Lucio Dalla, the opera about the Bolognese artist in the theater
Starting next December it will be on the stages of Italian theaters “The Year to Come”a work on Lucio Dalla designed by Marcello Corvino and directed by Manuel Renga which draws on the creative and musical universe of the Bolognese singer-songwriter to transform it into a story and to bring to the stage the humanity made up of dreams, fragility, desires and disillusionments that run through his songs.
Today in the Universal premises the press conference to present the work took place which was attended not only by the people directly involved in the production of the work but also by figures such as the Councilor for Culture of the Emilia-Romagna Region Gessica Allegni who declared: “Lucio Dalla belongs to the history of Italian music and to the soul of this Region. A cutting-edge artist, who has been able to inhabit the world with both lightness and depth, with a unique ability to mirror the most common and most difficult to communicate emotions. “The Year to Come” is a project that honors this legacy. It does not limit itself to remembering a great artist, but chooses to enter into dialogue with his music, to give it back to life through new forms. An autonomous work, capable of making those songs resonate in an unexpected way, revealing messages and meanings that time has not worn away, but rather has made clearer. I am proud that this show arises from such a broad collaboration between the theater institutions of our region. It is an important signal: our cultural system knows how to create a system, it knows how to invest in ambitious productions that speak to today’s audiences without sacrificing quality. This show brings forward that same belief, with respect and creative courage.”
Also speaking among the institutional figures was the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Ferrara. Mark Gulinelli who added: “It is truly extraordinary that Ferrara is the first stop on the tour of “The Year to Come”, a project that allows us to meet Lucio Dalla in a new form, restoring the beauty of his poetic strength intact. Lucio’s songs continue to speak to us because they contain everyone’s questions: the passing of time, desires, fears, hope. The meeting between symphony orchestra, choir, solo voice, dance and theatrical words gives life to an original and never nostalgic. Dalla’s music, in this new guise, returns to excite even those who have always known it, and to surprise those who encounter it for the first time. Hosting this project, before it reaches other important cities, means for Ferrara confirming its attention towards a living and original culture, which is not limited to preserving the memory but is able to put it back into play especially for future generations.”
Marcello Corvinoartistic director and creator of the work, explained: “For some years the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara has been combining opera and symphonic programming with crossover productions. The reason is well explained by the history of Casa Ricordi, now part of Universal Music Publishing. Casa Ricordi is the publisher of the great tradition of Italian classical music including Rossini, Verdi and Puccini. After the Second World War, Dischi Ricordi founded by Nanni Ricordi contributed to the birth of Italian songwriting by publishing and at the same time signing editorial agreements, with artists such as Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, Umberto Bindi, Sergio Endrigo, Enzo Jannacci, Lucio Battisti and, subsequently, Lucio Dalla. For this reason we believe it is natural that the programming of a traditional theater such as the Abbado in Ferrara gives space to the compositions of new classical music, of artists who from the post-war period to today have written songs which since their debut have become an essential part of our musical landscape and which continue to speak to the generations of today and tomorrow.”
The director of the opera, Manuel Rengaspoke about the show like this, saying that rehearsals will begin soon: “This new pop opera is a work that does not tell the life of the great Lucio Dalla, but takes full advantage of his musical creativity and translates onto the stage the great human fresco that his songs compose. Lucio Dalla becomes for us the “keeper of dreams”, the one who is able to clearly read man’s fears, desires, dreams and disappointments and transform them into popular, direct, exciting musical situations. The show is a journey dreamlike, where the characters are the incarnations of those dreams, of those fears and hopes, life stories that intertwine on musical notes.”
The story takes place in a large hotel by the sea, on New Year’s Eve, where the stories of some travelers intersect: a young couple on the run, a piano bar singer in search of a lost love, a disillusioned musician and a businessman struck by an existential crisis. An enigmatic doorman welcomes them. Over the course of the evening, the characters’ stories intertwine, between irony and melancholy, in a suspended dimension in which music, dance and dreamlike imagery merge. At midnight time stops and, in the darkness, Lucio Dalla’s songs become the only possible language to give shape to desires, memories and regrets. With the light of dawn, one wonders if a new year has truly begun or if it is just another round of music.
The work with dramaturgy and text by Emanuele Aldrovandiwill see on stage Pierdavide Caronein the role of the goalkeeper, accompanied byOrchestra of the City of Ferrara and from Choir of the Municipal Theater of Ferrara directed by Teacher Teresa Classroom. To complete the unusual ensemble for the world of opera, a dance company that will stage the choreographies of Michele Merola and of Michele Merola Contemporary Dance Company. The musical direction of “The year that will come” and the arrangements are signed by Maestro Roberto Molinelli.
The Maestro Molinelliwho he has worked extensively with Lucio Dallastated: “When you approach the music of Lucio Dalla, you don’t simply enter a repertoire of songs: you enter a world made of theatre, poetry, folk tales, profound melancholy and sudden visionary sparks. In this project my arranging work arises from the desire to listen to that world from another perspective, without betraying its identity. The symphony orchestra, the choir and the solo voice do not serve to cover the songs with a larger frame, but rather to cross them, to amplify their narrative strength and to reveal new, often unexpected sound possibilities, a recognizable and, at the same time, surprising Dalla.
Among what was communicated during the press conference regarding “The Year to Come” we learned that there will be fourteen songs Lucio Dalla – some well-known and others less well-known from the vast repertoire of the Bolognese musician – present in the work, which will last approximately an hour and a half. Closing the show will be “Caruso”. The show includes acting sections in which there will be no music and short musical parts that link the various parts of the story together. For anyone who thinks, given the definition of opera, that the songs are sung on stage with the set voice, a prerogative of opera, this will not be the case. Among the reasons why he was chosen as the protagonist of the show Pierdavide Carone there was the desire to close an artistic circle: Lucio Dalla he died on March 1st 2012 and Carone was the last artist with whom he had worked, about twenty days earlier, on the stage of the Sanremo festival conducting the orchestra to the tune of the song “Nani”co-signed by Dalla-Carone.
These are the tour dates:
11 and 12 December 2026 – FERRARA – Municipal Theater of Ferrara
18, 19 and 20 December 2026 – REGGIO EMILIA – Teatro Valli of Reggio Emilia
22 and 23 December 2026 – RAVENNA – Alighieri Theater in Ravenna
16 January 2027 – PIACENZA – Municipal Theater of Piacenza
30 January 2027 – MODENA – Pavarotti Freni Municipal Theater of Modena
6 and 7 March 2027 – PARMA – Teatro Regio di Parma
12 March 2027 – LUCCA – Teatro del Giglio in Lucca
10, 11 and 12 September 2027 – BOLOGNA – Duse Theater of Bologna
9 October 2027 – RIMINI – Galli Theater in Rimini
Tickets will be available in advance on the circuits of individual theaters.
