THE
A Great Weekend Break!
Magichour is taking ‘The Maestro’
home to Bergamo
In 2022 Magichour produced a new play by Duncan Hopper and Mike Wells about the life and work of opera composer Gaetano Donizetti in three venues in and around Brighton
After a highly successful run of performances in the 2022 Brighton Festival which won high praise, the company is performing in the University Theatre of San Andrea in Bergamo on February 10 and 11.
Come and join us in February!
Bergamo
Bergamo was the home town of Donizetti and he is a favourite son of this lovely hill top city. There is a theatre dedicated to his operas, a charming and elegant museum dedicated to him and the house in which he was born can be visited. Donizetti fans can also see the mansion where the composer died and on a lighter note go to the café and ice cream parlour named after him!
City Break
Anyone who would like a memorable city break which takes in our performance of a play with live arias about the triumphs and tragedies of this wonderful operatic composer could take advantage of cheap flights (Easy Jet to Milan Bergamo) and an airport which is a 15 minute bus ride from one of Italy’s most beautiful and atmospheric hill towns. It is also a 50 minute train journey (11 euros) to Milan with hourly trains.
Bergamo was a district capital of the Venetian Empire and its extensive city walls are a UNESCO Heritage site and make a great walk with views over the Lombard plain and also towards the Alps.
It has beautiful churches and the stunning interior of the famous Cathedral with its touching memorials to both Donizetti and his teacher Mayr are well worth a visit as is the Baptistry built for the mediaeval warlord Colleone. There is a stunning library on the Piazza Vecchia and many historic houses along the cobbled streets of the old town. History buffs will relish a museum of the nineteenth century which has some original red shirts worn by Garibaldi’s men and made in Bergamo.
Funiculars lead to castle ruins and also down to the Lower City, itself well worth a visit for its atmospheric older quarters, art gallery and family run restaurants. Just outside the town are nature reserves and interesting villages.
With neighbouring Brescia, Bergamo is a city of culture in 2023 and Magichour is proud to make its contribution by this moving tribute to an important figure in Italy’s musical life in the nineteenth century.
