Elio in LARGO AL FACTOTUM E… AL VERISMO! Elio in LARGO TO THE FACTOTUM AND… TO THE VERISMO!

On the day of the 80th anniversary of Pietro Mascagni’s passing, the Mascagni Festival, in collaboration with Effetto Venezia, will host an extraordinary event in the charming Fortezza Vecchia di Livorno. The protagonists of the evening will be the eclectic Elio, famous leader of Elio e le Storie Tese, and the internationally renowned pianist Roberto Prosseda, who will guide the audience on a unique musical journey, blending irony, lyricism, and grand spectacle.

“Who has never sung at least once in their life Figaro here, Figaro there?” – with this question Elio will open the concert “Largo al Factotum”, an experience that breaks traditional patterns and makes the lyrical repertoire accessible with lightness and brilliance. The musical journey will range from Rossini to Mozart, from Kurt Weill to the contemporary of Luca Lombardi, crossing famous operatic pages like Don Giovanni and The Barber of Seville, to surprising musical odes dedicated to a mosquito, a hamster, and a fly.
The aim of the evening is clear: to bring the great audience closer to operatic music, breaking the preconception that sees it as a distant and academic genre. “The reason why I started doing this type of shows – explains Elio – is because I believe that classical music is above all beautiful music, worth listening to. We live in a historical phase where quality is needed, but few know these pieces. My intention is to make them discover to those who have never had the opportunity to listen to them, without barriers and without genre labels, hoping that they will fall in love with them, just like I did”.
This original proposal aims to engage a young and new audience, without forgetting those who already love great music and want to rediscover it in a different way. The pianistic virtuosity of Roberto Prosseda, internationally acclaimed performer, will intertwine with the unpredictable gags and paradoxical situations created by Elio, in a continuous dialogue between irony and musical beauty.
The concert will also be a special tribute to Pietro Mascagni, a composer who was able to innovate the musical language of his time, just like this show aims to do with classical music today. An encounter between tradition and modernity, between realism and irony, between musical rigor and pure entertainment, for an evening that promises to be unforgettable.