David Rion and laReverdie

The Million or the Book of Wonders
David Rion and laReverdie

Wonderful and newspaper, history and legend, saints and bandits, kings and subjects.
In a magical place, a concert along the Silk Road.
The new project de laReverdie to celebrate its 30 years in business.

One of the most exciting trips of history, destined to leave an indelible mark in the relations between Europe and the East, whose precious trace remains in a book known around the world, The Million, as is the famous traveler, Marco Polo.

From the reading of this extraordinary work he was born the idea of entrusting the narrator David Rion reading some stages of this narrative, and to build a sort of soundtrack where laReverdie gives sound to the issues touched by the protagonist and narrator, for a concert organized in collaboration with the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice, on 29 and 30 October.
"In the description of the other, out of this world and of other people's customs and figures, there is no feeling of supremacy in Polo, reduction to their categories, except for what is needed to make the story understandable - says David Rion -. Others are still others, not dominated by its vision. Polo does not feel higher or lower than the universe unprecedented crossing. Weaving together the wonder indifference, the Venetian seems to establish with the East an equal relationship. This makes the light and mysterious story, and absolutely audible over the philological curiosity. Large pen, Rustichello from Pisa. "
A Rustichello from Pisa, known in the Genoese prison, Marco Polo entrusts the account of his journey in a wonderful world and exotic described with a profoundly medieval style.
How is the music from the medieval Venetian and French environment performed by laReverdie, one of the Italian groups specialized in the medieval repertoire best known internationally, which this year celebrates its 30 years in business.
"A new journey that takes laReverdie with David Rion where, for the first time, led by the charming tale of Marco Polo, we are facing and we dialogue with the musical tradition that comes from the East, thanks to the contribution of Kamancheh of Shieh Rana and Tabla Elena Baldassarri, "says Claudia Caffagni. A magical combination that projects the viewer into that wonderful and remote world, irresistible charm.

Magic is also the place. Marco Polo will arrive (in the true sense of the term) to the auditorium the "Squero" Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, a new space for music in Venice. A former workshop for the repair of vessels, whose construction dates back to the mid-nineteenth century and whose structure is inspired by the great Venetian architecture, resuming the Arsenal model. Exceptional acoustics, the Square is located directly beside the lagoon in front of the audience and behind the musicians, the glass walls as natural scenes, opening an extraordinary glimpse of the lagoon offering the viewer the chance to live the unique experience of a concert "at the edge of water."

An event at which well suits the description that the art historian Jurgis Baltrušaitis does his fantastic medieval "Wonderful and newspaper, history and legend, saints and bandits, kings and subjects were in a prodigious contiguity relationship with the traveler who never confronted with practical and cultural barriers inaccessible. "


laReverdie

Claudia Caffagni, voice, lute, psaltery
Livia Caffagni, voice, fiddle, flutes
Elizabeth de Mircovich, voice, fiddle, rebec, symphonia, bells
Matteo Zenatti, voice, narrator, harp, percussion
Rana Shieh, kamancheh, zanburak, voice
Elena Baldassarri, tabla, tarang, Tibetan bells

DAVID Rion, narrator