Mar. 24 – The Italian Institute of Culture in Marseille, as part of a larger project dedicated to Venice, is paying homage to the history and culture of the lagoon city with an event centered around cinema and music. The event, sponsored by the City of Venice and RAI, is scheduled for Thursday, March 27. Activities will commence at 6pm with the screening of the film “Venezia Salva” by Serena Nono; at 7:30pm, however, the group Chamber Opera of Venice will present “The last musical season of the Venetian Republic,” with a musical selection covering Antonio Vivaldi, Giovanni Benedetto Platti, Baldassare Galuppi and Ferdinando Giuseppe Bertoni. The event is part of “Mars en baroque” and will, over the course of the day, offer a journey into the past of one of the most intriguing cities in the world. Nono’s film is loosely based on the tragedy of Simone Weil, who recounts the attempted sack of Venice in 1618. Produced by Giano with RAI Cinema, the film was supported by the Regione Veneto Film Commission and the Casa dell’Ospitalità, a facility that houses homeless people in Venice and Mestre. Riccardo Alfarè and Pia Elina Pulkkinen on the violins, Lorenzo Parra on the cello and Mario Parra on the clavecembalo will then animate with their music the second part of the evening. The Chamber Opera was born in Venice and is today one of the most important chamber and orchestral ensembles in the city, performing music in Italy and abroad and taking part in numerous international festivals. In short, as Nietzsche said, ” if I had to search for a word to replace ‘music’ with, I could only think of Venice.”
