TEATRO LIRICO SPERIMENTALE DI SPOLETO "A. BELLI"



The “Teatro Lirico Sperimentale” also collaborates with some of the major Italian opera theatres. In 1991 the production of “La Cenerentola” presented at the Spoleto Opera Season became part of the programme of the Rome Opera Season (Bruno Aprea conductor, Italo Nunziata director). In 1994 “La Bella Verità” was put on in collaboration with the Teatro Comunale di Firenze, and was performed both at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze and the Teatro Caio Melisso in Spoleto, the collaboration continued through 1996 with the diptych “Perso per perso” and “L’Inganno Felice” by G. Rossini (Enrique Mazzola, conductor, Giorgio Pressburger, director). Presently the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale collaborates with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and with the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Teatro dell’Opera of Roma, Arena Sferisterio of Macerata, Teatro Nazionale of Rome (Midea2 by Oscar Strasnoy, 2001). In the last years the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale has gone further afield in teaching and in music training by organising, together with the Region of Umbria, the Province of Perugia and the European Social Fund, courses for accompanists, for piano technicians and for tuners. The “Sperimentale” organises also since 1993 the “Orpheus”, International Competition for New Chamber Operas, dedicated to Luciano Berio, who was president of the International Jury since the first edition. The winning composition has its world première in Spoleto within the Opera Season in September. In 1995 the “Teatro Lirico Sperimentale”, after the first Training Course for Orchestra Players, has also given life to the OTLiS, Orchestra of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto. Young musicians chosen through a national selection, attend a two months course in Spoleto under the guidance of highly qualified teachers (Francesco Manara, Luciano Giuliani, Paolo Centurioni, Angelo Persichilli, Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli, Spiros Argiris, Massimiliano Stefanelli, Romolo Gessi,Carlo Palleschi, Massimo De Bernart, Bruno Aprea) and are then selected again in order to form, with other young and established musicians, the orchestra that plays during the Opera Season in Spoleto and in the following Regional Opera Season (Perugia, Terni, Assisi, Todi, Città di Castello). The Orchestra also performed at several symphony concerts and at the opening night of the First World Military Games - Olympic Stadium, Rome, 1995.

At the "Centro Studi-Belli Argiris", historical archives and multimedia library of Teatro Lirico Sperimentale, there is a large music library and an important audio-video library dedicated to opera.
The Teatro Lirico Sperimentale was guest with concerts and operas in Italy, Austria (Wien 1994), Spain (Barcelona 1996), United States (New York 1996 and 2009, Los Angeles 2005), Switzerland (Berna 1996), Canada (Vancouver 2002, Toronto 2010), Hungary (Budapest 2002, Budapest and Miskolc 2006), Germany (Schwetzingen 2003 and 2010, Salzau 2005), Poland (Tczew 2003), China (Beijing and Tangshan 2004, Beijing and Shenyang 2006, Beijing, Xi’an and Nanjin 2010, Shanghai 2010 and 2012), Japan (Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo, Ina, Hiroshima, Kobe, Nagoya, Oita, Morioka, Matsudo, Fukuoka, Tokorozawa, Chigasaki, Musashino 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008), Russia (St. Petersburg 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), Qatar (Doha 2007, 2008), Romania (Bucarest, Sibiu 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), Cuba (Havana 2008), Turkey (Istanbul 2010, Istanbul and Bursa 2011), South Africa (Pretoria 2010), Great Britain (London 2011), The Netherlands (Utrecht 2012).
In 2009, in Torino, Teatro Lirico Sperimentale was awarded the Premio Cultura di Gestione for its policy of management, development and promotion of cultural activities and heritage. The prize is an award for the activity the Institution has been carrying out during its 63 years of life, with a particular focus on its promotion of Opera abroad, especially during the year 2008.
The reason for the Prize given by the Jury: The activity carried out by Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto has the merit of bringing out our young talents in the field of Opera, providing them with the concrete possibility of specializing in their studies and of making their debut on the stage. The innovative peculiarity of the project presented by Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto “A. Belli” lies above all in the search for and the “creation” of new international catchment areas, in order to create a “virtuous circle” for the spread of Italian cultural heritage and specifically of one of its highest expressions, Opera, which is universally recognised, appreciated and studied; so doing, it provides cultural products characterised by an high quality and high professional value.
In 2011 Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto, on commission of Valle Umbra Servizi Spa, realized an advert about separate collection of rubbish inspired by opera. The advert won two of the most important Italian Prizes for advertising and communication campaigns: - Mediastars Prize XVI edition, first classed for technical audio-visual and educational category, special star for Copy. - Agorà Prize, for the better social campaign of the Region of Umbria, with the following reason: "An amusing message that through the opera language involves the users in the new modalities of separate collection of rubbish".