"La principessa di gelo": from 14 to 18 February 2024

The collaboration between the Teatro del Maggio and Venti Lucenti is renewed: on the bill, from February 14th to 18th, 2024, "La principessa di gelo", a show aimed at schools, children, young people and families, based on Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece “Turandot”. 

The direction, stage writing and costumes of the show are handled by Manu Lalli; on the podium - leading the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra, maestro Giuseppe La Malfa.

Florence, February 12th, 2024 – The collaboration between the Teatro del Maggio and the Venti Lucenticompany is renewed, a few months after the performances of La meravigliosa storia del flauto magico, on stage last December with the Main Hall sold out for every performance in all seating orders. Scheduled, from February 14th to 18th 2024, with a dress rehearsal open for schools (February 14th at 10.30 am), two performances reserved for schools (February 15th and 16th at 10.30 am) and two performances for the regular audience (February 17th and 18th at 4.30pm), still in the Main Hall, La principessa di gelo, a show based on one of Giacomo Puccini's most beloved operas, Turandot.

Manu Lalli, as usual, takes care of the direction, costumes and scenic writing of the opera, which he sees on the podium, leading the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra and the Student Children's Choir of the “All'Opera.. Project - Schools at Maggio!” maestro Giuseppe La Malfa.

The choir teachers are Anastasiya Byshlyaha and Diana Gaci Scaletti.

On stage some of the talents of the Accademia del Maggio: Eunhee Maggio and Valentina Corò (February 16th and 18th) play Princess Turandot; Alfonso Zambuto and Oronzo D'Urso (February 16th and 18th) are instead in the role of Calaf; Olha Smokolina is Liù. Enrico Rotoli plays Emperor Altoum, the father of Princess Turandot.

Chiara Casalbuoni is the narrator of the story; Cristina Multinu and Maurizio Lalli are Le spade on stage.

The artistic cast is completed by the Actors and Entertainers of the Venti Lucenti company, the actors of the Project “At the Opera... schools at Maggio!” and, as actors and children's choir, 450 students from primary schools in Florence, as well as 4,100 students from 68 schools in 23 municipalities in Tuscany.

Scenes are by Daniele Leone and created by the Scenic Laboratory of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; the lights are by Andrea Locorotondo; the choreographic movements are curated by Chiara Casalbuoni; the creation of the sound environments and live electronics is by Andrea Baggio; Ginevra Bonitakes care of the video projections while Tailoring, Tooling and Accessories are created by the Laboratorio Venti Lucenti curated by Marco Burberi, Paola Pietri and Elena Pancino.

Speaking about the show, maestro Giuseppe La Malfa underlined how the show is truly a great adaptation work carried out on Puccini's masterpiece, having maintained - adapting it - the narrative and musical heart: "It is really nice to be able to propose this show again in Sala Grande del Maggio, and it is wonderful to do it in collaboration with the Accademia del Maggio, whose talents are truly amazing and truly first-rate voices. The show is exciting, with over 300 children and young people on stage, who sing some fragments and participate in the scene is truly unique. For me, this 2024 - the Puccini year par excellence - also marks the tenth year of my collaboration with Venti Lucenti and Manu Lalli, with whom we had the opportunity to create numerous shows which are for me a source of pride and great joy".

Manu Lalli also underlined his satisfaction with these new shows: “The All'Opera Project has been involving children from Florentine schools for 17 years in the experience of 'doing the opera', participating in it, living it, creating it together with the professionals of the Company Venti Lucenti and those of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. A project that Fondazione CR Firenze, the Municipality of Florence and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino have supported for some time and which over the years has become one of the most anticipated events of the theater season. In a historical moment of such complexity as the present one, the privilege of attending the theater together with children renews the hope and hope that education, music and art will become renewed bearers of empathy, poetry and of peace".