Rome Opera maybe the coolest and calmest place today in an Infernal City with temperatures well into their thirties .But even here it will be hotting up this autumn with a programme announced of 14 Operas, 8 Ballets and 3 Concerts for the 25/26 season.With another 8 titles this month in the historic open air Baths of Caracalla and Massenzio Basilica under the title from the Sacred to the Human.
The superb Roberto Bolle and friends on stage tonight, but not sure what category that falls under, as with West Side Story or Carmina Burana too .
They make enticing titles ,though , for the Rome Opera that over the past few seasons has known how to reinvented itself thanks to the genial presence of Paolo Arcá and Michele Mariotti under the eagle eye of Francesco Giambrone.
Simonetta Allder the renowned Ballet critic based in Rome writes ; “Before Clair de lune, Marcos Madrigal played a short solo, Rachmaninov’s Spring Waters which the many dance lovers in the audience immediately recognised as being one of the most challenging pas de deux for ballet dancers: choreographed by Asaf Messerer in 1959, it epitomises the athletic Soviet style of ballet. On this occasion, however, the thrills were entirely up to the virtuoso playing of Madrigal, as the whirlwind speed of the piece is understandably a little too-challenging for the now 50-year-old Roberto Bolle.
The ballet divo appeared onstage shortly afterwards, with his male partner Toon Lobach, for the much gentler Debussy. The choreography, by Julian Nunes, although not virtosistic, demanded the precision and grace that only great dancers like Bolle (and friends) can provide. No moon was visible in the sky above the stage last night, so it was indeed up to Bolle and Lobach, both in white, to remind the enthralled spectators of the ever-changing motions of the moon – in contrast to the nocturnal black of Marcos and his piano. Together, the four could not have shone more brightly, bringing the house – or rather, the Baths – down!”
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 