Verona celebrates culture in unique skating show
Top world skaters to participate in highly creative Opera on Ice
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| World champion Carolina Kostner of Italy is excited about Opera on Ice in her home country. (Getty Images) |
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The show officially opens the new opera season of the famous city of Verona. Last year's success has shown that a combination of figure skating and classical art is liked by both the residents of Verona and visitors, who travel to this city of love from around the world.
It is impossible to describe all the fantastic feelings that opera music -- performed by a 200-piece symphony orchestra -- brings, when uniquely combined with skaters. This is especially true when the skaters are performing their art in the open air of the ancient Arena, which embodies the values of traditional European culture and civilization.
The growing popularity of Opera on Ice is confirmed by the fact that, at the time of this writing, all the tickets were sold. It shows that figure skating is more than just a sport, an extremely artistic one, both in its uniqueness and cultural value.
"It will be an amazing show," said Flavio Tosi, mayor of Verona, who was very active in the development of the project. "After the success of last year, I'm confident that this unique evening will fascinate everyone from the point of view of arts and sports."
According to the organizers, one of its purposes is to promote classical arts among the young generation.
Among the protagonists of Opera on Ice will be such well-known skaters as Stéphane Lambiel, Carolina Kostner, Evgeni Plushenko, Shizuka Arakawa, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, and Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte.
The orchestra will be conducted by renowned Italian maestro Fabio Mastrangelo, and the audience will see and hear the voices of famous Verona opera artists Marco Frusoni, Alessandro Scotto di Luzio, France Dariz, Mirella Bunoaica, Valeria Sepe and Krum Gabalov.
Opera arias from Aida, Nabucco, La Traviata, Carmen, Il Trovatore, The Barber of Seville, Romeo and Juliet and more will be performed.
"I'm very happy to be here again," Lambiel said at a press conference. "I can't wait for the moment when I will go on the ice of L'Arena di Verona. Last year's show was magical.
"This year, what makes it even more special is that I will be able to skate with my great friend, Carolina [Kostner]. I know her since I'm 15, so that's probably the age of Romeo and Juliet. And 10 years later, maybe a little bit more, we are able to perform together and to be Romeo and Juliet, which is quite romantic.
"What I want to say is that we always have a very nice connection, and this performance at the Arena will help us to share this connection with a crowd. It's always a very special feeling to be at this historical place. I want to thank everybody for making this dream come true. We [skaters] will do our best for you on Saturday night," Lambiel added.
Kostner, who was the main star of last year's event, is also very excited about the coming one.
"I look forward to share all the emotions that only a combination of Arena di Verona, the opera and skating can give," Kostner said. "We have everything for a memorable evening."
According to one of the organizers, Giulia Mancini, the show will be broadcasted in December on Italian television and transformed in a special format that will bring Opera on Ice to all cinemas and all TVs around the world.