Sunday 20 Ocotber at 8 pm: MAHĀBHĀRATA by Riccardo Nova, in italian premiere - one date only

THE MAHĀBHĀRATA, BY RICCARDO NOVA, IN ITALIAN PREMIERE

The concert version at the Teatro del Maggio on October 20th, in the Mehta Hall, at 8 pm

Florence, October 16th, 2024 - Kama Productions announces with Ensemble Musik Fabrik, the Italian premiere of the concert version of Riccardo Nova’s Mahābhārata, on Sunday, October 20th at 8 pm at the Teatro del Maggio, in the Mehta hall. This concert is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a musical universe without borders, where the roots of the Indian tradition intertwine with the European contemporaneity.

The Mahābhārata is one of the most extensive and complex epic poems in world literature. Born from the ancient Indian culture, it tells of the terrible war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, while exploring universal themes of spiritual, ethical and philosophical nature. The composer Riccardo Nova reinterprets the Indian epic bringing on stage with effectiveness and balance mantra, ancestral rhythms and contemporary sounds. The opera "Mahābhārata  - Mantras, Fights and Threnody"   has earned Riccardo Nova the nomination as finalist for one of the highest European awards for composition, the "Prix Prince du Monaco".

The concert version of the Mahābhārata has been performed in Germany with great success by both the public and critics at the Philharmonie in Essen and at the Acht Brücken Festival, and is performed by a musical ensemble of very high profile. The protagonists of the evening are in fact the musicians of the Ensemble MusikFabrik of Cologne, along with three interpreters of traditional Indian music, now well known also in the world of jazz: the voice of Varijashree Venugopal, acclaimed artist of Indian classical music, will be on stage with the percussionist mridangam B.C. Manjunath , known for twenty years work with choreographer Akram Khan and his collaborations with Aka Moon, and the master of khanjira Guru Prasanna. With them, the three Italians of the cosmopolitan orchestra IcarusVSMuzak help to transport the audience on this deep and engaging musical journey. Musicians of extraordinary talent who, on the dominant carnatic tones of traditional Indian instruments, return to the ancient Indian poem a new and powerful sonic and intercultural dimension.

This concert marks a first step towards the realization of a complete version of the opera-danza, entitled "SPARKS. Mahābhārata Opera Project", an ambitious multidisciplinary project that combines music, dance, circus and performance arts directed by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti and choreographed by Jayachandran Palazhy (Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts). After the great success of its Indian premiere in Bangalore in January 2024, the final version will tour Italy in autumn 2025, India in December 2025 and e in Europe in spring 2026.