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A Long Way To Go
GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports
from
Tunisia's El Jem Symphony Festival
Readers may remember the
film The Gladiator. Very few may know,
however, that it was shot not in Rome's
Coliseum but in the amphitheater in El Jem, Tunisia. Even fewer will be familiar with
the El Jem Symphony festival which
for nearly three decades has
taken place in the same amphitheater where Russell Crowe was shown
fighting with other gladiators as well as wild animals. Now
at its twenty eighth edition, the festival is the only one of its kind in
Northern Africa and,
as far as I know, in the Middle East.
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma at the El Jem Symphony Festival. Photo ©
2013 Antonio Tirocchi. Click on the image for
higher resolution
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The amphitheater was
built in the third century AD by
a Roman
Proconsul who had the guts to proclaim himself Emperor, only
to be defeated by troops loyal to the real Emperor ruling in Rome. It was
the Empire's third largest amphitheater, after Rome's Coliseum and the theatre in
Capua. At its peak, it contained an audience of
34,000. The Roman city of
Thysdrus went into decadence and was replaced by a Tunisian town of
18,000 inhabitants, some forty miles away from several of Tunisia's most
touristic beach resorts. The amphitheater remained intact until the
fourteenth century, when some of the stone was used for building
houses and a Mosque. Now it is a stunning beauty, especially at sunset
and at night,
emerging from the middle of the small streets of a North African town.
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma at the El Jem Symphony Festival. Photo ©
2013 Antonio Tirocchi. Click on the image for
higher resolution
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Tunisia has four
conservatories and in the nearby town of Sousse there is the School of
Music of the National University. Three decades ago, Tunisian
musicologists proposed to the Government to
start an international
symphony festival for the enjoyment of the local
populace as well as by tourists. Now a larger plan entails improving the
National Philharmonic Society and
reviving the early twentieth century art déco Tunis Opera House. A
possible partner would be the Symphonic Orchestra of
Rome -- the only fully private orchestra in Europe
supported by a Charity -- the Fondazione Roma Arte Museo. This foundation
has a branch, Fondazione Mediterraneo, especially dedicated to social and cultural
development on
the southern shore of the Mediterranean
basin. The Tunis Italian
Cultural Office is working steadily on this project, and also on the
basis of the good outcome of its activities involving Italian
participation in the festival.
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma at the El Jem Symphony Festival. Photo ©
2013 Antonio Tirocchi. Click on the image for
higher resolution
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This concert season spans
29 June to 31 August, but with a long
intermission during Ramadan. The Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma inaugurated
the festival on 29 June 2013 and
performed a second amphitheater concert on 6 July. It will also hold a
concert (not in the festival program) at
the Sousse School of Music. Other orchestras come
to the festival from Austria, Belgium, China, Egypt, Poland and Russia. In
short, it's a truly international gathering, including a special visit of
the Queen
Elisabeth musical cruise.
Francesco La Vecchia conducting the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma at the
El Jem Symphony Festival. Photo
© 2013 Antonio Tirocchi. Click on the image for higher resolution
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I was in the impressive
amphitheater on the opening
night. The concert started late, at around 10pm, to be telecast live in
Tunisia and nearby countries. The
amphitheater was packed, mostly by Tunisians; a special train service had
been arranged from the capital. Two
Ministers and their retinue were in the audience (some six thousand). The
program included, after the Tunisian and Italian National Anthems, Beethoven's
sixth symphony and Verdi's
overtures from Traviata, Nabucco and I
Vespri Siciliani. Under the baton of
its founder, Francesco La Vecchia, the orchestra was quite good. Everyone
sensed that it was a very special evening:
before the concert, there was a short firework display, and
the section of the amphitheater behind the orchestra was lit with
torches; other torches were carried by small balloons.
Conductor Francesco La Vecchia (left) in conversation at the El Jem
Symphony Festival. Photo © 2013 Antonio Tirocchi. Click on the image
for higher resolution
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The audience was not, of
course, as familiar with Western symphonic music as, for example, that subscribing to the Vienna
Musikverein series. Applause
erupted after each and every movement of the Beethoven symphony, for
example. At the end of the concert, which was after midnight, many
expected an encore of
the full program.
In short, there is still
a long way to go. But music may make feasible even impossible
dreams.
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