Sala Teatro
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Orchestra Olimpia
Francesca Perrotta conductor
Based on the book of the same name by Matteo Corradini
Zeno Piovesan dramaturgy
Valeria Fornoni director
Clio Gaudenzi actress
Danilo Comitini music and orchestration
Helen Cerina costumes
Vincenzo Pedata lighting design
Serena Sinigaglia artistic supervision
Roberta Pandolfi artistic director of production
On Remembrance Day, the Orchestra Olimpia – composed exclusively of women and committed to promoting gender equality and human rights – pays tribute to the female musicians of Auschwitz. A concert celebrating the courage, resilience and humanity of the women who found salvation in music in the Nazi concentration camps. The show testifies to the power of music to preserve dignity and hope, even in the darkest moments of history.
Based on the children's novel Eravamo il suono (We Were the Sound) by Matteo Corradini, the concert, produced by Orchestra Olimpia, an organisation founded in 2018 by Roberta Pandolfi and Francesca Perrotta, traces the history of the women's orchestra of Auschwitz. Through the music of the Orchestra Olimpia and the acting of Clio Gaudenzi, the experience of eight orchestra members, who until then were distant and unknown to each other, is brought to life on stage. They find themselves face to face in a painful reality, Auschwitz in 1944, where space and time seem suspended and music is a chance not to die. The programme includes famous pieces from the repertoire and original music by composer Danilo Comitini, who also arranged the orchestration. With dramaturgy by Zeno Piovesan and direction by Valeria Fornoni, it is an emotionally powerful event in which music emerges as a universal language of resistance and peace that continues to resonate through time, testifying to art's ability to survive barbarism.
Founded in 2018 by Roberta Pandolfi and Francesca Perrotta, Orchestra Olimpia is a female ensemble that collaborates with young talents and established orchestra professors from all over Italy and abroad. Among the numerous important events in which it has played a leading role in recent years, we would like to mention the project Musiciste dal Mondo – Olimpia Meets Zohra; the concert Music For Freedom – Afghan Youth Orchestra meets Orchestra Olimpia, the first Italian concert by the Afghan Youth Orchestra (AYO); the performance at the official inauguration of Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture; the concert at the Quirinale on 10 March 2024 in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella; the production with Pesaro 2024 – Italian Capital of Culture of the podcast DiClassica, dedicated to female composers and musicians of classical and contemporary music; the evening event on 7 April 2024 against gender-based violence, broadcast live on Rai Radio 2, with Orchestra Olimpia, singer Big Mama, actor Vinicio Marchioni and the Una Nessuna Centomila Foundation; the Notturno Contadino concert series, dedicated to the musical research of popular music from the Marche region; the Musica, Maestra! interview series, which featured American conductor Marin Alsop among its guests; the concert show Eravamo il suono – La storia dell'orchestra femminile di Auschwitz (We Were the Sound – The Story of the Auschwitz Women's Orchestra).
For its commitment to gender equality, Orchestra Olimpia, under the artistic direction of Roberta Pandolfi and musical direction of Francesca Perrotta, received the prestigious “Premio Giovanni Santi 2024 - Comunicatori di Valori” award established by Ars Urbino Ducale. Orchestra Olimpia's activities are supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture and main sponsor Alpitour World.
