NOTTE MORRICONE BY MARCOS MORAU

On Monday, April 8th, at 2:30 PM, at the Sala Stampa Estera in Rome, we presented Notte Morricone, the new creation that celebrates the indelible artistic legacy of the Oscar-winning Ennio Morricone, thanks to one of the foremost international choreographers, Marcos Morau.

The show is the result of interdisciplinary collaborations among dance, music, and theater realities.
Two main co-producers: Macerata Opera Festival (outdoor debut: August 1st, 2024) and Teatro di Roma (indoor debut: October 24th at Teatro Argentina, where the performances will continue until november 10th). The other co-producers are the Foundation I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara di Trento, Centro Teatrale Bresciano and Ravenna Festival, which has provided the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini for the recording of the score, adapted and transcribed by the Maestro Maurizio Billi.

After collaborating with some of the most renowned international choreographers such as Jiří Kylián, Ohad Naharin, and Johan Inger, CCN/Aterballetto now turns to Marcos Morau, one of the most sought-after choreographers in the contemporary scene. The Spanish author, with his visionary power and the ability to transfigure musical universes, proposes a unique evening intertwining dance, visual arts, and cinematic suggestions. According to Gigi Cristoforetti, director of the Center, “thanks also to the collaboration of important production partners, some of whom have been faithful over the years, others brand new and arrived for the occasion, CCN/Aterballetto faces its most ambitious challenge.”

With an innate tendency to reconcile very different vocabularies and ideas, Marcos Morau is an artist capable of deeply questioning contemporaneity, of which he is an intense choreographic voice, but not only. In him, the theme of the hybridization of languages ​​is “native,” as we could say borrowing the expression used for millennials and their digital practice.

So Morau describes his relationship with the Maestro’s music: “People often ask me what music I listen to, what music inspires or accompanies me in my daily life, and I always answer the same way: from classical music to new contemporary waves, I draw inspiration from many different sources, and Ennio Morricone is always at the top of the list.”

THE STAGES AND PARTNERS OF NOTTE MORRICONE

The production sees important collaborations with national entities, such as the Macerata Opera Festival, where the work will have its outdoor debut on August 1, 2024, at 9:00 PM.

In October, it will be the Fondazione Teatro di Roma, co-producer of the project, to host the first indoor performance on October 24, and the subsequent repeats, from October 25 to November 10, 2024, at the Teatro Argentina. In this context, Notte Morricone will be co-presented by the prestigious Festival Romaeuropa.

Among the supporters of the work, prominent national entities include the Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, the Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara di Trento, the Centro Teatrale Bresciano, and Ravenna Festival, which has provided the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, entrusted with the recording of the score, adapted and transcribed by Maestro Maurizio Billi.

“I, Ennio Morricone, have died,” wrote the composer before bidding farewell. His music, on the other hand, cannot. And so it is that creators and artists always leave us without leaving us, and so it is that memory takes care to keep them alive, to keep them safe.

Notte Morricone is my gift, a devout tribute to the beauty he brought to the world. Ennio Morricone could be my father, or my grandfather; I am a direct heir to his legacy, to the films that (whether masterpieces, good, mediocre, or bad) owe him an immeasurable debt.

Whistling his motifs was already, before delving into his music, a recurring sound in my life. I am the child of parents raised with his Once Upon a Time in America, or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; I grew up, among many other things, with his melodies playing in the living room of my home. Without him knowing, his music was not only the music of those films, but it was also the soundtrack of our childhood.

Ennio put his creativity, his inspiration, his heterodoxy at the service of the “dream factory,” embedding those sounds in our memory, becoming a classic, encapsulating the face of the intellectual composer, the popular musician, and almost a rock star. And it is in that generous act of creating and sharing beauty with us that the world of Morricone that I imagine begins to take shape. It’s not just about working with his music, let alone explaining it, because he has already said everything; it’s about composing a new melody that runs parallel to the presence of his music in our lives.

Notte Morricone takes place in the twilight of an ordinary night in the life of a creator, who alone and dazed in front of his sheets, takes notes and visualizes melodies for films that do not yet exist, bringing stories back to life in the rarefied air of his room. The night will be full of visitors, some musicians, who will respond to his creative call to record his fleeting ideas in an improvised recording studio. And there, among the sheets and musical notes, the boy will appear, the one who wanted to be a doctor, the one who knew he would never play the trumpet like Chet Baker but destiny had reserved for him a better place, made just for him, the place that would make him an icon for eternity. And the night will continue to advance, turning his home into a cinema, where visitors of all kinds will come to watch his films and spend the night with him. And every night will be a new opportunity to bring to life the dream of all of them, the musicians, the children, the lovers, or those who go to the cinema alone.

There is a space of melancholy in us that fills with images and music that have the ability to transform the present into the past and the past into the need to be better people every day; and this is already reason enough for life to have meaning.”

Marcos Morau, Choreographer

There are authors who transform their shows into imaginary representations of life. Imaginary, thus breaking through the limits of the present and attempting to project themselves into a different time and place. It’s that imaginary we all need, starting from the younger generations, afflicted by a gaze towards the future obscured wherever it may be directed.

As in The Man in the High Castle (Philip Dick, 1962), just when the ghosts of the past paradoxically become concrete, it’s up to man to create alternative dimensions. This is what Marcos Morau does, with a persistent recourse to the simplest and most fascinating poetic and aesthetic visions. And so a man can be a puppet, or vice versa. The wall of reality tears apart, and we pass through a portal that leads us into a realm of possibilities and inventions. The use of text, or even graphics and comics, inexhaustibly produces layers of images that overwhelm us. Upon which he returns, and returns, show after show, in an inexhaustible creative search.

I greatly admired Platel, and his vision which I would define as “anti-dystopian”: those feverish characters of social inadequacy consolidate into a representation where the most human feelings, like compassion, allow salvation. Marcos Morau is also an author before being a choreographer, but a possible salvation interests him less than a transfigured today. And his visual poetry is at the peak of a consciously combative beauty.

Probably Marcuse would say that his imagination aims for liberation. For us, it’s enough that he has given us back a stage as a place of possibility.

As for Morricone’s choice, I would love to say that I went to Morau to ask him to tackle this other fantastic “dream maker”. But it’s not like that: he proposed it, and he can tell us the reason. For me, it’s enough to underline the strategy that guides the Aterballetto now the Centro Coreografico Nazionale. Based on the centrality of music, potentially also live, as the engine of a dance increasingly present on our stages. On the importance of demanding but capable shows that speak to everyone. And on the pleasure of making our work more meaningful thanks to partnerships with strong entities, accomplices in opening their stages to dance. For Notte Morricone, I want to mention them all: Macerata Opera Festival, Fondazione Teatro di Roma, Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara Trento, Centro Teatrale Bresciano, including Ravenna Festival through the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, entrusted with the recording of the score, adapted and transcribed by Maestro Maurizio Billi.

Gigi Cristoforetti, Director Centro Coreografico Nazionale/Aterballetto

Dealing with Maestro Ennio Morricone‘s music has always been an invaluable professional stimulus. Our numerous conversations over time and the privilege of listening to his personal advice have allowed me a growth that only years later still defines better the human and artistic greatness of the Maestro. And it was precisely in one of these conversations, on the occasion of an imminent concert, that he said to me: “my music doesn’t need crutches”… meaning the absolute value of his music which, even if functional to images, possesses an autonomous life, rich in meanings. And through the emotions that his music is capable of unleashing, the ambitious project Notte Morricone starts, on the contrary, from music to create “choreographic images” constructed by Maestro Marcos Morau, activating a potential of extraordinary evocative beauty. The excellent contribution of Rosita Piritore in the editing of the musical material duly took into account the Maestro’s ideas in the utmost respect for his music.

Maurizio Billi, Direction and musical adaptation of Notte Morricone

I am proud to present the show Notte Morricone, the result of an important three-year agreement (2024-26) between the Centro Coreografico Nazionale/Aterballetto and the Associazione Arena Sferisterio. As a lover of contemporary dance, I believe it is essential to present a new creation to such a unique audience as that of the Macerata Opera Festival, especially because the artistic identity of the Festival – which I lead as artistic director alongside superintendent Flavio Cavalli – tends to increasingly value collaborations with other Italian institutions. Therefore, in Macerata, we will have the world premiere of a work by Marcos Morau, a choreographer and director whom I highly esteem, and – of particular value – we will be able to observe closely during the creation of his project. For the entire Festival staff, it will be a remarkable, exciting creative opportunity, and a forward-thinking investment in view of the ever-increasing audience engagement that we hope to bring to dance.

Paolo Gavazzeni, Artistic Director Macerata Opera Festival

The relationship between Ennio Morricone and his city – of which the Teatro di Roma has always been an expression – is inseparable. Yet, few great musicians, or even great intellectuals, are simultaneously so deeply connected to a place and yet so absolutely universal. But for Morricone, this was not the only “anomaly”; he lived well within an oxymoron.

As an extremely sensitive contemporary composer, coming from the school of a great figure like Goffredo Petrassi (of whom he was the favorite pupil), the founder of Nuova Consonanza, he was also an arranger for Gianni Morandi or Edoardo Vianello of that popular music expressing an Italy that was changing, all this before becoming famous for his film scores. Morricone was – whether we were aware of it or not – our soundtrack for decades. He wrote hundreds of film scores. He was erudite and popular, and in him this did not create embarrassment or contradiction; on the contrary, he knew how to use all registers together and fill even those Italian Western music with musically cultivated quotations for that other genius of Sergio Leone. For Morricone, “high” and “low,” “cultivated” and “extra cultivated” (as cultural or musical realms were once accustomed to be defined) were not closed cages, but places exchanging emotions and knowledge.

For this reason, each of us has a different music in mind when talking about him. For this reason, we believe that this Notte Morricone will speak to the ears, eyes, and hearts of everyone and will be an extraordinary occasion for the Teatro di Roma, for the city he loved so much (being loved by it), for all those who will have the opportunity to see it around Italy.

It is an honor for me to collaborate with great institutions of music, dance, and theater, with a choreographer like Marcos Morau to realize this event.

Luca De Fusco, Director Fondazione Teatro di Roma

As Fondazione I Teatri, we wanted to be part of this project, both for the fruitful and extraordinary continuous collaboration with CCN/Aterballetto and for the quality of the artist involved. Marcos Morau, whom we have already hosted at the Festival Aperto, is an artist of great talent and together with the music of Morricone, they form a sort of “fantastic duo,” which we are eager to discover and bring to our theaters.

Paolo Cantù, Director Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia

We are truly honored to be among the co-producers of a project of such high level and prestige, alongside other important cultural institutions. This is an operation of the highest quality, which boasts the ability to bring together one of the leading dance entities in Italy, and beyond, such as CCN/Aterballetto, along with a visionary and highly valuable choreographer like Marcos Morau. All of this, accompanied by the iconic musical compositions of Maestro Ennio Morricone. For all these reasons, the Centro Santa Chiara wanted to join this project with great conviction, firmly believing that it is precisely collaborations of this nature that allow us to build and educate the audience of the future.

Massimo Ongaro, Director of Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara di Trento

We are happy to continue our collaboration with Centro Coreografico Nazionale/Aterballetto with this new and important project. Following the success of Tempesta, Don Juan, Stanze/Rooms, and MicroDanze – performances that have seen the splendid choreographies of some of the most important international artists come to life in our theaters and with site-specific events in other places in the city of Brescia – we return to engage with the language of dance. We are proud to participate in this production to bring a show dedicated to one of the Masters of contemporary music, among the most inspired and loved, Ennio Morricone, signed by an important choreographer like Marcos Morau, to our city in the near future. In a particularly significant year for the Centro Teatrale Bresciano – in fact, fifty years have passed since its foundation in 2024 – with this show, we take a new and important step in the direction of the multidisciplinary vocation that, as a Theater of Relevant Cultural Interest, we are called to pursue.

Gian Mario Bandera, Director Centro Teatrale Bresciano

«La carriera di Ennio Morricone ingloba un’enorme quantità di generi compositivi, che ne hanno fatto uno dei più straordinari compositori del nostro tempo. Piuttosto stranamente la musica di Morricone ha raramente incontrato il mondo della danza ed è questo di Notte Morricone un progetto artistico molto opportuno e centrato a cui il Ravenna Festival ha aderito da subito con grande piacere ed entusiasmo. Nel corso degli anni il nostro festival ha intessuto uno stretto e affettuoso rapporto con Ennio Morricone, rapporto che ha avuto il suo momento più alto nella commissione di Voci dal silenzio (2002), grande partitura – sempre estremamente attuale anche in virtù della sua dedica “in memoria di tutte le vittime del terrorismo” – che Riccardo Muti diresse sia a Ravenna che a Chicago, e quindi non potevamo assolutamente mancare. Ed è motivo di grande soddisfazione e orgoglio che sia ora proprio l’Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, nata per espressa volontà del Maestro, ad eseguire le musiche ormai senza tempo del grande compositore romano.»

Franco Masotti, Direttore Ravenna Festival

For the first time, we presented choreographer Marcos Morau with his company La Veronal in 2013, at the Palladium with the show Siena, as part of the programs dedicated to emerging European dance at Romaeuropa. Now, more than ten years later, we find him choreographing for the company Aterballetto, a prestigious Centro Coreografico Nazionale, paying homage to one of the greatest Masters of contemporary Italian culture: Ennio Morricone. His most celebrated compositions for cinema will indeed be at the heart of the piece. Bringing together the great Masters of contemporary creation and our tradition with the challenges of the present and the visions of the future, building exchanges between disciplines, facilitating dialogue among Italian, European, and international artists have always been some of the objectives of our work. The network of collaborations, which makes it possible to present Notte Morricone in Italy and within the thirty-ninth edition of the Romaeuropa Festival, is another step in this direction, in the sign of dialogue between disciplines, national and international creation that animates the programs of our Festival every year.

Fabrizio Grifasi, General and Artistic Director Fondazione Romaeuropa

Published On: 8 April 2024

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