May 6 – After the success at the Venice Biennale during the 58th edition of the International Festival of Contemporary Music directed by Ivan Fedele, “Kater i Rades. Il Naufragio ” arrives in Albania. The chamber opera features theatrical direction by Salvatore Tramacere and lyrics by Alexander Leogrande; the Biennale di Venezia commissioned it to Albanian composer Admir Shkurtaj. Il Naufragio is now in Albania thanks to the support of the Teatro Pubblico Pugliese / Puglia Sounds, the Fondazione Gramsci di Puglia, the Italian Cultural Institute of Tirana, in collaboration with the Institute of Mediterranean Cultures of the Province of Lecce and Tirana Open – The Book and Arts Festival. The opera’s international debut is scheduled for Friday, May 8 at 8pm at the concert hall BulevardiDeshmoret and Kombit of the University of Arts in Tirana. The work is part of the Book and Arts Festival, an annual event dedicated to contemporary art, literature and other cultural events, this year in its second edition. The show tells the sinking of the patrol boat Kater Radëscarica in the Strait of Otranto with 120 refugees fleeing from Albania on board. On that Good Friday of 1997, more than 80 people were killed. The story became a tragic symbol of the “boat people” looking for a country that would restore their freedom and dignity as human beings. (Red)
