In honour of the Nobel Peace Laureates, the Gorbachev Foundation and the Comune di Roma, with the support of the Gruppo Cremonini and Grandi Stazioni, present: CREDO

A multimedia musical and theatrical performance about ethnic and religious co-existence and conflict, produced by Fabrica.

Rome, 11th November 2004. Stazione Termini comes out in favour of peace. Europe’s largest railway station, which for over two years has made a name for itself as a stage for cultural initiatives, today becomes the most international location on the planet, symbol and representative of the universal message for peace. On Thursday 11th November Stazione Termini will be the back-drop for the Italian premiùre: CREDO a multimedia musical and theatrical performance produced by Fabrica Musica in occasion of the 5th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates which will be held in Rome from 10th to 12th November.

The atrium of Stazione Termini will host the only musical event of the Summit, in testimony of dialogue and multi-ethnicity. From 20:30 on Thursday 11th, Stazione Termini will become an international meeting point of cultures, ethnic groups, religions and nations against war and religious intolerance. A unique and unrepeatable musical event, with live satellite link-up to Jerusalem, Istanbul and Belfast, will unite people from around the world in the largest station in Italy.

The performance, with the support of Grandi Stazioni and Gruppo Cremonini, is part of the 5th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, promoted by the Gorbachev Foundation and the Comune di Roma, dedicated to the theme “A United World or a Divided World?”

CREDO - the first word of the Apostles’ Creed and a statement of faith - is based on an idea that is common to all projects at Fabrica (Benetton Group’s communication research centre), i.e. that the arts, entertainment and communication should be concerned with matters relevant to society. In this case, the subject is co-existence, the need for diverse communities to live together responsibly and their capacity to perceive the other’s difference as a source of enrichment not danger.

Directed by Andrea Molino, director of Fabrica Musica, for the musical part, and for the theatrical part by Achim Thorwald, director of the Karlsruhe Staatstheater, where the opera was first staged, CREDO is a multimedia performance, with pieces of music, spoken parts, photographs and videos and is performed by Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, composed of 90 musicians, David Moss renown American vocalist and a group of over twenty young, international musicians chosen by Fabrica in countries including Israel, Turkey and Northern Ireland, where the project’s central theme is particularly relevant.

The collection of texts, photographs and videos which form CREDO’s libretto was prepared through the research of some 50 international correspondents of Colors Magazine. “We sought out people, children of mixed marriages, in Belfast, Jerusalem and Istanbul who had personal, direct experience of the violence of racial conflict,” said Molino. “Our purpose was to focus attention on them and let them talk or just be seen, bearing physical, flesh and blood witness to the fact that we create wars, they don’t just happen. In other words, we’re convinced that today, in complex and dangerous cultural circumstances, “bastards” (Deuteronomy 23,3) can become an ideal symbol of the absurdity of conflict, because they are living proof that races, cultures and religions can coexist.”

The young musicians prepared for this performance with Andrea Molino, at Fabrica. They will perform live from Jerusalem, Istanbul and Belfast, fusing their respective musical languages in a multimedia performance in which video elements and music share a common mode of expression, thus underlining not only the project’s advanced technology, but also its close relationship with the theme of the Summit, i.e. communication between different nations, cultures and religions.

CREDO, which, as part of the Cultura 2000 project, is supported by the European Union, will open the 2005 edition of the Istanbul International Music Festival and, also in summer 2005, will feature at the Queensland Music Festival in Brisbane, Australia.

 

For further information:

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CREDO