by InTrieste
A rare astronomical event will provide the backdrop for several days of cultural programming in Trieste this week, as the city’s summer festival combines a solar eclipse with concerts, theater and performances at some of its historic sites.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, the Castello di San Giusto will host a guided observation of the Sun organized by Trieste Estate and the Circolo Culturale Astrofili Trieste. The observation will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Bastione Rotondo.
The eclipse will obscure about 90.1 percent of the solar disk near sunset. It is expected to reach its peak at 8:13 p.m., when the Sun will be less than one degree above the horizon and almost completely eclipsed, creating an unusually dark twilight.
Beginning at 7:26 p.m., the observation will be accompanied by a performance by Marco Castelli, a saxophonist, composer and producer whose work spans jazz, theater, dance and multimedia performance. Admission is free and on a first-come, first-served basis, with space limited to 200 people. No reservations are required.
At 9 p.m., the nearby garden of the J. J. Winckelmann Museum will host “La scienza dietro l’evento,” a discussion with Mauro Messerotti focusing on the science behind the eclipse and the data collected during the observation.
Elsewhere that evening, Piazza Verdi will turn to the musical traditions of midcentury America with “Vecchia America… Old Jazz… Il Quartetto Cetra.” The program revisits the repertoire and close-harmony style of the Quartetto Cetra, an Italian vocal group whose career stretched from the 1940s into the late 20th century.
The music will be performed by the Anakrousis Vocal Group and the Trieste Early Jazz Orchestra, or TEJO, conducted by Tom Hmeljak.
The program continues Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Giardino del Museo Sartorio with “Cabaret Mitomagico – Labirinto di Sogni e Incanti,” part of the traveling Triskell program.
The performance, scheduled for 9 p.m., brings together live music, theater and mythology, with Arthuan Rebis, Alice Petrin and Angelo Tonelli. Tonelli, a poet, philologist, theater director and scholar of ancient Mediterranean spiritual traditions, is known for his work on Greek philosophy, Orphism and the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Rebis, a composer, multi-instrumentalist and fantasy writer, and Petrin, a performer specializing in Nordic and medieval instruments, will join him in a production featuring Celtic harp, nyckelharpa, bagpipes, flutes, singing, masks and theatrical storytelling. The performance draws on Nordic mythology, medieval legends, ancient ballads and philosophical themes.
Piazza Verdi will host a different kind of musical tribute that night, with “Aria di mezzanotte,” a concert by the Pooh tribute band I Soliti Pooh. The performance will revisit songs from more than five decades of the Italian pop group’s career.
At the J. J. Winckelmann Museum at 9 p.m., “Intervista col Passato” will revisit a notorious crime from Trieste’s history in an installment titled “Lucienne Fabry… e lo squartatore di Trieste.”
The theatrical production reconstructs historical cases through live performance, video and documentary research. The episode examines the 20th-century murder of Lucienne Fabry, a young café-chantant performer whose death and dismemberment attracted considerable attention in the local and European press.
Julius Födransperg, the principal suspect, was arrested and tried, but contradictory testimony and unresolved questions surrounding the case have left room for competing interpretations. The production is presented by Venus Produzioni and features Antonio Veneziano, Miriam Cosotti, Irene Lay and Elke Burul.
On Friday, Aug. 14, the Giardino del Museo Sartorio will host “Una favola, una vita, le canzoni,” a recital featuring singers Ornella Serafini and Daniela Pobega. Beginning at 9 p.m., the performance will combine stories from the artists’ lives with music spanning musical theater, pop, jazz and folk.
They will be accompanied by a band featuring piano, guitars, bass, percussion and drums.
In Piazza Verdi, the evening will conclude with Café Mezclado, a group whose members include Slovenian, Cuban and Hungarian musicians. Their repertoire draws on Cuban traditions including son montuno, guajira, bolero, changüí and Afro-Cuban music, combining percussion, piano and double bass with vocal harmonies and improvisation.
The concert is part of a broader program that seeks to bring together musical traditions and contemporary performance, with the production developed by Arthuan Rebis.
The events are part of Trieste Estate, the city’s summer cultural program, organized and promoted by the Municipality of Trieste’s Department of Culture and Tourism, with the participation of the departments responsible for education and family policies and territorial policies. The program is supported by PromoTurismoFVG and the Trieste Convention & Visitors Bureau.
