The Embassy of Italy in Tbilisi celebrates Dante on the occasion of the 700th anniversary of his death and has organized a series of events and initiatives as part of the XXI Week of the Italian Language in the World, which this year is dedicated to the Supreme Poet.
On 21 October, at the Silk Factory Studio, there will be a screening of the film ‘Inferno’, the first blockbuster in Italian cinema and a masterpiece of silent film. The film will be accompanied by a live soundtrack by the Italian composer and pianist Mario Mariani: the score is adapted to the images using extended piano techniques, which provide an additional dramatic element and use the piano according to orchestral forms.
On 25 October, at the Shota Rustaveli National Theatre, there will be the contemporary ballet performance ‘Beatrice’ on themes of the Divine Comedy. The show, inspired by the Divine Comedy, and created by the first state contemporary dance company in Georgia – the Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet – with the support of the Embassy held its world premiere in Tbilisi on 19 May, attended by the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabishvili. The music was specially created by Oscar-winning Italian composer Dario Marianelli and will be performed live by the Georgian Sinfonietta chamber orchestra in the presence of the composer and under his artistic direction. On 29 October, the same show will be repeated at the Batumi Drama Theatre.
In the choreographic version proposed by the Tbilisi Contemporary Ballet, it is Beatrice, through the expressive transfigurations of plastic, music, lights, costumes and animation, who guides the spectator through world of Dante’s three canticles. ‘Beatrice’ is not just a show, but an entire informative and educational project on Dante and his work, and includes a series of linguistic, philosophical and theological lectures on the Divine Comedy. A special episode of Rai Radio 3 Suite was also dedicated to the show.
Finally, on October 27, there will be the scientific conference ‘L’opera di Dante come patrimonio culturale mondiale’ (Dante’s Work as World Cultural Heritage), organized by the Department of Romance Philology at the Ivane Javakhishvili State University of Tbilisi, in cooperation with the Tbilisi Committee of the Dante Alighieri Society, with the support of the Italian Embassy in Tbilisi. The event will be preceded by the dual presentation of a postage stamp bearing an exquisite graphic portrait of Dante Alighieri, the work of the famous Georgian painter Sergo Kobuladze, and the Italian-Georgian bilingual commemorative edition of the work ‘Vita Nuova’, produced by the Embassy in collaboration with the Georgian Post Office, the Georgian Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth and the Cultural Commission of the Georgian Parliament.
For more information, go to ambtbilisi.esteri.it
