GIACOMO CUTICCHIO ENSEMBLE - Pentedattilo Film Festival

GIACOMO CUTICCHIO ENSEMBLE

Sunday DECEMBER 11th at 20.30             

Ticket euro 5 - The entrance fee is combined with the awards ceremony and screening of the winning short films.

  

Teatro Francesco Cilea - Reggio Calabria

GIACOMO CUTICCHIO ENSEMBLE in Concert

 

Quaderno di danze e battaglie dell'Opera dei Pupi

 

Nicola Mogavero soprano and baritone saxophone

Mauro Vivona horn

Paolo Pellegrino 1st cello

Aliya Bakieva 2nd cello

Giacomo Cuticchio piano and direction

The Pentedattilo Film Festival opens to the legendary world of the “Opera dei Pupi”, recognised by UNESCO as "oral and intangible heritage" of Humanity, with the musical work "Quaderno di danze e battaglie dell’Opera dei Pupi" that will be performed by Giacomo Cuticchio’s Ensemble to open the awards ceremony and screening of the winning short films. A five sets music program. The listener's imagination materialises visually what the music conveys and appreciate the important moments of the Sicilian Puppet Theatre as battles, fights evil, palace intrigues, betrayal, love, loyalty, etc.

"My “Quaderno di danze e battaglie dell’Opera dei Pupi is a tribute to the work of “opranti” puppeteers and their creations. The Overture traditionally introduces the action and the themes of chivalric narratives developed in the following passages. “Arditi e Trame” which is a musical representation of the praise of Paladins of France, a traditional parade that sees the Knights of Charlemagne with his retinue of princesses and squires, until the sound of the "war horn" announces the siege of the opponent army. With it, the beginning of the next battle, marked initially by time signature in 7/8, evokes the foot beat - almost a dance -, which puppeteers perform behind the scenes to give rhythm to the duel between paladins, while the following triple metre, which closes the warlike number, is the same as the traditional tactus of pitched battles. The next framework, Love's Labour's Lost, is characterised by a peace between tension and abandon, suspended between the delicacy of courtly love and the harshness of the ethical paradigms that characterise the relationships between the Paladins of France. The last framework introduces the listener into the “La fabbrica degli incantesimi” where, the fantastic Puppet theatre comes to life among powerful wizards, masters of all magic and sorcery. The extraordinary musicians of the Ensemble are masters of singing and charm, sometimes Paladins sometimes puppeteers.

Nicholas Mogavero alternates between the agility of the soprano saxophone and the soft and rough depth of the baritone sax. Mauro Vivona with his warrior brass horn, Paolo Pellegrino’s and Aliya Bakieva’s cellos, create a continuous ordeal between the solo and orchestral colour openings.

“My piano takes part in the Opera like the old barrel organ, which by tradition takes the role of musical commentator of the shows of the Puppet Theatre. The same piano I played as a child during my apprenticeship as a puppeteer.” The “Rapsodia Fantastica” ends the program and is played by Chiara Andrich through her video images. It is a composition freely articulated in which I leave to resonate the work, the rhythms and atmosphere of my family theatre ".

Giacomo Cuticchio