Roberto Bolle in "Caravaggio"

Finally for the first time in Italy the extraordinary ballet that debuted in Germany in 2008

It will be staged at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino on May 9th, 10th and 11th, 2025; and from May 15th to 21st at the TAM Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan

Florence, November 29th, 2024 - Finally, for the first time in Italy, the extraordinary ballet Caravaggio by Mauro Bigonzetti, expected as a special event on 9, 10, 11 May 2025 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino - within the scope of the 87th edition of the eponymous Festival - and immediately after - from 15 to 21 May - at the TAM Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan.

The project’s promoter and protagonist performer of Caravaggio is the Étoile Roberto Bolle, ambassador of Italian culture in the world and spokesperson for the diffusion of ballet as an accessible art form dedicated to all. Next to him, some of the best solo dancers of international standing, along with a corps de ballet created for the occasion through audition, which will include about 30 young freelance dancers.

A project, therefore, all Italian - created in 2008 for the Staatsballett Berlin directed by Vladimir Malakhov - thought by Mauro Bigonzetti, acclaimed Italian choreographer of the contemporary panorama, on music of the composer and conductor Bruno Moretti, which gave a new symphonic orchestration to pieces by Claudio Monteverdi taken from the Orfeo – from the Combattimento di Tancredi and Clorinda, from Incoronazione di Poppea and from the Settimo libro dei madrigali.

The opra is powerful and memorable and is inspired by the works of the Italian painter Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), of which Bigonzetti highlights the complexity of the figure, celebrating the aspects that make up man and artist. On the one hand his troubled inner world, moved by a particularly restless soul, and on the other the story through the expression of his art. Caravaggio, following the interrelation of these two aspects, becomes therefore a psychological and dramatic ballet, which from the dramaturgical point of view has its "notes" recurring in solo, duets, trios and quartets, Interspersed with choral scenes that relax the tension and give motion to an action substantially focused on the ego of Caravaggio. Thanks to the essential scenographic furniture and lighting design, cleverly created by Carlo Cerri, the union between the two worlds branches out, exalting choreographic thought and enhancing the movement of bodies.

The ballet Caravaggio, choreography by Mauro Bigonzetti, is a production in collaboration between the Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and ARTEDANZA SRL, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the contribution of Intesa Sanpaolo.