International Centre for the Performing Arts Biographies
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INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS BIOGRAPHIES Gianni Letta: Honorary President of the non-profit Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Avezzano (L’Aquila) 15/04/1935. Lives in Rome. Journalist – Holds a degree in Law. After working for a few years in Forensics at his father’s law firm, he moved into the field of advocacy journalism, something he had already experimented with while in high school and at university as a Correspondent for the Province, first in Avezzano then in L’Aquila, where he served as Correspondent at some national daily newspapers, including Rai and Ansa. In 1958, he moved to Rome to become Editor of the daily Il Tempo, where we gained experience in all types of reporting, particularly foreign coverage, before taking over the helm of the Province’s Newsroom and the Editorial Administration as Editor-in-Chief. In 1971, Renato Angiolillo appointed him Managing Director of Il Tempo, and later, being a member of the Board of Directors, he took on the responsibility of CEO of S.E.R. Società Editoriale Romana and TI.CO. Tipografica Colonna, publisher and printer, respectively, of the Roman newspaper. On August 16, 1973, upon the death of Senator Angiolillo, he took over Management of Il Tempo, a post he held for almost 15 years, until the end of 1987. From 1973 to 1987, was both CEO and Director of the Roman newspaper, which he eventually left when he undertook managerial and journalistic responsibilities at Fininvest and on the Board of Directors at Mondadori. As Vice-President of Fininvest Communicazioni, he represented the company in Rome, with the responsibility and management of the Roman office. As Editorial Director of Fininvest – Mediaset, he oversaw the coordination of the company’s communications activity. He managed and hosted television programs, particularly “Italia Domanda” on Canale 5, a weekly program featuring political-cultural debates on problems in national and international business. For many years, he was Head of the Press Office at the Federazione Nazionale dei Cavalieri del Lavoro, and later Head of the Office of Research and Documentation at the Ente Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, for whom he edited a series of volumes on economic and social problems. He was Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers during all four Berlusconi administrations (1994-1995; 2001-2005; 2005-2006; 2008-2011). Giuseppe Corsi Zeffirelli: Vice-President of the non-profit Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli Born in 1948 and the adopted son of Franco Zeffirelli, Giuseppe Corsi Zeffirelli Pisciotto – better known as Pippo Zeffirelli – is today the Vice President of the non-profit Fondazione Franco Zeffirelli. His has spent a large part of his professional life in the world of film and television, alongside Franco Zeffirelli, with whom he got his start as an assistant director in 1977 for Jesus of Nazareth. In 1977, he was the assistant director to Francis Girod for the film Rene the Cane and to Zeffirelli again for The Champ (1979). In 1981, he acted as associate producer on Endless Love and production manager for Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci (1982), also with Zeffirelli. In 1984 and 1985, he worked beside Francis Ford Coppola and James Ivory, who wanted him as assistant director for Room with a View. From 1986 to 2009, he stayed with Master Zeffirelli. In 1986, he was assistant director for Othello, associate producer for Young Toscanini (1988), Tea with Mussolini (1999) and Callas Forever (2002) and executive producer for the documentary Omaggio a Roma (2009). Caterina D’Amico: Artistic Consultant Born in Rom on September 16, 1948, daughter of Fedele d’Amico (historian and music critic) and Suso Cecchi d’Amico (screenwriter). She enrolled in the Philosophy department at the University of Rome La Sapienza, as well as some courses in social sciences at the University of East Anglia in Norwhich (GB). In 1970, she was hired by RAI, but she quit after five months. After this short stint, she worked as a freelancer in the theatre field. From 1972 to 1976, she was a theatre coordinator in Rome. From 1974 to 1980, she found herself at The Festival of the Two Worlds in Spoleto and Charleston (USA). From 1974 to 1980, she served as assistant director for twelve theatre and opera productions, four of which were with Giorgio De Lullo. A radio personality and writer of television programs, she has published essays in Italian and foreign magazines and volumes, as well as several books on theatre production, fashion and costume design. Since 1976, she has staged forty documentary exhibitions on the performing arts and has edited their catalogues, some of which are veritable monographs. In addition to Italy, her exhibitions have been staged in many countries around the world: France, Switzerland, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, the United States, Canada, Argentina and Japan. She has organized and managed cinematographic expositions and retrospectives in Italy and abroad. From September 1988 to August 1994, she was Subcommissioner of the Experimental Cinematography Centre for Education and cultural rapports. From 1998 to 1999, she as a member of the Board of Directors at the Experimental Cinematography Centre Foundation, and from February 1999 to July 2007, she was Head of the National Film School at the Experimental Cinematography Centre. Throughout her time with the institution, she dedicated much energy to bringing the Experimental Cinematography Centre to the international stage. From October 1993 to May 2000, she was President of the European Grouping of Film and Television Schools GEECT. In May 2000, she was elected President of the International Association of Film and Television Schools, a post she held until November 2008. From 1996 to 2000, she collaborated with Martin Scorsese as associate producer in every phase of the creation of his documentary on the history of Italian cinema, My Voyage to Italy. In 1998, she was a Founding Partner of the “Théatre des Italiens” Foundation, of which she was President until 2002. From 2005-2006, she was part of the Advisory Committee of the Cinematography – Feature Film Section. Between July 2007 and July 2010, she was CEO of RAI Cinema. From February 2011 to December 2014, she directed the Casa del Cinema in Rome. From 2013 to 2016, she was President of the Silvio d'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since January 2013, she is once again the Head of the National Film School at the Experimental Cinematography Centre. She has dedicated many years to the study of Luchino Visconti’s works, which she has written several essays and books about. She is currently the scientific director of the Luchino Visconti archive, located at the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci. Maestro Carlo Savi: Head of Scenography Course Born in Parma, he studied scenography at the Istituto d’Arte Paolo Toschi and the Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, where he graduated in 1966 under the guidance of Tito Varisco. He kept busy as a scenographer and costumer in theatres across Italy (Parma, Turin, Naples, Trieste) and abroad (Bregenz Festival, Strasbourg Opera House, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Cultural Center in Seoul), collaborating with a variety of directors and choreographers, particularly Mauro Bolognini, Giancarlo Menotti, Filippo Crivelli, Carlo Lizzani, Alberto Negrin, Graziella Sciutti, Beppe Menegatti, Vittorio Biagi, Hugo de Ana, Giorgio Pressburger, Mario Pistoni, Flavio Ambrosini, Giorgio Belledi and Lamberto Puggelli. From 1970 to the early 1980s, he was a steady collaborator with the Teatro della Scala in Milan, eventually earning an invitation from the superintendent Paolo Grassi to work as Stage Director, substituting his mentor Tito Varisco. At the Verona Arena, he staged Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, Giovanna d’Arco by Giuseppe Verdi at the Teatro Filarmonico and, in 1995, at the Teatro Romano, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, with Carla Fracci and directed by Beppe Menegatti. In 1981, he inaugurated the theatre productions at the Verona Arena (Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Carlo Lizzani) and, from 1994 to 1999, he served as Stage Director at the venue. He served in the same role at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa (1999-2002) and at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (2005-2007; 2010-2014), overseeing the production of major performances and coordinating their visual and stagecraft aspects with well-known Theatre and Cinema directors, as well as set and costume designers. Mariaelisa Nannini: Head of the Library and Archive Mariaelisa Nannini was born in Grosseto. Holding a degree in Literature, she is specialized in archival and book heritage, with a thesis on celebrity archives and in particular, that of Piero Tosi, located at the Fondazione Gramsci in Rome. As an archivist, she has been dedicated since the beginning to reorganizing Franco Zeffirelli’s archive, overseeing an initial filing of the paper and photographic materials. She was assistant editor of the volume Franco Zeffirelli, Complete Works. Theatre, Opera, Film, edited by Caterina Napoleone, Thames & Hudson, 2010. She also works with the archives of some of the largest Italian celebrities in theatre, fashion and culture, collaborating on the reorganizing and filing of the archives of Luigi Squarzina and Lucio Lombardo Radice, conserved at the Fondazione Gramsci in Rome. She worked with the Fondazione Roberto Capucci as director of the archive and with the Fondazione Tirelli Trappetti, where she oversaw the archival and book materials. She is currently reorganizing the personal archive of costume designer Nanà Cecchi. She has participated in staging exhibitions dedicated to the work and artistic and cultural milieu of Luchino Visconti: Once Upon a Time in Sicily: 50 Years of “The Leopard” curated by Caterina d’Amico, Palermo, 2013; Luchino Visconti and His Time, Rome, 2006; and Viscontiana. Luchino Visconti and the Verdi Drama, curated by Caterina d’Amico, Parma, 2001.