The Special Projects of the Historical Archive: ‘Coro’ by Luciano Berio

The cycle continues for the Special Projects of the Historical Archive of La Biennale di Venezia – International Centre for Research on Contemporary Arts, a space not only of memory, but of research and reflection on the cultural roots of our time. Following the lectio magistralis by Massimo Cacciari on The Death of Jus Belli and after the tribute to the composer and philosopher Franco Battiato with Arcipelago Battiato, the season of Special Projects of the Historical Archive wraps up for the year 2025 under the banner of music and dance with Coro, the masterpiece composed by Luciano Berio between 1974 and 1976, which premiered in Italy at the Biennale Teatro e Musica directed by Luca Ronconi in 1976. Coro will be presented on December 6^th and 7^th at the Teatro La Fenice in a new production that features original choreographies by Sir Wayne McGregor. A tribute dedicated by La Biennale di Venezia to the great composer on the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, in collaboration with the Fondazione Teatro La Fenice and with the contribution of the Ministry of Culture.

Tickets may be purchased on the website of La Biennale www.labiennale.org and will be available at the Teatro La Fenice ticket office on December 6^th and 7^th starting at 8 pm.

“I have been dreaming for quite some time – stated McGregor – about the extraordinary challenge of choreographing Luciano Berio’s incredible and complex music. The Berio repertoire offers a vast range of sophisticated and eerily beautiful compositions. Choosing just one masterwork to choreograph has, however, been easy – Coro. This piece balances great humanity with superb orchestral and choral writing, creating a visceral, almost physical experience – perfect for dance.”

Alongside the forty solo voices of the Coro della Cattedrale di Siena “Guido Chigi Saracini”, matched by affinity of vocal register with forty members of the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, there will be twenty dancers. They are the highly versatile dancers from the Company Wayne McGregor – Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Salvatore De Simone, Chia-Yu Hsu, Jayla O'Connell, Jasiah Marshall, Mariano Zamora González, Kevin Beyer, Izzac Carroll, Po-Lin Tunge, Giulia Costa – along with the dancers selected among the finest trained at the school of Biennale College Danza over the past five years under the mentorship of Wayne McGregor himself - Cathy Grealish, Asja Marabotti, Francesco Catalfamo, Stella Perniceni, Kannen Glanz, Alice Del Frate, Ivan Merino Gaspar, Luca Cappai, Angelo Zizzi, Ming-Chin Hsieh. Cathy Grealish, Asja Marabotti, Francesco Catalfamo, Stella Perniceni, Kannen Glanz, Alice Del Frate, Ivan Merino Gaspar, Luca Cappai, Angelo Zizzi, Ming-Chin Hsieh. The Choirmaster is composer, conductor and violinist Lorenzo Donati; the Orchestra will be conducted by Koen Kessels, the musical director of the Dutch National Ballet and the Royal Ballet. The lighting design is by visual artist Theresa Baumgartner.

Considered a key composition in Berio’s vast production, Coro is a compendium of his mastery, of his ability to create new forms from an infinite diversity of heterogeneous materials. Fascinated by folklore, which recurs in many of his works, Berio draws for Coro not only on the works of Pablo Neruda, but on the folk songs of widely disparate areas around the world – Peru, Polynesia, Persia, Croatia, Chile, in addition to many Italian regions – and gives voice to a multicultural “chorus” that is also an “anthology of different ways of ‘setting to music’, to be listened to as an open project that could continue to generate ever-changing situations and relationships” (Luciano Berio).

CORO for forty voices and instruments (1974-1976)
by Luciano Berio
texts Pablo Neruda (from Residencia en la tierra) and folk songs
choreography Wayne McGregor

Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice
Conductor Koen Kessels
Coro della Cattedrale di Siena “Guido Chigi Saracini”
Choirmaster Lorenzo Donati

with Company Wayne McGregor
Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Salvatore De Simone, Chia-Yu Hsu, Jayla O'Connell, Jasiah Marshall, Mariano Zamora González, Kevin Beyer, Izzac Carroll, Po-Lin Tunge, Giulia Costa
and with the dancers of Biennale College Danza (2021-2025)
Cathy Grealish, Asja Marabotti, Francesco Catalfamo, Stella Perniceni, Kannen Glanz, Alice Del Frate, Ivan Merino Gaspar, Luca Cappai, Angelo Zizzi, Hsieh Ming-Chin

lighting design Theresa Baumgartner
rehearsal director Odette Hughes (Studio Wayne McGregor)
technical director Kate Elliot (Studio Wayne McGregor)

production La Biennale di Venezia
in collaboration with Studio Wayne McGregor
in collaboration with Teatro La Fenice di Venezia
with the contribution of Ministry of Culture

6 and 7 December – Teatro La Fenice – 8 pm