La Forza del Destino

Teatro dell'Opera di Salerno

"Pier Francesco Maestrini’s precise direction obtained a concentrated and tense interpretation from both the singers and the orchestra...The director was good at encompassing the private stories and emotions of the three main characters into a broader context, dominated by Fate."

Opera magazine

Elisir d'amore

Palazzo Pitti, Firenze 2016

Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 2017

"The staging is by Pier Francesco Maestrini, with the collaboration of Juan Guillermo Nova (sets), Luca Dall’Alpi (costumes), Bruno Ciulli (lights). We are transported to what appears to be a rural agglomeration lost in the seventies Midwest. In the background, a wooden fence, flowers in the flowerbeds, to the right a large wind pump to extract water. An advertising sign promises fried chicken at Adina's place. Nemorino has to attract customers dressed as a rooster. Dulcamara is a scrupulous type; he arrives in a big black car with a former (hopefully) policeman equipped with a baton and a small team of promising girls, with big hats, micro hot-pants, and exposed navels. The content of the bottles of what should be elixir is not bordeaux but bourbon, according to the great encyclopedic doctor in Yankee version himself. Belcore leads a pack of soldiers in camouflage and boots who arrive intoning a martial chorus (unfortunately in stark contrast to the harmonic fabric of what follows). Around them there is everything: two Hare Krishnas, cowboys, men in overalls and plaid shirts, women dressed in various fashions, hippies, even a similar-Village People quartet. In the second act, we are at a country fair with a stand that promises prize kisses, a mechanical bull, a microphone for singing performances. All managed with undoubted professionalism, grace, irony, rhythm, thanks also to a cast of wild singer-actors who enthusiastically (at least so it seems) took the director's suggestions, to our delight."

Silvano Capecchi per Operaclick

“L’elisir d’amore” di Maestrini. Tra i rombi dell’auto di Dulcamara e la marcia di “Full Metal Jacket”

"Brave and entertaining, Pier Francesco Maestrini's L'elisir d'amore gives Donizetti's opera a certainly original interpretation, setting the story in the American 70s, creating an atmosphere between hippie and wild west, between flower children and mechanical bulls to ride. This is where Adina, owner of Adina's road food, and Nemorino, who works for her, advertising dressed as a chicken, move. The choral and mass scenes are central to this opera, and already in the first act, the entire community in which the action takes place is shown, where the director's flair led him to imagine Belcore as a sergeant of a group of American Marines, who appear on stage singing Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket march – here we must immediately open a parenthesis, the originality of the staging is not limited to the scenography, but goes beyond it, inserting sounds, melodies, songs, which do not exist in the libretto and score, and this cited case is a striking example, along with the sounds emitted by Dulcamara's car, as well as the final fireworks. Dulcamara, in fact, appears on stage in a blue sports car, dressed entirely in white, complete with a panama hat, thus transforming what is often identified as a sort of sorcerer into a skillful salesman with an easy patter. The melodrama is also surrounded by skilled extras, with remarkable gymnastic and dancing abilities, who make everything even more dynamic (Elena Barsotti, Maria Diletta della Martira, Silvia Giordano, Gaia Mazzeranghi and Matteo Mazzucato). Other bold choices include the amorous embrace between Adina and Nemorino, with the singer's final high note clearly recalling the protagonist's attainment of pleasure. A choice that, however, fits into the general climate of comedy and irony. Another overall characteristic of the staging is its cartoonish quality; the characters are deliberately and exaggeratedly stereotyped, performing movements and gestures that could be found in a cartoon – see, for example, Dulcamara, who, while eating popcorn, throws it in the air to toss it into his mouth. But let's look closely at Juan Guillermo Nova's scenes, enhanced by Bruno Ciulli's lighting design, certainly particular and interesting. In the first act, we see a rural landscape in the distance, in the foreground a raised stage on which the characters move, as well as streetlights, a luminous sign in the style of 70s America, and an old fuel pump. The chromatic range chosen by Luca Dall’Alpi for the costumes is beautiful and successful, where the different shades create a varied and fantasy-colored atmosphere. Nemorino's canary yellow, disguised as a chicken, also stands out. The choice is successful from an aesthetic point of view and technically helps to recognize the protagonist in the mass scenes. In the second act, opened by extras dressed as Village People, dancing to Donizetti's notes, the scene is that of the great party given in honor of Adina and Belcore's wedding, which will then not happen. This has a Pop Art flavor, with the large luminous sign of Adina's road food in the background and a mechanical bull placed in the center. The sign will play a fundamental role in the finale, when Nemorino and Adina's triumphant exit, finally married, will be greeted by explosions and fireworks projected right there, creating a glorious atmosphere, reminiscent of the ending of the film The Natural with Robert Redford. In short, we witnessed a brave and particularly comical and ironic Elixir, surrounded by dynamic and colorful scenography and costumes. Certainly, this production, produced by Maggio, was pleasant and, judging by the audience's applause, despite its originality, not always universally appreciated, Maestrini's perspective was received in the best possible way."

Stefano Duranti Poccetti per Corriere dello Spettacolo

Operaclick

"The entertaining and boisterous show by Pier Francesco Maestrini, which has traveled between the open courtyard of Palazzo Pitti and the indoors of Teatro del Maggio, is destined, like others, to become a pillar of the programming indicated with the name "repertoire" in the theater's schedules."

Fabrizio Moschini

Rigoletto

Boncompagni e Maestrini firmano un allestimento fedele all'originale: meraviglioso.

"Instead, I witnessed a simply wonderful Rigoletto these days on stage (until the 23rd) at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. The director Pier Francesco Maestrini and the set designer and author of the projections Juan Guillermo Nova go as far as elegantly learned citation in recreating a sixteenth-century Mantua using frescoes by Giulio Romano that adorn Palazzo Te. The Mincio, whose smell the Paduan Verdi makes you feel carried by the wind of the final storm, is there, and the jester, who has become a terrible avenger, arrives on the wave at Sparafucile's house, located on the bank. One detail particularly struck me. The libertine Duke is attracted to the house of the prostitute Maddalena, who operates protected by her brother – and this is eternal history, "pimps" are very often brothers and husbands. The Opera assumes that he possesses her: but where does the "time" of the relationship, after which the Duke, tired, falls asleep, fit into the music? Maestrini has the idea of having it consumed outdoors, in front of everyone, during the Quartet Bella figlia dell’amore: Rigoletto witnesses it with dark joy, Gilda with desperation."

Paolo Isotta, Il Fatto Quotidiano

ANSA

"The modern Rigoletto, directed by Florentine Pier Francesco Maestrini, is convincing. Not new to contaminations that break the mold of tradition, given that, precisely in Cagliari, he signed Puccini's Turandot with sets by the Sardinian artist, who died in 2016, Pinuccio Sciola. The tragic finale is also beautiful and almost cinematic."

CronacaOnLine

"Captivating and cinematic spectacle. For the occasion, director Pier Francesco Maestrini and set designer-projectionist Juan Guillermo Nova were involved. The two put on a cinematographic representation, with finely elaborated sets, different for each act. Maestrini, for his part, is no stranger to successful shows. In Cagliari, he was appreciated in La Campana sommersa (an opera also performed in New York) and in Puccini's Turandot with Sciola's scenography. It is therefore no coincidence that the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari decided to rely on his professionalism for some of the operas in the next season, recently presented."

Opera on line

"It was a great public success that the last performance of Tosca at the Opéra de Tours met in a new very "classical" staging by Pier-Francesco Maestrini. The Italian theater man did not seek to modernize Sardou's plot, and both sets and costumes are period. The only recourse to modernity is the use of (very beautiful) video projections on a scrim separating the stage and the hall that refer to the places of action: the painted dome of Sant’Andrea della valle in Act I, the frescoes by the Carracci brothers in Palazzo Farnese in Act II, or the reproduction of an 18th-century painting depicting Castel Sant’Angelo in Act III. The scenic proposal also convinces by its multitude of visual details that give consistency to a rather summary plot, in terms of the psychological justification of the actions. The evening is thus rich in strong moments, finely rendered: Scarpia's perversion, the rising desire to kill in the heroine, who feels cornered, or the brief moment of mad hope that makes the lovers' behavior almost childish, just before the macabre staging of the execution. We understood: Maestrini does not seek to impose an "oriented" reading of the drama - like the recent production of the work at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (within its Easter festival) - but strives to make plausible and close to us characters who are, by essence, larger than life."

Emmanuel Andrieu

Teatro Lirico di Cagliari

"Long applause from the public for Puccini's masterpiece. The director Pier Francesco Maestrini chooses an apparently naturalistic narrative key in a sequence of tableaux that compose and decompose before the viewer's eyes. To enter even deeper into the story, he uses projections."

ANSA April 2019

Cagliari, al Lirico applausi per la Tosca di Puccini

"The famous melodrama, one of the most beloved in the operatic repertoire, was performed to applause. A suggestive setting for a story of love and death made immortal by Puccini's music, amidst revolutionary yearnings and regime ferocity, deceptions and betrayals. The director Pier Francesco Maestrini chooses an apparently naturalistic narrative key in a sequence of tableaux that compose and decompose before the viewer's eyes. To enter even deeper into the story, he uses projections."

Redazione Cagliaripad April 2019

The “Tosca” at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari: a show of enormous success.

"Regarding the scenography, no expense was spared. Each environment was finely constructed, even with elaborate materials, and all utilizing the ideas of the set designer Juan Guillermo Nova, who collaborated with director Pier Francesco Maestrini in preparing a show with a not-too-traditional approach. The many opera enthusiasts, who often turn up their noses at modern and innovative representations, can rest assured that the show reflects the classical canons in terms of setting, costumes, and scenic furnishings. In any case, even those who love modern productions are not disappointed. There is a transparent curtain within which some environments or images are projected, some of which are essential for the construction of the scenography, endowed with depth and plasticity. Despite all these elements of considerable quality, the "Cagliaritan Tosca" is a work that must be seen, especially for those who have never approached this genre, as it embodies, in its content and in the realized production, all the elements that constitute the beauty of opera."

Giampaolo Sanna, Cronache On Line April 2019

Grande successo per la première di 'Tosca', di nuovo in scena al Lirico di Cagliari da venerdì' 29. Previste otto repliche.

"Second and more than anticipated event within the 2019 program of the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, it surprises for the visual quality of the incredibly plastic direction. Pier Francesco Maestrini has signed as many Cagliari performances such as Turandot in June 2014 with sets by Pinuccio Sciola; for Tosca he chooses the projections and sets by Juan Guillermo Nova avoiding clumsy scene changes. The direct projection of images on the scrim, which is only lifted after about two-thirds of the act, creates a fluid dimension in which not only can the singers move easily, without having to disentangle themselves, but above all it does not generate that lavish, and annoying, affectation that very often accompanies the overly sophisticated grandeur of operatic productions."

Fabrizio Contini April 2019

La Campana sommersa

Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, 2016

New York City, 2017

"The show was traditional but had a heart of very modern technology. Director Pier Francesco Maestrini outlines the story with obvious attention to its symbolic charge, but manages to indicate "further" meanings through the immediacy of the fantastic, as is typical of fairy tales. Decisive is the contribution of Juan Guillermo Nova for sets and projections that bring the painted backdrops to life; of Marco Nateri for costumes that could serve to represent some fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm; of Pascal Mérat for lighting all in a mysterious-naturalistic-Germanic atmosphere."

Cesare Galla

La Campana sommersa

"Maestrini and Nova, with miraculous ambiance through projections and high scenic design, recreate the fairytale tone in which Nature is the protagonist. La campana sommersa is also a dramatic masterpiece. A winning bet. The credit goes to Donato Renzetti, one of the best conductors, to director Pier Francesco Maestrini and to set designer Juan Guillermo Nova."

Paolo Isotta - Il Fatto Quotidiano

The Opera Critic Reviews

"For this production, the creators, Pier Francesco Maestrini (stage director), Juan Guillermo Nova (scenic and video designer), Marco Nateri (costume designer), and Susan Roth (lighting designer) make ingenious use of spare resources and a very shallow stage. Utilizing projections, a scrim and screens, they create a dreamscape where reality yields to fantasy and the audience is drawn into a visual and sound world that is as stunning as it is charming."

Codalario

"The stage director Pier Francesco Maestrini does a commendable job in a production with few means but many ideas. With brief sets and quite eloquent projections, he judiciously changes the different scenes. The initial meadow turns into the bottom of the lake where fairies and Ondino play among corals, ferns, and the submerged bell itself, while he explains to Rautendelein what tears are. These elements are combined in the rest of the scenes, achieving moments of great visual beauty."

Pedro J. Lapeña Rey – Codalario

Il Viaggio a Reims

Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, 2017

Theater Kiel and Lubeck, 2017

"Pier Francesco Maestrini and Joshua Held, director and cartoonist-illustrator, fresh from the successful collaboration that produced a delightful Barbiere di Siviglia, put together a highly enjoyable show. One has fun, as was said, because in the end one discovers that even a non-opera can be effectively told: Ronconi and Michieletto teach, and from today also Maestrini and Held."

Alessandro Cammarano - Operaclick

On line Musik Magazin

"This piece, designed as an "occasion", is an absolute masterpiece from Rossini's pen. The production of Pier Francesco Maestrini with the animated cartoons by Joshua Held is just fun and lets you forget that there is no action. Even if you are not a Rossini fan, you will be one here at the latest."

Thomas Molke

Focus on line

"In Kiel, an Italian directing team has unfolded a new dimension of opera. Director Pier Francesco Maestrini stages robustly and ironically; the corresponding animated film sequences were created by the Italian cartoonist Joshua Held. The two Italians are a well-coordinated team. Both live in Florence and have known each other for decades. Their first comic opera was Rossini's "Barber of Seville" in 2010. Maestrini and Held repeatedly break the bombastic pathos of the declarations of love or the venerations of King Charles X in "Il Viaggio a Reims." From the beginning, the cartoonist and director cooperated closely. "We repeatedly listened to the music, developed ideas for the different characters, and designed specific movements for each scene," explained Held."

kn-online.de

"The completely crazy Rossini experiment was certainly successful."

Christian Strehk

hamburger-feuilleton

"In Lübeck, on the other hand, the simple piece becomes a "full opera," or rather a prime example of what the art form of opera can achieve, if one almost completely strips it of its historicizing and museum-like constraints – enlightenment, entertainment, yes, art. The Italian director Pier Francesco Maestrini has found his theme in this libretto, and in this, both Balocchi's/Rossini's Inn of the Lily, where his protagonists stranded on their journey meet, and Klapisch's "Spanish inn" are located: Europe."

Matthias Schumann