2023-08-25 15:57:30
From the Teatro San Carlo to La Scala in Milan, from the Massimo in Palermo to the Opera in Rome, up to the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano and the Napoli football team. All of Italy congratulates Roberto De Simone on his 90 candles, which the Neapolitan master will blow out today. Theater director, composer, musicologist and ethnomusicologist, architect of the impulse to recover and enhance the theatrical and musical heritage of the Campania tradition, De Simone was born in Naples on August 25, 1933, in a street at the foot of the Spanish Quarters between Via Toledo and Monte Santo square. Initiated into musical studies as a child, at the age of six, the future author of the ‘Gatta Cinderella’ and the ‘Requiem in memory of Pier Paolo Pasolini’ was forced to flee with his family because of the war but his passion for music was forte who already at the age of 15 performed Mozart’s Concerto for piano and orchestra K. 466.
Maestro De Simone soon began to combine his concert career with that of musicologist. His goal is to recover, safeguard and relaunch the cultural, theatrical and musical heritage of the popular tradition of Campania, both oral and written. On this path, in 1967 he created, together with Giovanni Mauriello, Eugenio Bennato and Carlo d’Angiò, the Nuova Compagnia di Canto Popolare, which over time will see the addition of other important characters of the Neapolitan panorama, such as Peppe Barra. In 1976 ‘La gatta Cenerentola’ was born, an opera written and set to music by De Simone himself with which he achieved real popular success. From there, there are many masterpieces by Maestro De Simone, including ‘L’Opera Buffa del Giovedì Santo’ (1980), ‘Masaniello’ (1975), ‘Mistero Napolitano (1977), ‘Le 99 disgrazie di Pulcinella’ (1994)’, Le cantatrici villane’ (1998), and many others.
De Simone signed many opera directions of the masterpieces of Pergolesi, Rossini, Mozart and Verdi in the main Italian theaters. His staging of ‘Nabucco’ at the Scala with the direction of Riccardo Muti and a cast composed by Ghena Dimitrova and Renato Bruson remains famous. The show was revived in the following years by the Milanese theater but also by Tokyo and Berlin. De Simone also collaborated on the music for Edoardo Bennato’s album ‘Don’t drop your arms’ and was both artistic director of the San Carlo Theater in Naples from 1981 to 1987, and director of the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory. He has been an Academician of Santa Cecilia since 1999.
“I was very young when I attended the ‘Gatta Cenerentola’ in Palermo, at the Biondo Theater, a masterpiece that changed lines, trajectories and paths in Italian and international music. Its depth, intensity, power as a composer, musicologist and theater director have been a a point of reference that contributes to making the soul of the great Italian musical tradition important in the world. Thank you Maestro! Best wishes!”, writes the composer Marco Betta, superintendent of the Massimo in Palermo on social networks. The Rossini Opera Festival recalls the maestro’s collaborations with the review dedicated to the genius from Pesaro: “Happy birthday to Roberto De Simone who turns 90 today! The Neapolitan theater director has created two historic productions for our Festival: ‘Il Signor Bruschino’ in 1985, revived in 1988 and 1997, and ‘Ermione’ in 1987”. La Scala di Milano in a long note addressed “warm wishes” to De Simone recalling the many collaborations of the Neapolitan master with Piermarini, starting with his debut in 1972 at the Piccola Scala.
Also on social media, Napoli Calcio “headed by President Aurelio De Laurentiis, joyfully celebrates the 90th birthday of Roberto De Simone, Italian theater director, composer and musicologist. De Simone, a Neapolitan from Pignasecca, has crossed with his art a large part of the last century and all the years of the current one. Long live Roberto De Simone. Our most sincere wishes”. And Francesco Giambrone, current superintendent of the Rome Opera as well as president of Agis, writes: “Best wishes to Roberto De Simone who turns 90 today. ‘La gatta Cenerentola’, with which so many of us grew up, would be enough to tell of its greatness But then there’s everything else: the research, the studies, the rigour, the sharp gaze, the critical spirit. Happy birthday”. The Opera di Roma on its social profiles recalls that “its shows, capable of mixing tradition (even popular) and innovation with sensitivity and culture, have also marked the life of our theater”.
“A great musician, composer and theater director, he is an important figure in Italian culture” as defined by Minister Sangiuliano, his fellow citizen, underlining that “his research has left us a legacy that contributes to preserving and enhancing popular Neapolitan traditions. Best wishes for the his 90 years”. While the Ministry of Culture paid homage to De Simone’s 90th birthday with shots by Francesco Squeglia that portray him, published on the Mic’s twitter profile. There is also the memory of Siae who posted a photo of the maestro and underlined that “with the theatrical work ‘La Gatta Cenerentola’ he brought the great Italian tradition to the world”.
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