Giorgio Strehler

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Giorgio Strehler (14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was one of the most influential directors of Italian opera and theatre.

Strehler was born in Barcola, Italy. With the help of Paolo Grassi, he founded the Piccola Scala in Milan on 14 May 1947. Their inaugural show was “The Hotel of the Poor Ones” by Maxim Gorky. Strehler's theatrical activity was in the Italian lyric tradition, with particular attention to the use of the playing space, the spectacular rhythms and to the lighting design. In his shows he tried to return to the dignity of the past, executing his own unique historical and poetical interpretation.

Strehler was a very prolific director in the period between 1947 and 1994. When he died in Milan the funeral was attended with great participation of citizens and politicians. The parade lasted for over two days after leaving from the center of via Rovello of Piccola Scala. His ashes were deposited in the cemetery of Trieste.

Strehler was the co-founder of the Union of the Theatres of Europe.

[edit] Famous opera productions

Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (Arthur Honegger) La Scala, Milan (1946)
Lulu (Alban Berg) Venice (1949)
La favola del figlio cambiato (Gian Francesco Malipiero), Venice (1952)
The Fiery Angel (Prokofiev) (Sergei Prokofiev) Venice (1955)
L'histoire du soldat (Igor Stravinsky) Piccola Scala, Milan (1957)
Un cappello di paglia di Firenze (Nino Rota) Piccola Scala, Milan (1958)
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Kurt Weill) Piccola Scala, Milan (1964)
Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart) (1965) Salzburg
Cavalleria rusticana (Pietro Mascagni) La Scala, Milan (1966)
Fidelio (Beethoven) Florence (1969)
Simon Boccanegra (Verdi) La Scala, Milan (1971), Vienna State Opera 1984
Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) Paris (1973), Milan 1980
The Magic Flute (Mozart) Salzburg (1974)
Macbeth (Verdi) La Scala, Milan (1975)
Falstaff (Verdi) La Scala, Milan (1980)
Don Giovanni (Mozart) La Scala, Milan (1987)
Così fan tutte (Mozart), Piccolo Teatro, Milan (1998) (note: Strehler died during the final rehearsals)

[edit] Famous theatre productions

Richard II (1948)
Julius Caesar (1953)
Coriolanus (1957)
The Game of Powerful (the 1965)
Re Lear (1972)
The Tempest (Shakespeare) by Shakespeare (1978)
Harlequin in all its version, the oldest Italian show and also the most famous, (beginning from 1947)
The Trilogy of Holiday (1954)
Quarrels Chiozzotte by Goldoni (1964)
Il campiello (1975) by Goldoni
Platonov by Chekhov (1959)
The Garden of Ciliegi by Chekhov (1955 and 1974)
The Giants of Mountain (1947, Piccolo Teatro, Milan; 1966, Teatro Lirico/Piccolo Teatro, Milan; 1994 both in Milan and in Vienna at the Burgtheater) by Pirandello
As You Want (1988 to present) by Pirandello
El nost Milan (1955 and 1979) and Egoist by Bertolazzi (1960)
The House of Bernarda Alba by García Lorca (1955)
Temporal one of Strindberg, Piccolo Teatro, (1980)
The visit of the old Mrs. of Durrenmatt (1960)
The Great Magic by Eduardo De Filippo for drammaturgia contemporary (1985)
Three Penny Opera by Bertold Brecht (1956)
The Good Person of Setzuan by Bertold Brecht (1958, 1981 and 1996)
Saint Joan of the Stockyard by Bertold Brecht (1970)
Galileo Galilei by Bertold Brecht (1963)
Das Spiel der Mächtigen (Shakespeare), Salzburg 1974
Trilogie der Sommerfrische (Trilogia della villegiatura) (Carlo Goldoni), Vienna, Burgtheater, 1974