We receive from Giovanella Brancato (Teatro Massimo Press Office) and we gladly publish:
The symphonic season of #TeatroMassimo opens with the screening of the film and the music of Nino Rota performed live with Maestro Timothy Brock on the podium
For the first time in an opera house, a screening of the film “Il Gattopardo” by Luchino Visconti will be offered, based on the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, in the recently restored version, with the complete live performance of the music from the soundtrack composed by Nino Rota. The score will be performed by the Teatro Massimo Orchestra, directed by Timothy Brock, recognized among the leading international experts in the live rendering of film music, which will guide the execution synchronized with the images.
The restoration project of the film and the separation of the soundtrack from the dialogues was born from the collaboration of CAM Sugar – record company and music archive specializing in soundtracks by the great masters of cinema – and the Cineteca di Bologna, with the support of the Giorgio Cini Foundation. The difficult task of separating the music from the dialogues was made possible thanks to the discovery of Nino Rota's manuscript score and the original master tapes of the period recordings, in addition to the use of advanced techniques, including artificial intelligence, to separate the tracks.
Based on the novel of the same name by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, “The Leopard” it is a profound reflection on the end of a world and on the illusion of change in Sicily during the Risorgimento. Nino Rota's music enhances this narrative, intertwining melancholy and greatness, nostalgia and splendor, contributing to making the novel and the film an icon of Italian culture in the world. Among the most famous musical moments of the film, the final suite of the “Grand Brilliant Waltz” stands out, based on an unreleased piece by Giuseppe Verdi, which was arranged and transcribed for orchestra by Nino Rota.
Protagonist of twentieth century Italian music, Rota was a child prodigy, student of great masters, protege of Toscanini, friend of Stravinsky. Unlike other composers, he accepted the needs and limits imposed by film clients, creating more than one hundred and fifty soundtracks, some of which have made the history of cinema – La dolce vita, The Leopard, The godfather, Romeo and Juliet.
One of the greatest experts in the field of film music returns to conduct the Teatro Massimo Orchestra, Timothy Brock. American musical director and composer, specializes in the repertoire of the first half of the 20th century and in performances of silent films with musical accompaniment. He is the author of over 20 original soundtracks for silent films by Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, Robert Vienna, F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, John Ford and many others. In 1999 the Chaplin Foundation commissioned him to restore the original score of “Modern Times”, starting a collaboration that led him to curate and direct the original music of all Chaplin's great masterpieces throughout the world.
“The Leopard” directed by Luchino Visconti is a Titanus film, restored by Cineteca di Bologna, The Film Foundation, Pathé, Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation, Twentieth Century Fox and Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia-Cineteca Nazionale at the “L’Immagine Ritrovata” laboratory. The restoration was promoted by GUCCI and The Film Foundation, Digital Picture Restoration e Colorworks. With special thanks to Martin Scorsese, Titanus and Giuseppe Rotunno.
Among the collateral events at the inauguration of the concert season, the 3 December at 17.00, is expected at the Feltrinelli bookshop in Palermo (via Cavour), the presentation of Francesco Lombardi's book “Nino Rota. Story of the magician Doppio and the fairy Giglia" (Feltrinelli publisher). The work traces the composer's great artistic and human adventure, making use of mostly unpublished documents and testimonies that reconstruct the parable of an artist whose life was very intense, made up of family ties and very strong friendships and collaborations with some of the major artists of his time, from the Fellines and Life to Philipp, Béjart, Coppola and Zeffirelli. The volume will be presented by Marco Betta, Superintendent of the Teatro Massimo Foundation, and by Dario Oliveri, professor of History of Modern and Contemporary Music at the University of Palermo.
The editors of SAFC