Ravenna Festival's Autumn Trilogy Blends Opera with High-Tech Cost-Cutting Scenography

The Ravenna Festival's Autumn Trilogy (November 23–December 2, 2018) featured three Verdi operas—Nabucco, Rigoletto, and Otello—directed by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, using advanced digital projections to reduce production costs and facilitate touring. The 800-seat Teatro Alighieri hosted the performances, which employed visual designer Davide Broccoli, light designer Vincent Longuemare, and image specialist Paolo Micciché (known for the 2005 supertech Aida at Rome's Baths of Caracalla). Scenery included projections of Berlin's Pergamonmuseum for Nabucco and Mantua's Palazzo Ducale and Palazzo Te for Rigoletto. The creative team also used costumes from Casa Tirelli. Half of the audience was international, from Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Austria, Germany, and France. The article also cites the Piccola Lirica at Rome's Teatro Flaiano, where a Synth Lyric Orchestra of five synthesizers simulated 60–70 musicians, and the 2005 Washington Opera Aida at the Baths of Caracalla, designed by Paolo Miccicché, Antonio Mastromattei, and Patrick Watkinson, with costumes by Alberto Spiazzi and lighting by Bruno Monopoli.