On 21 August, Italian director Damiano Michieletto will become the first Italian to stage operas on three consecutive years at the Salzburg Festival.
After the success of his La Cenerentola at the Whitsun Festival on 5 June this year, the production returns with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role for the summer festival. Michieletto previously directed La bohème in 2012 and Falstaff in 2013.
I wanted a take on the Cinderella story that was simple and well-defined, but at the same time to give it a touch of a contemporary fairy tale,
says Michieletto.
The scene is set in a diner where anything can happen, also things that are most unexpected . The people who eat there are those who are barely scraping by, the surroundings are poor and humble. Cinderella dreams of freedom and love that exist only in her imagination.
La Cenerentola can be seen on 21, 23, 26, 29 e 31 August, at the Haus für Mozart in Salzburg.

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
Damiano is a great one!! Keep going!
I haven’t seen the Cenerentola, but I absolutely hated his production of Poliuto.
I can’t afford to see Cenerentola, but I did empty my bank account last year in Salzburg (tickets, hotel, restaurants… agghhh!) and loved his Falstaff. I think Pereira’s taking it to La Scala with him 😉