Teatro Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste

Today was a day of rehearsals. All four composers had hour-long rehearsals on their pieces, and all four will have an additional 30-40 minute rehearsal on the day of the concert. One of the hallmarks of summer music festivals, especially those involving composition, is that new works tend to feel under-rehearsed. We are working diligently to reverse that trend at IMFA!

This afternoon, we were treated to an outing at the opera. Trieste has a wonderful opera house with a close association to Verdi–two of his early works were premiered here, and several more received their second or third performances here. Tonight’s opera was “Attila,” a rarely performed work (at least in the US) about Attila the Hun and his minions. Terrific singers and a beautiful production, and a great opera to experience in the native language–though the story is pretty convoluted, the action is clear and you have a sense of how things are going to go. It doesn’t end well (at least for Attila).

And of course, we ended the day with pizza and gelato. This particular pizza joint had about 100 different pizzas to offer, including such concoctions as the “disco” and “Kansas”(!) pizza. As the commercial says, “priceless.”

James with the Kansas pizza

James, Bjorg, Ann, Kirsten and Evan at the opera