
19/08/2025
NEW
"Straight to the Heart. Giancarlo Menotti's The Medium"
Ilaria Conserva, Marco Grondona
Giancarlo Menotti, who was a prominent opera composer in Italy largely due to the “Festival dei Due Mondi” in Spoleto — a showcase for his works that, while met with perplexity from critics, found favor with audiences over five decades — continues to suffer from an undeserved critical neglect.
This oversight remains inadequately addressed by a handful of good interviews, two or three biographies, and a few U.S. doctoral dissertations that are almost invariably lacking in specificity.
Straight to the Heart seeks to fill this gap, offering a measured reflection on the dramaturgical choices in the opera that Menotti revered as his true “opus one” (I. Conserva) and a meticulous analysis of his musical design.
Without this analytical rigor, critical assessments risk falling into the void (M. Grondona). The work thus proposes a fresh and objective reevaluation of Menotti.