June 25 – The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio received a very warm welcome at the sold out world premiere of its new show. After the resounding success of “The Magic Flute”, the famous multi-ethnic orchestra has staged Georges Bizet’s masterpiece “Carmen”, with arrangements by Mario Tronco and Leandro Piccioni. The show, created in collaboration with the Opera Theatre of Saint-Etienne, debuted yesterday at the Nuits de Fourvière Festival in Lyon, where it will go on stage until June 26. At the end of the show, hundreds of pillows landed on stage, a gesture that, in the tradition of the French festival, is manifested by the public only in case of high popularity. “I am very pleased – said the Mario Tronco – with the show: the sixty people on stage, unusual for our gigs, proved to be a great challenge won by the Orchestra. It was a magical evening, with the audience reacting exactly at the right moments and the final, enthusiastic, applause. I hope I can bring the same sensations to Italy very soon, with the help of a brave sponsor showing the same courage they have made a display of here in France in producing such a big, yet timely, show.” After France, the next important European event will be July 25, when the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio will inaugurate the Womad Festival UK, founded by Peter Gabriel, presenting its modern interpretation of The Magic Flute. “The organizers had already closed the billboard – Tronco says – but they re-opened it especially for us.”
