User:Scarabocchio/batignano

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dyk: many major british opera singers, conductors and directors started their careers in an Italian monastery?

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1. Musica nel Chiostro was an opera festival that ran from 1974 to 2004 in the former Convento di Santa Croce in Batignano, in southern Tuscany. ('complesso monastico')

+ summer / performances in open cloister or around the grounds

2. The festival specialised in early rare works and contemporary opera. / The festival featured unusual rep, with many rare early work, many first performances in modern times, as well as contemporary opera, including commissions from Italian and British composers, and the Italian premieres of works by Tippett, Britten and Bernstein. OR (use blurb text on 'works commissioned' approach so we can get Calvino in the same sentence (and the lede))

3. The festival was the brainchild of Adam Pollock, founded, bg

3b. british artists, early springboard / support from italians, calvino was a key supporter and contributed libretto/ text

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pollock was interior designer, set designer active in opera / the convento

birth of fest, originally a one-off / shift to brits / evolved with different political complexions i the local comune, provincia, regione

couple of rules were established early: in Batignano, everything always in italiano (always aimed at the locals from the village/ town, but attracted the rich from the castiglione enclave., Roccamare) and egalitarian

perfs outside Batignano? always sung in local lang (weaver's translation of calvino's text for uk perfs of Zaide)

challenge, local culturati

pollocks' "whatever took my fancy" from the film / restrictions of the spaces, orch size,

restrictions on budget .. (constraints aid creativity) lack of pay. people at the start of their careers, young artists, tim albery

esprit de corps mucking in / eating together trips to the beach

[A rather fine] Inside back-cover blurb in Heap of Stones (available here: https://warwickleadlay.com/products/a-heap-of-stones) "'Did you do Batignano?' is the phrase most used by the many people who worked in the seventeenth-century [monastery] which for thirty-one years was the home of the opera festival in southern Tuscany. This acted as a trampoline for a wide range of mainly British talent from singers like Lesley Garrett to composer Jonathan Dove; conductors, Jane Glover, Christian Curnyn and Ivor Bolton; directors such as Graham Vick, Richard Jones and Rupert Goold. Productions ranged from many first performances in modern times of forgotten baroque operas, to the first performances in Italy of Tippett's King Priam and Bernstein's Candide. Among new works commissioned festival were several by Stephen Oliver and Italo Calvino 's dazzling text for Mozart's unfinished Zaide. In 2004, the festival's founder, Adam Pollock, whose story this is, was made a CBE for services to music and Anglo-Italian relations."

History

The festival was founded by ...

Basically a mix of local artisans and brits/

the festival was run on a shoestring, covering the travelling costs of the singers and crew, but no salaries were paid. Many young people at the beginnings of their career were happy/ prepared to work like this ["so"?] many now-famous directors, designers, conductors and singers had their professional debuts or important early breaks(?) in Batignano.

Anoter consequence was the wilingness to pitch-in, and there was a certain expectation to help paint/ sew/ .. and eat together. One fixed part of this that was commonly referred to by those that went was the shared washing up.

Supported by the locally-resident intelligensia .. Italo Calvino. valued support from Peter Moores Foundation,

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/O004373?q=Batignano&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

Batignano.

Village in Italy near Grosseto, Tuscany, the site of an opera festival since 1974. The festival, which takes place during July and August, was founded by the designer Adam Pollock on the site of a ruined monastery, Santa Croce; the theatre is an open-air cloister in which performances are given in the late evening by the company Musica nel Chiostro ('Music in the Cloister'). It was inaugurated by a performance of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, sung by a mixture of Italian and British artists, in which scene changes were accomplished by moving the audience from one part of the building to another.

http://www.scenofest.org/CVs/AdamPollock/AdamPollock.htm Adam Pollock worked as a designer mainly in opera ( Maggio Musicale, Opera North, Scottish Opera,and companies in Canada and the U.S.A.) He met Maria Bjornson in 1972 when they were both designing for the Wexford Festival and became close friends. In 1974 Pollock founded the Batignano Festival which in the following thirty years acted as a trampoline for many young directors, conductors, singers and designers included Richard Hudson, Anthony MacDonald, Nigel Lowrey, Tom Cairns, and Colin Richmond).

on being there
"[The] Convento di Santa Croce, in Batignano, is the home of Adam Pollock's legendary opera festival, Musica Nel Chiostro. For thirty years this was the favourite summer destination of countless British singers, instrumentalists, conductors and directors. I spent several idyllic weeks there in 1985, as rehearsal-pianist for Salieri's La Grotta di Trofonio.  It was an intoxicating experience: playing the piano under a fig-tree at 8 in the morning (by 11 it was too hot to rehearse in the olive-grove, so we all went to the beach until late afternoon) – eating together at long tables, sharing a monastic cell with other musicians and the occasional baby scorpion.  No-one was paid, everyone had to wash up – and at The End of it all, there were magical performances under the stars.  I was hooked."

Even after I had given up playing the piano for opera-rehearsals, I couldn't keep away from Batignano, and returned several times as audience – usually accompanying my great friend and mentor, Stephen Oliver. Stephen had written Beauty and the Beast to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Musica Nel Chiostro. He died in 1992, and Adam asked if I would write an opera for the 20th anniversary.

The Little Green Swallow celebrates this anniversary, and is dedicated to Stephen's memory. It was the first of five works for Batignano.

"'My favourite year was the third, when I went as a cook. The kitchen became the hub, as kitchens do, and everyone congregated there, chopping onions, peeling garlic. One day I realized we had all the right voices for the second-act finale of Figaro, so we did it. Adam was on the telephone to an incredibly important critic from Rome, trying to persuade him to come and review the festival. The man asked if it was a rehearsal going on, and Adam said, 'No, that's just the kitchen staff'. He came.'"

http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2004/02/21/chiude-batignano-il-festival-dei-geni.fi_030chiude.html Chiude Batignano il 'festival dei geni'

Stavolta Adam Pollock non scherza. E da Londra dichiara la volontà di far calare una volta per tutte il sipario su «Musica nel Chiostro», il festival che inventò nel 1974 dopo aver rilevato alla fine degli anni Sessanta l' antichissimo convento di Santa Croce a Batignano, in Maremma. Un evento che, grazie ad una programmazione raffinata, imperniata sul melodramma barocco e sulla musica contemporanea, ha fatto di questo piccolo borgo nel grossetano il cuore di un pellegrinaggio coltissimo (Italo Calvino era uno dei frequentatori e collaboratori del festival). E che ha lanciato personaggi oggi di importanza assoluta nel mondo della lirica: come il regista Graham Vick... Vick realizzerà anche un film sulla vita spericolata di questa «comune di geni», come lui stesso ha definito una volta il festival. «Musica nel chiostro» chiude dopo 30 anni «trascorsi sull' onda dell' entusiasmo - dice Pollock - ma adesso, a 67 anni, mi chiedo: perché continuare se il clima politico non è nel segno dell' accoglienza? Se ormai siamo considerati un "corpo estraneo" che non porta voti e quindi non degno di considerazione da parte dei politici locali?». L' attuale giunta comunale di centrodestra ha dato il colpo di grazia a un progressivo taglio dei bilanci iniziato a metà anni Ottanta con un sindaco di sinistra, Valentini: «Oggi i finanziamenti comunali ammontano a 10 mila euro, altri 10 mila arrivano dalla Provincia: troppo poco - dice Pollock - ci è venuta in aiuto la Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze che eroga da tempo 50 mila euro annui a fondo perduto. Se non fosse stato per la lungimiranza della Fondazione avremmo chiuso da tempo». L' assessore alla cultura Fulvia Perillo, indipendente di area Forza Italia, si dichiara sorpresa della decisione di Pollock, «mi auguro non definitiva: spero che troveremo insieme una soluzione» dice. Ma ricorda che il budget comunale per la cultura è esiguo, «su di esso pesano i finanziamenti dell' Orchestra sinfonica grossetana, che svolge una meritoria attività concertistica». Pollock, secondo la Perillo, è troppo esterofilo nelle sue scelte: cantanti, registi, direttori d' orchestra arrivano dall' Inghilterra, «ci piacerebbe - dice - che "Musica nel chiostro" coinvolgesse più grossetani». «è una polemica che dura da quando il festival è nato - replica Pollock, antipatico sia alla destra perché troppo di sinistra che alla sinistra che lo accusa di snobismo - i miei più stretti collaboratori sono di qui, i materiali di scena vengono forniti da artigiani locali. Mi piacerebbe coinvolgere artisti italiani: peccato che non siano disposti a lavorare senza cachet e a rimborso spese». E adesso questo invidiatissimo sognatore coltiva un altro progetto: «Aprire a Batignano una scuola di alta formazione che insegnerà la lingua italiana ai cantanti lirici stranieri».

http://www.elysianfilms.com/tmp/while.htm While the Music Lasts: Celebrating Musica Nel Chiostro Adam Pollock was a highly successful, London-based scenic/interior designer who 'dropped out' in the 60s and bought a dilapidated 17th century convent 60 miles south of Siena. Having restored part of the building, he was cajoled by friends into making use of the wonderful space, and in 1974, he decided to put on an opera.

Singers who have performed (and in many cases begun their careers) there include: Lesley Garrett, Eiddwen Harrhy, Bonaventura Bottone, Marie McLaughlin, Diana Montague, Nuala Willis, Della Jones, Anne Dawson, Neil Jenkins, Jonathan Best, Patricia Rozario, Alison Hagley, Derek Lee Ragin, Omar Ebrahim, Pamela Helen Stephen, Susannah Waters, Mary Plazas, Karl Daymond, Hilary Summers and John Daszak.

Directors (many of whom produced their first operas there) include: Graham Vick, Tim Albery, Tim Hopkins, <font color= and Richard Jones.

Designers (creating miracles with virtually no budget) include: Maria Björnson, Yolanda Sonnabend, Richard Hudson, Sue Blane, Antony McDonald, Tom Cairns, and Nigel Lowery.

And conductors include: Jane Glover, David Parry, Nicholas Kraemer, Martin André, Ivor Bolton, Stephen Higgins and Harry Bicket.

In addition to discovering and encouraging performers, directors and designers, Adam Pollock has been uncompromisingly brave in choosing the festival's repertoire: always rarely performed and, more often than not, world premieres of very old or very new works.

Flights, food and accommodation are provided — but no one is paid, and everyone is roped in to do the infamous communal washing up on a rota system. And it's all hands to the deck — no one worries about their job descriptions — the cast help haul scenery and sew their own costumes, the stage crew double as extras. It's a bit like opera summer camp — except that the standards are a great deal higher.

The 'Batignano experience' is undoubtedly testing but also great fun — up to 90 British opera professionals locked together in a magnificent, crumbling, 17th century Tuscan convent, working incredibly hard all day, partying equally hard at night.

http://opera.archive.netcopy.co.uk/article/november-1979/39/batignano-cesti-revival (broken link) The small orchestra directed by Dr Glover was superb. The irony of all this is that this extraordinary effort, by a group working as a sort of commune without pay, risked being disbanded even during these highly successful performances. Until now aided by Brian Dickie of Glyndebourne, Tilo V. Watzdorf, Massimiliano Magnani of the Municipality of Grosseto to which Batignano belongs, and especially by the Peter Moores Foundation, MUSICA NEL CHIOSTRO needed the enthusiasm of illustrious guests such as Sir Georg Solti, Alberto Moravia. and the producer Liliana Cavani, as well as rave reviews in major Italian papers, to convince the usually enlightened Grosseto government to cancel its announced plans to discontinue financial support, and so, at the time of writing, 'Music in the Cloister' will after all have a sixth year and. I hope, many more.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4203658/Bowing-out-of-Tuscany.html 12:01AM BST 17 Apr 2007 Opera founder is to sell his restored monastery, reports Zoe Dare Hall

When Adam Pollock gave up a career as interior designer to the stars in Swinging Sixties London for life as a farmer in a Tuscan monastery, he thought he was retreating from the world. Instead, the world came to him, after he set up an annual opera festival that would help launch the careers of such names as Lesley Garrett, Jane Glover and Graham Vick.

Overlooking the medieval hill village of Batignano in southern Tuscany's Grosseto province, 90 minutes from Rome and Pisa, the Monastery of Santa Croce was built in the 17th century to house 21 monks. By the time Adam stumbled across it in 1968, it was a ruin. "It had no windows, doors, water or electricity," he recalls. ...

He bought Santa Croce in 1969 for £10,000 and spent £10,000 more on a new roof. While tending goats and lettuces, he began the vast project "to return the monastery to how it would have been when the monks lived here". He revaulted the high ceilings and restored vestiges of 17th-century frescoes....

In the early years, a stream of friends came from England promising to mix cement and paint walls but were invariably distracted by the beach, 20 minutes away. "I started to think that it would be much nicer if we were doing something," Adam recalls. "Someone suggested staging an opera in the cloister."

http://opera.archive.netcopy.co.uk/article/july-1992/39/a-handful-of-operas/Batignano (broken link) Adam Pollock on the Stephen Oliver operas

http://opera.archive.netcopy.co.uk/article/january-2000/89/italy-inventing-tradition/Batignano