ROF 2021, looking into the future

The President Daniele Vimini, Deputy Mayor of Pesaro, the Superintendent of the Rossini Opera Festival Ernesto Palacio and the Mayor of Pesaro Matteo Ricci were present at the final press conference of the ROF 2021.

Daniele Vinimi declared: “We are very satisfied with how everything went, foreign visitors returned and, generally speaking, audience presence has been very satisfactory, in spite of the difficulties in travelling and the reduced seating capacity of the theatres. Facing us now is a 2022 for which we are working to achieve the availability of three theatres: the Vitrifrigo Arena, the Teatro Rossini and the Auditorium Scavolini, while we await the opportunity of bringing the whole ROF into the town centre in 2023 by using the Auditorium Pedrotti, the gallery of which will once again be declared usable and which will therefore seat a greater number of spectators. For 2023 our idea is to compensate for the difference in audience capacity between the Vitrifrigo Arena and the Auditorium Pedrotti by scheduling an extra performance of each production. This prolongation of the programme will also increase the economical advantage to the town. In a few days’ time work will also begin on turning the Sala della Repubblica into an autonomous theatrical space seating 150”.

Ernesto Palacio said the following:”I must pay my compliments to the whole structure of the ROF, it has been a very hard job to mount a rich and complex Festival such as this year’s while adhering to all the anti-Covid rules and restrictions. The final concert in the presence of President Mattarella, which was a very great honour for the whole town, caused us a great effort to make all our work perfectly correspond with the required security regulations. But it is already time to look into the future: the programme for 2022 features two new productions: Le Comte Ory, conducted by Diego Matheuz and staged by Hugo De Ana, with Juan Diego Flórez in the title rôle; Otello, conducted by Yves Abel and staged by Rosetta Cucchi, with Sergey Romanovsky in the leading part. The production of La gazzetta from 2015 devised by Marco Carniti will be revived, conducted by Carlo Rizzi. The tournée in Oman has been postponed until 2022/23, and will feature two co-productions with the Royal Opera House, Muscat: La cambiale di matrimonio and Il signor Bruschino”.

In conclusion the Mayor of Pesaro Matteo Ricci said: “There is great satisfaction about what has been achieved and how it has all been organized. This has been a ROF of the highest level from the point of view of quality. The Festival is a complex machine, in which the element of programming is central: to have been able to organize the 2021 edition is nothing short of a miracle. The presence of President Mattarella represents an extraordinary recognition. The President of the Republic came to pay tribute to the effort that the world of culture has made in recent years”. Speaking about next year: “The objective is to effect the return of foreign visitors from outside Europe, to reinforce the international propensities of the ROF. The decision to prolong the season by an extra performance and to add another venue to the event represents a noteworthy organizational effort. Behind the Festival there is an important management. Before us we have very fine years, in which music represents a central strategy for our town. The authority of the ROF opens many doors for us: I was very happy to have been able to introduce Gianfranco Mariotti to President Mattarella, to whom I described the meritorius work of the man who invented and directed this Festival”.

Pesaro, 30 August 2021.