The three granite walls of this quarry that has been abandoned for ten years make us think of the wings of a theater. And right among the gneiss rocks of Cava Roncino in Oira, Crevoladossola, in the province of Verbano Cusio Ossola, that the Tones Teatro Natura is being born. An eco-sustainable, open-air theater set in a former industrial context that will already be the permanent home of the Tones on the Stones festival this year. A review that, in this way, in its fifteenth edition, is transformed and brought to life a season with a calendar of events that from 22 July to 5 September between music – jazz, opera, electronics – contamination of languages and multimedia.
We have had our own festival every year since 2007 in a series of quarries on Lake Maggiore and in the Ossola Valley. A formula that has given Tones on the Stones luck and stimuli, explains the artistic director of the festival, soprano Maddalena Calderoni. Last year, with the pandemic, we took the opportunity to rethink everything. This is how we looked for a disused quarry to create a home for our project. In a period of closed theaters, building one is a great challenge.
Tones on the Stones has definitely veered towards the themes of the environment and sustainability. Both in the artistic content and in its headquarters under construction on the project developed by Fuzz Atelier. The Natura Theater will be completed in three years but is already usable, even if not finished. It will have 1,500 seats and will be energetically self-sufficient, eliminating the impact with the use of local production from renewable sources. The public will be encouraged not to use single-use plastic, also thanks to a fountain for drinking water.
We are immersed in a wonderful nature. And our will is to preserve the historical memory, using the stones of the quarry, even the waste materials or the old used containers, continues Calderoni. We have green library projects and environmental education workshops. Our ideal park to come and read or do yoga. Even the scenic tower of the theater, once the shows are over, becomes an observation point for the birdwatching. To finance the projects, the Tones on the Stones Foundation – chaired by Fabrizio Bressani, with Nicola Giuliani as project manager – is bringing together public and private entities, such as Assograniti. An appeal will also be made to crowdfunding.
Here, the space of the theater also shapes the artistic content. Unlike other projects where the content gives the imprint, with us the opposite is a bit: the leitmotiv the container. Any content we bring into this context of the stone theater becomes something new and different. You can do everything: jazz, opera, electronic music, digital arts.
Thus, the festival is divided into four sections: Tones on the Stones real, on 22 and 24 July; Nextones, the experimental review on electronics and visual art, from 27 July to 1 August; Jazz reverbs with the latest trends on 26 and 27 August and, from 3 to 5 September, Base camp, temporary camping on the themes of the relationship between man and nature.
Among the many protagonists on the bill (complete program on tonesonthestones.com), there is one of the most talented international musicians, the Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan who will be in concert on July 22 (with Marc Karapetian on bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums) to present his latest work The Call Within. There will be the Italian premiere of Conference of Trees by the German composer Pantha du Prince, Friday 30. The same evening the experimental composer Caterina Barbieri presents her project as a world preview light-years. International premiere for multimedia work The End of the World dedicated to environmental issues, with the music of the Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk, the Canadian cellist Julia Kent and the Turin collective SPIME.IM to create a performance of great visual and sound impact.
Among the protagonists of jazz, the trombonist Gianluca Petrella who will perform with the vibraphonist Pasquale Mirra on August 26th. On 27 August an evening that combines music, art and sport, with the tales of great stories of boxers in Gong, the sound of the last round, multimedia concert with the trumpeter Luca Aquino, the French percussionist Manu Katch, the stories of the journalist Giorgio Terruzzi. All accompanied by the visual works of Mimmo Paladino.
Last year’s edition, Before and after, it really was a watershed. We had the opportunity to rethink our festival, also thanks to guests including Emanuele Coccia, Elisa Cristiana Cattaneo, Veronica Raimo. Thus, we have embraced this new route of an artistic project of environmental sustainability, underlines Ruggero Pietromarchi, who curates the exhibition at the festival Nextones. The territory of the Ossola Valley full of ideas to tell and experience. Nextones this year it is enriched with this new space of the Teatro Natura. Thus, from a traveling festival focused on the language of electronic audiovisual experimentation, it has become a path of research and exploration on sustainability. In this, a unique festival in the Italian and international context, precisely because it brings together the immersive experience linked to a territory and a high-level artistic content.
From Jazz to the great boxers: the program in 4 sections
The opera with dancers on the rock walls and video projections. The stories of the great boxers among the visual works of Mimmo Paladino. World premieres and leading names in jazz music: the program of the Tones on the Stones festival is rich from 22 July to 5 September at the Nature Theater of Cava Roncino in Oira, in the Ossola Valley, in Piedmont.
A festival divided into four sections, the real one Tones on the Stones on 22 and 24 July; the experimental festival Nextones dedicated to electronics and audiovisuals (from 27 July to 1 August in various locations including the village of Ghesc, the Orridi di Uriezzo and the Teatro Natura itself); Jazz reverbs (on 26 and 27 August) and on Base camp, dedicated to the awareness of nature from 6 to 8 August. Among the protagonists, the international star of the piano, the Armenian Tigran Hamasyan on July 22 (with Marc Karapetian on bass and Arthur Hnatek on drums). On the 24th the multimedia lyric gala No
Italian premiere for Conference of Trees di Pantha du Prince, German composer. World premiere for light-years by Caterina Barbieri on July 30th. And world premiere for multimedia work The End of the World dedicated to environmental issues with the Ukrainian pianist Lubomyr Melnyk, the Canadian cellist Julia Kent and the Turin collective SPIME.IM. Gianluca Petrella, trombone, and Pasquale Mirra, vibraphone, will be in concert on August 26th. On the 27th, Daniele di Bonaventura’s bandonen. Followed by Gong, the sound of the last round, with the works of Mimmo Paladino to accompany the tales of great boxers by the journalist Giorgio Terruzzi, with the music of the trumpeter Luca Aquino and the French percussionist Manu Katch.
July 4th 2021 (change July 4th 2021 | 21:42)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
.