Sindbad's last journey

Sindbad's last journey will be staged for the first time in October 2024 at the Teatro Nazionale, in collaboration with the RomaEuropa Festival Foundation. Commissioned by the Opera Theater of Rome to the composer Silvia Colasanti and composed with a libretto by Fabrizio Sinisi and is freely inspired by a text by Erri De Luca. The work in seven paintings is a choral drama that traces the events of a captain on his last journey with a load of men, women and children, a reflection of one of the greatest dramas of our time.

Through seven paintings, similar to the stations of a sort of maritime via crucis, the sea journey retraces the narrative of the migrations that man has always made in his existence, from the exploits of Ulysses to those of Ahab on the Pequod, or those of Dante and Virgil, up to today's routes that often end in tragedy, about which the news constantly informs us. Taking inspiration above all from biblical writings, navigation becomes a symbol of distant mythologies and archetypes, both literary and musical, where the protagonist is the sea, evoked with sounds in its different aspects. The music is also composed by traditional instruments from different cultures that dialogue with the orchestra, harmonizing with it.

Luca Micheletti, an eclectic artist for the first time at the Rome Opera as director, is called to stage the new production; The baritone Roberto Frontali plays the role of Sindbad, while Enrico Pagano, a young talent of the baton, makes his debut on the podium of the Capitoline Foundation.

Photo credits: courtesy of Yasuko Kageyama - Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (interior)