Orchestra Mozart, Bologna, conducted by Claudio Abbado

Gioachino Rossini: Overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia, 1812
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No 35 in D major, KV 385, the “Haffner”, 1782
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy: Symphony No 4 in A major, Op. 90, the “Italian”, 1833

In his work with the world’s greatest orchestras, Claudio Abbado – considered by critics to be the best live conductor of the present – always focuses on the moment of the performance, the magic of the evening, and the inspiration in the concert hall in front of a large audience. This is anything but routine, and the reason why, even with all the precision and attention to historical accuracy, Abbado’s interpretations sound fresh and allow each composition to radiate. He also manages to transfer this spirit to his recordings, several of which are considered benchmarks of the Classical and Romantic repertoire.

His career has taken him to the top positions of several leading opera houses, such as Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Vienna State Opera, and to the helm of world famous orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic, succeeding Herbert von Karajan there as Chief Conductor in 1989. Previously, he was named as General Music Director of the City of Vienna, where he founded “Wien Modern”, Austria’s largest festival of contemporary music. In 2003 Abbado founded the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which brings together members of Berlin’s Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as other internationally renowned musicians.

Orchestra Mozart was founded in Bologna in 2004 by the Regia Accademia Filarmonica and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, with Abbado as its Musical Director. Bologna is a member of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network and the home of Europe’s oldest university. Abbado has invited many renowned soloists to play with the Orchestra, as well as young, highly talented musicians from throughout Europe. The Orchestra has also made a name for itself on account of its commitment to social projects, establishing, for example, a groundbreaking music therapy project for patients in children’s medical units.

In its concert for the Cultural Days, Orchestra Mozart offers us a programme that is Italian in origin and inspiration, while also paying homage to the Austrian composer from which the Orchestra takes its name.

The programme begins with the Overture to Rossini’s magnificent opera buffa Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), which now belongs to the repertoire of great opera houses around the world.

Mozart composed the Symphony in D major, KV 385 – also known as the “Haffner Symphony”, owing to its roots in a commission from the Haffners, a Salzburg family – in Vienna in 1782. In a letter to his father dated 7 August 1782, Mozart wrote that the first allegro should be played with fire. This festive first movement is unusual in Mozart’s oeuvre, as it is based almost entirely on a short motif, which rings out in a powerful unison in the very first five bars. It is followed by an elegant andante and a minuet with a dance-like trio. The exuberant finale, a counterpart to the opening movement, should be played “as fast as possible”, according to Mozart’s wishes.

Mendelssohn’s perennially most popular work, the “Italian” Symphony, was conceived, as he wrote in a letter to his mother, as “a jolly symphony”, which it is in parts, though certainly not throughout. Inspiration came to him when visiting Rome, Venice, Florence and Naples during an extended stay in Italy. He referred to Italy as “an unbelievable country” and developed a deep affection for it – drawn, as so many artists, from cold northern Europe over the Alps to “the land where the lemon blossom grows”.

Piano recital – Edoardo Turbil

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, op. 57, “Appassionata”
Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in A major (K. 39), Sonata in D major
(K. 45) and Sonata in G major (K. 425)
Muzio Clementi: Sonata in G minor, op. 34, No 2
Robert Schumann: Sonata in G minor, op. 22

Concert with cellist Miriam Prandi and pianist Edoardo Turbil

Johann Sebastian Bach: Suite III for solo cello
Alfredo Piatti: Capriccios Nos 4 and 7 for solo cello
Giovanni Sollima: “Alone” for solo cello
Ottorino Respighi: Adagio con Variazioni
Dmitri Shostakovitch: Sonata in D minor, op. 40

Promoting young musicians is a particularly important cultural-political task in many European countries that is undertaken by conservatoires, music colleges and virtuosos that nurture the future generations. The immense musical talents of Miriam Prandi and Edoardo Turbil were recognised early on, whereby cellist Prandi, born in Mantua in 1990, is doubly talented in that she is also a highly accomplished pianist. Edoardo Turbil started to play the piano at the age of four and, a few years later, was already proficient enough to be able to perform concerts in front of large audiences.

As children, both musicians won prizes and wowed experienced audiences. They are undoubtedly child prodigies and with targeted support from an early age, they were able to develop their musical talents to their full potential. They have been helped along the way by a series of first-rate teachers and both young artists have already performed at Europe’s leading chamber music venues. They have been making music together now for several years and have together worked on the cello and piano repertoire, forming a convincing duo with their fresh interpretations and spontaneous musicianship.

Brahms, Schumann and Chopin are part of their continually expanding repertoire. They have also performed as soloists with orchestras, but prefer the more intimate forms of chamber music. The conversation between soloists and the orchestra takes place at a different level to the dialogue between two equal and equally strong instruments: whereas, in the case of a soloist and orchestra, it is a question of individuals asserting themselves over the group, in a chamber duo, it is more the case that dialogue and individual traits come to the fore. It is an intimate musical form, in which these young talents shine even more as they engage with their musical partner, respond to each other and react not only to the printed notes but to each other’s emotions.

Charity concert
A concert for you

From Baroque to Romanticism: the master violinist Uto Ughi and the chamber orchestra “I Filarmonici di Roma” with works by Vitali, Haydn, Rossini and Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745): Chaconne in G minor for violin and orchestra
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Violin concerto No 1 in C major, Hob. VIIa: Allegro moderato; Adagio; Finale: Presto
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868): Sonata for strings No 3 in C major: Allegro; Andante; Moderato
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847): Violin concerto in E minor, op. 64 (MWV O 14)

Uto Ughi is considered one of the greatest living violinists in Italy and is also a renowned conductor. He began playing the violin at the age of five and gave his first concert at the Teatro Lirico di Milano at seven; when he was eight a critic said that he could consider himself an artistically and technically mature violinist. At 15, Ughi went on his first tour of Europe, which took him to almost all the major cities. Since then he has played with the world’s best orchestras in the major concert halls and at international festivals. He has celebrated successes in Salzburg and Vienna, played in Russia with the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre in front of members of the country’s political and cultural elite, and in 1990, during a visit to the United Kingdom by the then Italian President Cossiga, was asked by him to play before Queen Elizabeth II.

From 1992 to 1997 Ughi was musical director of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and he founded a number of festivals and music awards; the promotion of classical music is a matter close to his heart. But he is involved in other cultural areas too: he advocates the protection of Italy’s cultural heritage and has set up a festival called “Omaggio a Venezia”, which helps to finance the restoration of Venetian monuments. His favourite instruments are a Guarneri del Gesù of 1744 and a Stradivarius of 1701, known as the “Kreutzer Stradivarius” because it belonged to the violinist to whom Beethoven dedicated his famous sonata.

Ughi is the musical director of the Filarmonici di Roma, formerly the Orchestra da Camera di Santa Cecilia. It is one of the most famous chamber music ensembles in Italy. Numerous recordings and television appearances have made Ughi and the chamber orchestra known to a large audience. When the European Parliament bestowed an award on the Filarmonici di Roma, it commented that the orchestra had attained the highest level in the interpretation of Italian classical music.

The charity concert in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche takes the audience from the Baroque to the Romantic era. The Chaconne is considered one of the greatest works of Baroque music, although Vitalis’ authorship is disputed. With Haydn, the programme features one of the main protagonists of the First Viennese School, while Rossini’s sonata for strings shows another side of the opera composer, and Mendelssohn’s violin concerto reaches the apogee of Romantic music.

In cooperation with the City of Frankfurt am Main Admission to the concert is free, but we would ask attendees on the evening to make a donation to the MUKIVA Kinder- und Familienzentrum e.V. This organisation runs, among other things, the SoFa-Tandem project, which brings together people from different cultures and different backgrounds and allows them to exchange knowledge and skills.

A piano performance by the improvisational artist Stefano Bollani

Who, apart from the Disney comic heroes, manages to get on the cover of a Mickey Mouse comic? Stefano Bollani, for example! Born in Milan in 1972, he recently appeared on the cover of the Italian version of the magazine, which in Italy is called “Topolino”, just like Mickey Mouse himself. In this issue of the comic book, the self-confessed Topolino fan starred in a story about the music business.

The man with wild curls is well known in Italy as an exceptionally gifted entertainer. He is full of ideas and is not afraid to borrow from popular culture and classical music. Primarily, Stefano Bollani is a jazz pianist and, as such, one of the great improvisational artists of our time. Nevertheless, he started out in pop. However, when he met the jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player Enrico Rava in Prato, he was advised to move away from pop and devote himself entirely to jazz, advice Stefano Bollani took to heart. Since then, Bollani has moved between classical perfection and free jazz with such nonchalance and ease that he has also obtained fame outside the jazz scene.

He has played often with Rava, but also with other international jazz greats, and feels comfortable performing on the world’s biggest music stages. And he can also sing. In fact, when he was just six years old he wanted to be a singer and accompanied himself at home on the keyboard. A few years later he made a tape recording and sent it to his idol Renato Carosene, who advised the young man to listen to lots of blues and jazz. At the age of 11 he went to the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, from where he graduated in piano in 1993.

In 1998 the magazine “Musica Jazz” awarded Bollani the title of best talent. Bollani knows every trick in the book when it comes to avant-garde jazz and is involved in various projects examining hybrid musical forms. With his improvisational skills that enable him to conjure up an entirely new audio experience out of well-known melodies, he is also able to reach an audience that otherwise would not take much interest in free jazz.

This concert will be recorded by hr2-kultur, the Hessicher Rundfunk’s cultural radio station, and will be broadcast by hr2-kultur Live Jazz from 6.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on 17 December 2011.

Sounds of Europe

Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi
under the direction of Xian Zhang
Gioacchino Rossini: Overture from “William Tell”, 1829
Luciano Berio/Franz Schubert: “Rendering”, 1988/1989
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 7 in A major, op. 92, 1811-1812

Over recent years the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, founded in 1993 by Vladimir Delman, has established itself as one of Italy’s leading ensembles. Its repertoire ranges from Bach right through to contemporary composers, encompassing also works from the Classical and Romantic tradition. During its short existence the orchestra has worked with some big names of the music world, such as Riccardo Chailly, Helmuth Rilling and the late Rudolf Barshai. Each season it gives more than 200 concerts, including special events aimed at children and young people.

In 1999 a new concert hall was built especially for the orchestra, the Auditorium di Milano, the acoustics of which are considered to be among the best in Italy. A vast number of leading soloists and guest conductors have already worked with the Orchestra. Each year the ensemble performs throughout Italy and gives guest performances in many other countries. The Orchestra has already recorded more than 25 CDs, including benchmark interpretations of many operatic works.

Since the 2009/10 season the Orchestra has been led by the Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang, born in 1973. She is the first woman to be appointed to the helm of an Italian orchestra and, in 2008, she became only the second woman to conduct the Staatskapelle Dresden at its New Year’s Concert. During the same season, she also conducted “Tosca” for Oper Frankfurt. In April 2008 she carried out a prestigious engagement with the Orchestra, performing at the Vatican in a concert organised by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano to mark the third anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s pontificate. From 2005 to 2008, Xian Zhang, who emigrated to the United States in 1988, was Musical Director of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.

“William Tell” was Rossini’s last opera, composed before he “burned out” at the age of 38. The opera is only rarely performed today, but its overture remains an evergreen of the concert hall.

Franz Schubert left behind many sketches for a 10th Symphony in D major (D936a), which he had feverishly worked on in the final weeks of his life. The Italian composer Luciano Berio (1925-2003) has not reconstructed or completed it, but instead restored it, just as one might recondition a fresco by intensifying the colours and sharpening up the contours. But just as blank spots can remain on wall paintings if the original design has faded too much, the new composition of Schubert’s 10th also contains gaps. The work was written for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and was premiered under Nikolaus Harnoncourt. “Rendering” is considered to be the most significant of Berio’s “Ricomposizione” in that it sheds new light on fragmentary material.

Although Carl Maria von Weber is said to have thought Beethoven “fit for the madhouse” because of the fourth movement of his 7th Symphony, the reviewer in the “Neue Musikalische Zeitung” of 2 January 1814 was extremely taken, stating that the 7th was the “most melodious, most pleasing and most comprehensible of all Beethoven’s symphonies”.

Transfer of patronage:
After the concert, the patronage of the Cultural Days will be transferred to France, the featured country in 2012.

Claudio Magris on “The boundaries of identity”

Chaired by Florian Schwinn, hr2-kultur

Claudio Magris, born in 1939, was professor of modern German literature at the University of Trieste from 1978 until 2006, when he was given emeritus status. His work focuses largely on the topic of central Europe and a European identity which exists despite, or indeed because of, the cultural diversity which characterises the continent. Magris has repeatedly returned in his writing to the subject of the thesis he submitted at the age of 24, which focused on the Habsburg myth of a multiracial state. This is a myth which – as Karl Schlögel put it in his eulogy when Magris was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2009 – was much more of a reality in literature than it was in politics.

Magris’ lifelong loyalty to his home town Trieste is not born merely of local patriotism; the author also sees the city as a mirror of Europe. Once the fourth-largest city of the Habsburg Empire, it lay on the periphery for decades. This changed in 1989, and when Slovenia joined the European Union in 2004, the Adriatic seaport and its Karst hinterland finally regained their position at the heart of a reunified Europe.

With his progressive thinking, Magris is an author who belongs to the grand tradition of western intellectuals. He speaks of the hope of peace and humanity which burns even in the darkest periods of history. And he describes the “conventional belief” that war has been conquered, at least in our region, as a “danger to real peace”; “we wish to deceive ourselves, with dreadful credulity,” he says. War is everywhere, but no-one wants to call it what it is. Even at Europe’s borders, “not only on Italy’s coasts, arriving refugees are considered to be predatory pirates”.

Magris’ literary breakthrough came with “Danubio”, which follows the Danube’s journey from its source to the sea and examines myth and reality in central Europe. This “biography of a river” was published in 1986 and sets out a vision of a reunified Europe which was to become reality just a few years later. In his thoughts and actions Magris moves between academic and essayistic writing, present day analysis and historical research, literature and politics. He is such a convinced European that his insistent promotion of the European idea gives even sceptics pause for thought.

In his lecture on “The boundaries of identity”, Magris tackles a topic which has occupied European writers since the late 19th century: the subject of cultural identity, which always seems to be bound up with the desire for delimitations, be they along the lines of nationality, gender, sexual orientation or social class.

Dacia Maraini reads from “Donne del Risorgimento” (“Women in the Italian unification movement”)

Chaired by Florian Balke, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Dacia Maraini was born in Fiesole near Florence in 1936, the daughter of a Sicilian princess and a well-known Florentine ethnologist. She published her first novel at the age of 26 and has since produced many novels, short stories, poems and essays, as well as investigative journalism.

Dacia Maraini is one of Italy’s leading feminists, but – in line with the Italian tradition of non-conformist behaviour – she has never been a proponent of pure doctrine or a spokeswoman for political correctness. She has set up theatre groups, written film scripts and penned plays that are performed throughout the world. She has received many awards for her work, which has been translated into dozens of languages.

Her life has been as dramatic and political as her writing. Her parents fled fascist Italy for Japan, where they spent three years in a prison camp. The family returned to Italy after the war, but not to the North; instead they went to Sicily, where the young Dacia was confronted with the role of women in southern Italy, which was to plunge her into lasting confusion. For 20 years she was the partner of the writer Alberto Moravia, and she suffered under the abiding perception that she was merely his muse. As a feminist, she fought many battles with the male-dominated Left of the 1970s, where the oppression of women was considered a secondary contradiction and the same patriarchal conditions existed as elsewhere in Italian society.

Maraini’s feminist novel “Woman at war” appeared in 1975, portraying a woman’s liberation in diary form. Dacia Maraini is the first Italian writer to apply a feminist world view to topics such as rape, lesbian love, prostitution, incest, violence towards women and animal cruelty and to give them literary treatment. 1990 saw the publication of the book that is considered her masterpiece, “The silent duchess”, which tells the tale of a deaf and dumb aristocrat and her clan. Maraini, a magnificent story-teller, sets out a Sicilian tableau in which sex and sensuality, family intrigue and the miracle of birth play a central role.

Together with 11 other female writers, Maraini recently published a book entitled “Donne del Risorgimento” (“Women in the Italian unification movement”), which is about the women who played a role in founding the modern Italian state 150 years ago.

Gianrico Carofiglio reads from “Le perfezioni provvisorie” (“Temporary perfections”)

Chaired by Margarete von Schwarzkopf

Gianrico Carofiglio was born in Bari in 1961 and has remained loyal to his home town, working there for many years as a judge and anti-Mafia prosecutor. The Apulian city is also where his bestselling novels are set: Guido Guerrieri, the protagonist, is a Bari-based lawyer, but – unlike his creator – he does not deal with organised crime, but with other forms of criminality. Carofiglio’s books are a pleasant contrast to most successful contemporary crime novels, whether or not Guerrieri plays a role; blood does not drip from every line, and events take their course in an almost contemplative manner, encompassing motions to take evidence, the examination of files, lengthy procedures and the routines of the corridors of justice.

Carofiglio has breathed new life into the legal thriller as a genre, where the focus is on finding strategies to secure an acquittal for the accused and compromises are made along the way, just as in real legal life. The author of the Guerrieri novels – which also have many fans in Germany – has an in-depth knowledge of the profession of which he writes, of course, but he asserts that his books are not autobiographical. However, the novels are certainly characterised by personal experience of a non-legal nature: he depicts the city he knows so well in an exceptionally untouristy way, describing the Italy of ordinary office workers and immigrants, taking the reader to dreary apartment blocks on the outskirts of Bari and having his characters drink their coffee in bars so ugly that no traveller would want to enter.

Carofiglio and his brother Francesco, an artist, have also published a brutal graphic novel in which Bari is portrayed as a city of terror, where child trafficking and prostitution are the order of the day. But in his crime novels, Carofiglio depicts Bari as an Apulian backwater where petty criminals may get up to mischief, but brutality and violence are the exception.

Carofiglio has been awarded the renowned “Premio Bancarella” literary prize for his crime fiction and also received Radio Bremen’s award for crime novels in 2008. However, his psychological awareness is not confined to his crime writing; “Né qui né altrove. Una notte a Bari” (“Neither here nor elsewhere – One night in Bari”), for example, is about the final farewell to youth, as three old friends meet up after 20 years and stay up all night in the city of their youthful exploits.

As part of the Cultural Days of the European Central Bank, Carofiglio will be reading from his latest Guerrieri novel, which will appear in German in the autumn under the title “In ihrer dunkelsten Stunde”. It tells the tale of the disappearance of a wealthy student and the secret circles in which she moves, followed by the lawyer. The journalist Margarete von Schwarzkopf will chair the evening, and the actor Heio von Stetten will read excerpts from the German translation.

Maktub Noir Compagnia di Danzatori

“Visioni notturne” (Night Visions) and “Crazy Light Moon”

The “Maktub Noir Compagnia di Danzatori” was founded in 2007 by two young dancers, Pietro Pireddu and Valentina Fruzzetti. Their first production was called “Perdidos”, which dealt with the delicate topic of kidnapping, and it was with this piece that the company made its debut at the Florence Dance Festival in Villa Solaria. The success of this performance led to the ballet ensemble receiving requests from all over Italy, and the dancers went on to perform in many different Italian cities. Maktub Noir began to work together with the Florence Dance School and is currently based in Florence. The company has also cooperated with other dance companies, and has also drawn inspiration from the William Forsythe Company based in Dresden and Frankfurt.

Pietro Pireddu has gained wide recognition as a choreographer in recent years and has received an array of important awards. His work is not in the genre of classic narrative ballet, but it does contain narrative moments and topical references. The choreography for “Crazy Light Moon” is rather formal: the figures in the lighting-defined spaces appear to be both real bodies and images of themselves all at once. The piece is a continuous controversy, says Pireddu, an experiment, the results of which immediately contradict themselves. The viewer is constantly influencing the experiment, just as the piece is influencing the viewer.

“Visioni notturne” is the name of one part of the trilogy as well as the trilogy itself. “Visioni notturne” is about dreams, which make humans a creative force. The dancers are not the people in the dreams but rather the dreams of the people, says the choreographer of this part of his work. “Solo per un uomo” was inspired by “sworn virgins”, of whom there are very few in the Balkans today: women who behave like men in order to escape the traditional female role or in order to take over leadership tasks in families where the men are missing. From this starting point, Pireddu wants to portray an image of women on the stage that leaves behind narrow gender fixations. Finally, “Soul Movement” focuses on an individual dreamer’s expression of feelings.

Alberto Magnelli – a Florentine painter
Drawings 1950-1970

He is one of the most important self-taught artists of the twentieth century: Alberto Agnelli was born in Florence in 1888 and began working as a painter, quickly becoming a huge success. At just 20 years old, he had already established himself enough to be able to take part in the Biennale in Venice.

To begin with, he painted in the Fauvist style, and got to know important representatives of the Italian avant-garde in his home town. He went to Paris, where he was exposed to the Cubist movement and met the most famous fine artists and writers of the era, quickly discovering his own abstract style, which was inspired by futurism and cubism. However, Magnelli soon returned to figurative art.

When many of the Italian avant-garde artists turned to fascism, Magnelli distanced himself from them and made another stylistic U-turn: to concrete art. Paris became his permanent residence, although he temporarily resided in Grasse in the south of France after the national socialists marched into Paris. After 1945 he became one of the main protagonists of geometric, concrete abstraction, an art form that fully insists on the inherent laws of form and colour. In Paris, Magnelli was one of the spokesmen for non-figurative painters and influenced artists like Nicolas de Staël and Victor Vasarely. He took part in the Kassel-based exhibitions documenta I and documenta II in 1955 and 1959 respectively, and represents those specific elements of abstract painting that can be considered particularly elegant and which many Italian artists consider to be characteristic of this style. Magnelli died in 1971 in Meudon, Paris.

The collection displays a selection of original graphics from the period 1950 to 1970. Some works belonging to Alberto Magnelli’s estate are being shown to the public for the first time.

Costanza Caraffa
Papal or Italian? Bernini’s St. Peter’s Square and the first competition for the Vittoriano (1882) in Rome

On 20 September 1870 Italian soldiers penetrated a breach in the Eternal City’s Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia. Almost ten years after the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 – now 150 years ago – the unification was, at least provisionally, complete. On 3 February 1871 Rome was officially named the capital city of Italy. The uncompromising Pope Pius IX rejected the Law of Guarantees of 13 May 1871, declaring himself a prisoner and retreating into the Vatican. In a climate of mutual distrust and under pressure of papal excommunication, the young state had to form its own identity like that of its citizens, which, particularly in the capital city, led to a construction and monument policy as changeable as it was confused. Especially in Rome, the new Italy was constantly being confronted with the magnitude of its ancient and papal history. To establish its own royal weight, it was necessary on the one hand to tie itself in, albeit carefully, with the glorious ancient times, and on the other, which was a far more difficult task, to distinguish itself from its deposed predecessors, namely the popes.

Costanza Caraffa’s lecture looks into this problem and examines the phenomena relating to the reception of St. Peter’s Square in the designs for the first competition for the Vittoriano (1882). A link is drawn between the two most prominent monuments in Rome – St. Peter's Square and the “Typewriter” on Capitoline Hill. Costanza Caraffa was born in 1966 and studied architecture at the Politecnico di Milano as well as art history at the Freie Universität Berlin, from where she received her doctorate in 2003. Alongside a variety of curatorial and academic projects, from 2000 to 2005 she was a member of the academic staff at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. Since 2006 she has been managing the photo library at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence.

“Arte Povera and its consequences”

Discussion on the exhibition “Arte Essenziale” at the Frankfurter Kunstverein with, among others, the artist Gianni Caravaggio and the art historian Nike Bätzner

The term “Arte Povera” was coined by the critic and curator Germano Celant in 1967. It describes a group of artists in the north of Italy and Rome who, in the 1960s and 1970s, created objects and installations with everyday materials, such as earth, plaster, wire, string and similar materials. It was mostly about defining space in a narrow and a figurative sense: the social space was meant as much as the exhibition space. “Arte Povera” was thereby part of a pan-European art development, to which, for example, Joseph Beuys also belonged with his idea of “social plastic”: artists did not supply prefabricated world views, but material which was supposed to make people think. Social reality always played a role in this; art was seen as part of life and not as a sphere that existed independently of day-to-day working life. Among the representatives of “Arte Povera” were Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighiero Boetti, Lucio Fontana, Jannis Kounellis, Pino Pascali, Giulio Paolini, Emilio Prini, Eva Hesse, Mario Merz and Fabrizio Plessi.

The fact that “Arte Povera” is one of the most significant styles of the 20th century is proven not least by a series of generations of artists referring to it directly. The fragmentation of sculptural processes, the emphasis of individual materials through their use in isolation, the connection between sculpture and painting, the temporality of sculpture or the examination of sculptural procedures, their production and their physical laws and strengths, which make their appearance in the space possible, are still central themes within discussions about sculpture today. The podium discussion accompanying the exhibition “Arte Essenziale” at the Frankfurter Kunstverein will investigate the question of what meaning “Arte Povera” has today and what artistic vocabulary the younger generation uses to refer to it.

“Genitori e figli”

OV/EN*, directed by Giovanni Veronesi, 2010

“Genitori e figli: Agitare bene prima dell’uso” (Parents and children: shake well before using) is a light-hearted comedy: a pretty boy – a wannabe actor – takes part in one audition for reality TV shows after another, and a 15-year-old has her first sexual experience, which confuses her to some extent. The film borrows heavily from current Italian pop culture, but also refers to the latest political and social phenomena, tackling very intense issues: for example, it raises the question of what direction life takes children in a world dominated by superficialities. The film has lots of Italian flair and surprises its audience outside Italy with a series of cultural peculiarities – for example, with pupils’ need to pelt each other with water-filled balloons on their last day of school.

“Happy Family”

OV/EN*, directed by Gabriele Salvatores, 2010

“Happy Family” is the adaptation of a successful play which, for its part, refers to Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author”. Scriptwriter Ezio has difficulties with a story in which two families meet each other because their children intend to marry. The family members present themselves in front of the camera, but they too often repeat what others have already said. Ezio writes himself into the film as a character. The characters he invents urge him to give them bigger and better roles, as well as to give the story an ending that convinces not just those who are appreciative of art, but also the wider audience. Ezio speaks to the camera about fear of life in general, as well as about the fact that film is said to be life and life is said to be a film. In this way, “Happy Family” gains a theoretical level and is a reflection on cinema, which is interrupted by a black-and-white sequence with views of Milan at night, with faces and scenes that have nothing to do with the rest of the film.

“Anche libero va bene”

OV/EN*, directed by Kim Rossi Stuart, 2008

The story of “Anche libero va bene” (Along the ridge) is told from the point of view of 11-year-old Tommaso, an excellent swimmer, but one who would much rather play football and only swims to avoid disappointing his single father, who is as irascible as he is caring. Tommaso and his elder sister attempt to cope with their situation and flee into fantasy worlds and suicidal thoughts until their mother suddenly appears at the door. She is exhausted and pleads with her family to have her back. Not for the first time, she had vanished without a trace, as viewers soon learn. The battle for love and friendship, and difficulties with puberty and existence in general are demonstrated perfectly through these four characters in a film that reports on issues in life without ever sinking into mawkishness.

“La bellezza del somaro”

OV/EN*, directed by Sergio Castellitto, 2010

The shock is, to some extent, deep-rooted when 17-year-old Rosa brings beautiful Armando home with her – he is over 70. Her parents’ house is as liberal as can be imagined. Her father is a successful architect, while her mother is a psychotherapist. They do not accept the relationship, and the longer it goes on, the harder they try to make her change her mind. The focal point of the film is a Halloween party, in the course of which madness really runs riot. What Rosa thinks of Armando is not that important in this film, which is meant to be understood as a parable of the eternal imbalance between parental ideas and the wishes of children. Armando presents embellished banalities as pieces of wisdom, which admittedly are not recognised as such by the others: this is one of the recurring moments in a comedy whose characters are all in need of therapy, especially the psychotherapist. She invites two of her patients along to the party, who fit in perfectly. Castellitto presents neurotics in the film, while the adults have never really grown up and generational conflict seems to be an essential driving force for irrational behaviour. The director mainly employs a hand-held camera and uses a soundtrack which, with artists including Willie Nelson, the Cranberries and 50 Cent, represents an eclectic mixture of music.

La nostra vita (Our Life)

2010, OV/EN*, directed by Daniele Luchetti

A social drama and family comedy rolled into one: Italian cinema has valued this connection since time immemorial. “La nostra vita” is a modern version of this and, despite a realistic portrayal of today’s working class environment and of the will to climb socially by means of having one’s own business, this film is also one of deep feelings, in which love and family life are unrealistically depicted as the one true source of happiness. Claudio, a builder who is working at a building site in a suburb of Rome, loves his wife beyond all measure. She is pregnant with her third child. One day, Claudio finds the remains of an illegal immigrant at the building site. He keeps quiet about his find because he fears that the construction project could be stopped and he could lose the work. The event overshadows his simple and hitherto carefree life. But it gets worse: injustices befall him, which he desperately fights. However, love and his children’s laughter allow him to triumph in the end.

“I baci mai dati”

OV/EN*, directed by Roberta Torre, 2010

13-year-old Manuela lives in a Sicilian suburb with parents who are easily irritated and an older sister who has somewhat loose morals. The father is unemployed, which is a constant source of tension. The family’s flat overlooks a square where the devout inhabitants of the rundown district have put up a statue of the Madonna. One night, some careless young men knock the Virgin’s head off and hide the pieces in a nearby shed. Manuela says that Mary appeared to her in a dream and told her where the lost parts of the figure were to be found. Director Roberta Torre does not make it clear whether in “I baci mai dati” Manuela is a saint or a girl who wants to look important. In the suburb where Manuela lives, people are certainly willing to see her as a saint, and the mother of the teenager senses big money. The film takes seriously the religious needs that people have, but does not mount an uncritical defence of the belief in miracles. With its mixture of scenes taken from real life and fictional sequences, the film reminded critics of Fellini.

Story time with Ferdinand the castle cat and the pre-school choir of the Frankfurter Bürgerstiftung

A journey through Italy

Many people dream of Italy. Even Ferdinand the castle cat, who otherwise feels at home in Frankfurt’s Holzhausenschlösschen, occasionally has the urge to travel. So he makes his way to a country that has much to offer. Down there, it’s good to discover everything with others. Ferdinand meets the Roman cats and makes friends with them, especially with Marcella, “the fantastic cat”. They visit the cities of Pisa, Florence and Rome, where they discover the Forum and thus the ruins of the ancient world and even meet the Pope in the Vatican. Ferdinand’s friend, the flying pig Louise, also joins in with things again. The pre-school choir of the Frankfurter Bürgerstiftung accompanies the funny and amazing journey with some happy songs.

Märchen zum Knabbern
Fiabe da mangiare
Fairy tales to nibble on

For children aged 5 to 8

Bilingual event (German/Italian)

Fairy tales have tastes. For example, there is the apple into which Snow White bites. Or the gingerbread house which Hansel and Gretel are lured into by the witch. And the feast with the fox and the cat that Pinocchio enjoys. “Fiabe da mangiare – Märchen zum Knabbern” takes children aged 5 to 8 on a magical culinary journey. A German and an Italian fairy tale are the focus of the event, where the children will be asked to participate. There will be a musical background, and everyone can taste the dishes prepared using the ingredients mentioned in the fairy tales. Each child must be accompanied by an adult and each adult should supervise a maximum of two children.

“Do you know Rossini?”

Discover the life and work of this famous Italian composer with the Kammersängerin June Card.

He was hailed as the “Italian Mozart” and lovers of bel canto revere him for his wonderful melodies. His operas are part of the repertoires of all the world’s greatest music theatres. Whenever Italian opera is discussed, the name of Gioachino Rossini is always mentioned. The soprano June Card, who was for many years closely associated with the Frankfurt Opera, brings to life one of the most colourful composers in the history of music.

At the age of 38 Rossini stopped writing operas and from then on devoted himself entirely to his two other closely related passions: fine food and cooking. As a gourmet, he was partial to all sorts of delicacies from the kitchen and wine cellar. As an amateur chef, he created dishes that still bear his name today.\

“William Tell” was composed in 1829, the last of a total of 38 operas by Rossini. He produced his first work for music theatre, “The Marriage Contract”, when he was just 18. His most famous opera, “The Barber of Seville”, had its premiere on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

In 1822, when only 30 years old, Rossini met Beethoven, who, writing about the “Barber of Seville”, said that the work would be played as long as Italian opera exists and that the composer should never try his hand at anything but opera buffa. Despite this, Rossini went ahead and, in addition to his more cheerful works, also composed opera seria, orchestral pieces and songs. After he gave up writing operas, he concentrated on sacred music and chamber music.

In November the evening programme of the Papageno Musiktheater will be devoted to three Italian composers: Verdi, Puccini and Rossini. The Kammersängerin June Card, a close associate of the Papageno Musiktheater, will host four evenings of opera, when concert soloists and opera singers will present arias, duets and scenes from the works of the three composers.

“Arte Essenziale”

An exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein of works by eight artists from Italy, the United Kingdom, Georgia and the United States.

The term “Arte Povera” was coined by critic and curator German Celant in 1967 and refers to a group of artists who went back to using ordinary, everyday materials such as earth, broken glass, string, wood, stone, plaster and chalk in their room installations. The “Arte Essenziale” exhibition is a collection of works by eight contemporary artists, who follow this tradition of “Arte Povera”: Karla Black and Ian Kiaer from the United Kingdom, Alice Cattaneo, Gianni Caravaggio and Francesco Gennari from Italy, Jason Dodge and Helen Mirra from the United States and Thea Djordjadze from Georgia.

Between May and September 2011 the exhibition is being hosted in Reggio Emilia. All of the pieces were created specially for the exhibition. The thoughts of the Italian philosopher Federico Ferrari developed around the term “Arte Essenziale” represent the common thread of the works. One of the underlying theories of the avant-garde is that, in order for art to be able to ask the enduring philosophical questions about existence in a new way in this world of abundance, it must limit itself to the essential. With postmodernism, this type of basic approach was pushed aside. For the last few years, however, it has increasingly been coming to the fore again, including in pieces by those artists whose works are being displayed at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.

On the other side of an art industry which no longer places a huge value on the former objectives of art – such as gaining new insights or the formation of the social environment – the necessity for a new beginning is being verbalised. The basics or the essential, which is the starting point of the artworks represented here, is the artistic element of art. Self-reflection on what art actually is is thus the focal point of the exhibition.