Discover the history of the Festival of Two Worlds, the event par excellence created by Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. An unforgettable journey through art to the heart of Italy.
Gian Carlo Menotti, in August, gives an interview to the newspaper The Arena of Verona and confirms that Spoleto would have been the venue for the Festival of Two Worlds.
Menotti has set his sights on Spoleto, a quiet town that already has a theatrical tradition [...] the project is really interesting and can succeed.
On June 5, the first Festival of Two Worlds begins with the Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi directed by Luchino Visconti, scenes and costumes by Piero Tosi, conductor Thomas Schippers.
On June 29, for the first time, Piazza Duomo hosts a Festival performance with Giuseppe Verdi's Messa from Requiem, conducted from Thomas Schippers.
Jerome Robbins' "ballet in silence" Moves, performed as a world premiere, is staged at the Teatro Nuovo.
Louis Armstrong does not participate in the Spoleto show scheduled for the Festival because, on June 23, he is rushed to Spoleto Hospital with acute pneumonia.
Gian Carlo Menotti becomes an honorary citizen of Spoleto, and the press proclaims him Duke of Spoleto.
At the 3rd Festival dei Due Mondi opens the series of Midday Concerts conducted from Charles Wadsworth.
Pina Bausch makes her Festival stage debut with the New American Ballets.
For the first time, the Festival closes at Piazza Duomo with Luigi Cherubini's Solemn Mass in D minor for Soli, Chorus and Orchestra conducted from Thomas Schippers.
The 5th Festival dei Due Mondi sees the Spoleto debut of Carla Fracci.
Inaugurates Sculptures in the City. Spoleto 1962, the exhibition conceived and curated from Giovanni Carandente, which brings to the Umbrian town some of the best-known sculptors of the 20th century, for a total of more than 100 sculptures placed in all corners of Spoleto.
Festival turns 10 years old. Fun Fact: By mistake, the celebratory poster, signed from Richard Lindner, is caused to be printed by getting the Festival's birth date wrong: 1957 instead of 1958.
At the Sala XVII Settembre, Calderon De La Barca's ThePrincipe Costante is staged with Jerzi Grotowski's Theatre Workshop 13 Rzedow. This play attracts the entire world of culture and theater, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Anna Magnani, Dacia Maraini and Alberto Moravia, among others, are noted in the audience.
Bulgarian artist Christo "packs", with rope and canvas, the "Torre dei Molini"and the "Fontana di Piazza del Mercato".
La Santa di Bleecker Street, an opera by Gian Carlo Menotti,is being staged at the Festival for the first time.
Gian Carlo Menotti becomes president of Festival dei Due Mondi, artistic director is appointed Massimo Bogianckino.
A very young Al Pacino makes his Festival debut in Israel Horovitz's triptych The Indian Wants The Bronx | It's Called The Sugar Plum | Chiaroscuro.
.jpeg)
The premiere of Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso in Luca Ronconi's celebrated version is staged in the former Church of San Nicolò.
Spoleto Cinema is born, of which Luchino Visconti is president "to promote to international knowledge and dissemination of film art and culture."
Romolo Valli is proclaimed artistic director of the Festival.
Luchino Visconti staged Giacomo Puccini's memorable Manon Lescaut , such a resounding success from it was repeated the following year.
After long and meticulous restoration work, the Teatro Romano hosts its first performance on July 5 with the premiere of Annie Beranger's Ballet Company.
Roman Polanski makes Alban Berg's Lulu, with Christopher Keene conducting the debut Spoleto Festival Orchestra USA.
The final concert of the 18th edition of the Festival is the last one directed from Thomas Schippers, who is leaving the post of music director of the Festival for good.
The XX Festival dei Due Mondi opens with an operatic transposition of Napoli milionaria by Eduardo De Filippo, who also directed, and music by Nino Rota.
The first Spoleto Festival of Charleston is staged.
Thomas Schippers died and, indulging his wishes, his ashes were interred in May 1979 at Piazza Duomo to Spoleto, a place where the conductor knew the admiration and acclaim of the entire artistic world.
In September, Romolo Valli resigned and Baron Raffaello De Banfield was appointed new artistic director.
The festival celebrates its "silver wedding anniversary." The XXV edition opens with Richard Wagner's The Phantom Vessel, directed from Christian Badea with Franz Marijnen directing.
Jerome Robbins returns to the Festival after a 10-year absence presenting a grand evening of ballets with dancers from the American Ballet Theatre directed from Mikhail Baryshnikov performing Robbins' choreography.
The Rocca Albornoziana, not yet completely decommissioned as a prison house, is used for the first time as a performance venue to host Jean Genet's Vigilanza sorvegliata, performed by inmates of Rome's Rebibbia prison.
A new theatrical space, the Sala Frau, opens in Spoleto with the show Freshwater who sees Eugène Ionesco on stage, among other performers.
After Spoleto and Charleston, on September 15, the Spoleto Melbourne — Festival of Three Worlds.
Francis Menotti was appointed President of the Festival of Two Worlds.
Flamenco's new star Joaquin Cortés performs in Pàsion Gitana.
The Festival is celebrating its fortieth anniversary and, among many others, Luciano Pavarotti celebrates it with his Pavarotti in Piazza
What's new in this edition is Spoleto Jazz, a great success mainly thanks to the presence of the greatest jazz interpreter Betty Carter.
Francis Menotti was appointed artistic director of the Festival of Two Worlds.
On February 1, Gian Carlo Menotti, founder and creator of the Festival of Two Worlds, died in Monte Carlo.
Giorgio Ferrara was appointed President of the Festival dei Due Mondi Foundation and artistic director of the Festival.
With the show The Three-Money Opera The fruitful relationship between the festival and Robert Wilson begins, who will present, in subsequent editions, great hits such as Happy Days, Krapp's last tape (2009), Shakespeare's Sonette (2010), Lulu (2012), The Old Woman (2013), Peter Pan (2014), Letter to a Man (2015), Lecture On Nothing (2016), Hamlet Machine (2017).
Luca Ronconi returns to the festival with his Lezioni. His relationship with the festival will continue in the following years with Un altro gabbiano (2009), La modestia (2011), In cerca d'autore. Studio sui Sei personaggi (2012), Pornografia (2013), and Danza Macabra (2014).
Highly anticipated at the 52nd Festival dei Due Mondi with her Bamboo Blues, Pina Bausch dies June 30. Her company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal, decides to go on stage anyway on July 4, giving the festival audience a moving and engaging performance.
Highly anticipated at the 52nd Festival dei Due Mondi with her Bamboo Blues, Pina Bausch dies June 30. Her company, the Tanztheater Wuppertal, decides to go on stage anyway on July 4, giving the festival audience a moving and engaging performance.
For the first time on stage in Piazza Duomo, Riccardo Muti conducts the Final Concert of the 60th edition of the Festival.
Jean Paul Gaultier overwhelms the audience of the Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti with his eccentric and exuberant Fashion Freak Show.
On September 1, Monique Veaute was appointed artistic director of Festival dei Due Mondi.
Under the artistic direction of Monique Veaute, the Festival is confirmed as a point of reference in the cultural field, a place of exchange, a refuge for creativity suitable for hosting identified artistic proposals, paying particular attention to the contemporary, multidisciplinary, emerging talent and cultural exchanges between Italy and the rest of the world. Among the artists who have taken part in the Spoleto Festival in recent years are Iván Fischer, Antonio Pappano, Barbara Hannigan, Rufus Wainwright, Fred Hersch, Rhiannon Giddens, Sharon Eyal, Yoann Bourgeois, Benjamin Millepied, Blanca Li, Germaine Acogny with the revival of Sacre du printemps by Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown Dance Company, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Wayne McGregor, William Kentridge, Ersan Mondtag with the Berliner Ensemble, Thomas Ostermeier, Isabelle Adjani, Luca Marinelli, Leonardo Lidi, Liv Ferracchiati, Alessandro Baricco, Umberto Orsini, Massimo Popolizio, in addition to the two orchestras in residence Budapest Festival Orchestra and Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
On September 1, Daniele Cipriani was appointed artistic director of the Festival of Two Worlds.
From 26 June to 12 July in Spoleto, the 69th edition of the Festival of Two Worlds will be staged. A long party in the company of the best artists on the international scene in the most beloved city-stage in Italy.