Town partnership with Spoleto / Italy
The town of Spoleto lies about 62 miles north of Rome and stands out there along with Assisi and Foligno. As the former capital of Umbria, Spoleto has 38,000 inhabitants and is extraordinarily rich in historical treasures. Its monuments reflect the full historical development from earliest history through the Lombard time and the Middle Ages to our days. Spoleto lies imposingly on a mountain hill in a scenic region with a direct view to Assisi, Monte Falco and Spello.
Apart from the events of the ‘Festivals dei Due Mondi’, the ‘Teatro Lirico Sperimentale’ stands supreme among Spoleto’s cultural offers at a high cultural level. It was founded in 1947 by Adriano Bell with the aim to promote the debut of young lyric singers. The event to which Italian participants were admitted only until 1987, is now open to citizens of all other states of the European Community, and split up into three phases. In March the participants are selected by an international board of examiners. During the following five months the selected singers receive instruction in diction, expression, stage play, musical theory, voice and perfection of voice. In September , at the end of instruction, the winner makes his debut. The lyric season takes place at the town theatres and attracts a great many people.
The ‘Festival dei Due Mondi’ was established in 1958 by Gian Carlo Menotti with the intention to create opportunities for comparison and interchange among the Italian, American and the other European artistic cultures. . The festival is a unique event, in particular in its efforts to give voice to all aspects of artistic expression. In the impressive setting of the theatres ‘Nuovo, Caio Melisso and Romano, some of the most talented stage managers, choreographers, conductors, stage designers and soloists have shown their works to the international theatre world, often assisted by young talents. Performances of prose, dance and lyric, but also concerts, exhibitions of art and film performances turn the festival into one of the most important artistic events on an international level.
Schwetzingen has maintained contacts with Spoleto for four years. Since that time contacts were intensified and last year a declaration of intent was signed to further partnership between Spoleto and Schwetzingen. The focus lies in fields in which both towns see their particular strength: music, culture and arts.
The presentation of culinary pleasures at the Schwetzingen Christmas fair, the participation of a representative of the Schwetzingen youth school of music as a member of the selection committee at the opera singers’ contest of the ‘Teatro Lirico Sperimentale’, the concerts of the ‘Spoleto all’ opera’ in autumn 2003 in Schwetzingen and the park festival of the Schwetzingen school of music with the participation of Spoleto as well as the photo display of Schwetzingen and the concerts of the Schwetzingen jazz initiative in Spoleto in October 2005 form the basis of the ‘town marriage’ in 2005.
