Riccardo Muti and Dulce Pontes Shine at Ravenna Festival

The Ravenna Festival presented two contrasting concerts: one led by Riccardo Muti with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, and a fado performance by Dulce Pontes. Muti, nearing 85, conducted a program linking Verdi with 20th-century Spanish and French music. The first half, featuring Verdi's Nabucco overture and Les vêpres siciliennes ballet, showed the orchestra's limitations in string cohesion. After intermission, the ensemble improved, delivering a compelling reading of Manuel de Falla's Suite No. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat, highlighting its modernity alongside Ravel and Stravinsky. Ravel's Bolero was the climax, built as a sustained crescendo. Days later, Dulce Pontes performed at the packed Rocca Brancaleone, opening with Lucio Dalla's Caruso. She paid homage to Ennio Morricone with a piece he wrote for her based on Cinema Paradiso. Accompanied by a quintet, her fado blended Mediterranean influences, emphasizing expressivity over technique.