ROME — Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti is set to celebrate his 94th birthday Thursday [July 7] as his Festival of the Two Worlds in the Umbrian hill town of Spoleto goes into full swing.
While no lavish events are planned, the festival's artists and staff will fete Menotti at home Thursday evening, said Logan Bentley, spokeswoman for the Spoleto event. Otherwise, Menotti is expected to follow his usual routine during the festival, strolling around the town's historic center and attending concerts.
Menotti founded the Spoleto event in 1958, naming it the Festival of Two Worlds with the intention of bringing together artists from Europe and America.
Set in the Umbrian hill town some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Rome, the festival has become a showcase for promising artists from around the world and for innovative music, dance, poetry and other arts. This year's edition, the 48th, runs through July 17.
In 1997, Francis Menotti took over from his father as the festival's artistic director.
"I don't hear the high notes anymore, and when I complain to my son Francis that the violins aren't playing he tells me 'No, papa, you're getting deaf,'" Bentley quoted Menotti as saying.
Born in the town of Cadegliano, north of Milan, Menotti began to compose music at age six and wrote his first opera at 12.
He emigrated to the United States in 1928 and had success on Broadway in the late 1940s and early 1950s with works such as the Pulitzer-winning operas The Consul and The Saint of Bleecker Street. He also composed ballets and directed operas.
Gian Carlo Menotti inaugurated the Charleston-based Spoleto Festival USA in 1977 as a companion to the original festival.
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The Spoleto Festival: www.spoletofestival.it
Spoleto Festival U.S.A.: www.spoletousa.org
