FULL MARCO POLO Venice 2024 Samy Timin, Wenjun Quian, Talita Lages Cotta, Yuan Yao, Maddalena De Biasi

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: MARCO POLO  
• Composer: Marianna Acito, Jacopo Caneva, Anna Dobrucka, Paolo Notargiacomo   
• Libretto: Antonino Pio    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Teatro Malibran, Venezia, Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello  
• Recorded: April 19, 2024,
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Samy Timin, Wenjun Quian, Talita Lages Cotta, Yuan Yao, Maddalena De Biasi
• Conductor: Giovanni Mancuso  
• Orchestra: Orchestra del Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello  
• Chorus: Coro del Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello  
• Chorus Master: Francesco Erle  
• Stage Director: Emanuele Gamba  
• Stage Designer: Accademia di Belle Arti Venezia  
• Costume Designer: Roberto Capucci  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello - Venezia  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, itsubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  As part of the city’s celebrations for the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveler, the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, in collaboration with the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music of Venice and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, presents the world premiere of an opera freely adapted from the celebrated play “The Travels of Marco Polo,” with music composed by current and former students of the Conservatory’s Composition School.

  A mature Marco Polo, imprisoned in Genoa, relives his extraordinary adventure in the land of Katai. Thus, the protagonist recalls the departure of the fourteen-year-old boy who leaves his beloved Venice to face unknowns and dangers with his father and uncle. He then relives his return after many years and the long journey on which he accompanies the beautiful Chinese princess, with whom he falls platonically in love, to accompany her to Persia, the king’s betrothed.

  But the opera doesn’t just narrate an extraordinary journey; it is, above all, the story of the growth and maturation of a courageous and strong man, yet one also shaken by torment and doubt.

  It is a journey within the man, aimed at understanding his own feelings, including nostalgia, regret, friendship, loyalty, and love. Marco Polo is constantly accompanied by Venice, who is one of the characters in the opera. Venice follows him and consoles him; she is the ideal mother of the protagonist, who in turn is his favorite son. She helps him, advises him, but also predicts his fate and observes Marco’s impulses with sincere concern. A musical quotation from G. F. Handel’s “Ariodante” introduces the farewell theme.
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