venice, and now is focusing on these two acts: symbol of Italian verismo, alongside a great interpreter of Italian opera as Sir Antonio Pappano. The opera will be broadcast live in movie theaters around the world on December 10. (Red)

DAMIANO MICHIELETTO

Damiano Michieletto (Venice, 1975) is an opera and theater director. He studied directing at the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Arts in Milan and literature at the University Ca 'Foscari of Venice. In 2003, he made his directorial debut with the opera Švanda il Zampognaro at the Wexford Festival, with great success with audiences and critics and a zero-cost installation ("six chairs and six umbrellas") for which he also won the Irish Times / ESB Theatre Award for best production. Since then, he has directed works in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Japan and China, and has received several other awards including the Franco Abbiati Prize for Best Director (2008) and the Reumert Prize Danemark for best production (2013). Source: archivioflaviobeninati.com