Ravenna Festival Stages Dante's Inferno with 600 Volunteers

The summer edition of the Ravenna Festival, running until July 22, 2017, focuses on the intersection of art and power, marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution through Julian Barnes' work on Shostakovich and the writings of Mandelstam. This event also kicks off a multi-year project dedicated to Dante, with Inferno as the initial installment, aiming for completion of the Divine Comedy by 2021. Directed by Ermanna Montanari and Marco Martinelli, the production incorporates music by Luigi Ceccarelli and includes 600 volunteers from eleven choirs along with professional actors. Starting at Dante's Tomb and transitioning to Teatro Rasi, it engages an audience of 300 and runs 36 times, each performance lasting around three hours. Purgatorio is scheduled for 2019. Ravenna Manifestazioni manages 250 performances across ten venues, backed by 50 sponsors.