Teodora
climb to the sky in five movements
Chamber opera for soprano, actress, dancer, choir, and instruments (Edizioni Curci, Milan)
music by Mauro Montalbetti
libretto and direction by Barbara Roganti
Roberta Mameli soprano
Matilde Vigna actress
Barbara Martinini dancer
Altrevoci Ensemble
Andrea Berardi organ
Choir of the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali “Giuseppe Verdi”
choirmaster Antonio Greco
Ravenna Festival’s commission for the performance in the Basilica of S. Vitale
in coproduction with the 30th International Sacred Music Festival of Pordenone
world premiere
For almost fifteen hundred years, Empress Theodora has stared sternly at the faithful and visitors of the Basilica of San Vitale, her purple chlamys embroidered with the Magi, a jewelled chalice in her hands. Now, at last, the Basilissa that Frank Thiess described as “revered as a saint and cursed as demon”, leaves her wall of mosaics to take shape, body and life as the protagonist of Mauro Montalbetti’s Teodora. Una scalata al cielo in cinque movimenti. This new chamber opera, based on a libretto by Barbara Roganti, will be premièred right under the golden vaults of the basilica and the glittering mosaic of the Empress and her retinue. Not a mere biography—the authors explain—but rather a musical itinerary through the labyrinth of her existence.
