I have also been engaged as a singer in boys' festivals. Between the ages of 16 and 18 I was a composer for boys' festivals,. I was also a flutist, having graduated from the music high school in Vlora. Then I moved to Italy where I studied composition for 10 years at the Udine Conservatory, with different paths a year of study in Salzburg, a year of specialization at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels where I taught the theoretical subjects of harmony and music analysis. Then I returned. to Albania . Now I am superintendent of the National Opera and Ballet Theater in the capital.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n First active music and now managing the complex machine of a musical theater. How did you experience this transition? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It was not a drastic transition. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I worked for several years in the field of cultural policies, in the municipality of Vlora, as an advisor. After one year of specialization, through a competition, I was chosen for one year among the 9 members of a foundation of young professionals who are hired by national institutions of ministries to contribute as technical advisors. In my area it was the Ministry of Culture. My management training was developed through, masterclasses, specialization and advanced courses with very important Albanian and foreign personalities. I also participated in a masterclass in Brussels with the Directors General of the European Parliament and then at Harvard University where for 10 days I took an intensive course on leadership.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is widely believed that the Opera House under his leadership is having a strong revival....<\/p>\n\n\n\n This I don't know. Certainly the previous experiences I have had since returning to Albania have been useful. I have been artistic director, also with very personal initiatives, in collaboration with associations and communities of people on the ground, in various areas such as architecture, history, identity through festivals and concerts related to nature, environmental protection. This has been a really intense work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This new assignment is a major challenge not only at the national level but also at the European level<\/em>.All together here we work with great commitment. This first year has been really very positive for the quality of the productions, for the importance of the guests we have had but also for the artistic choices we have decided to propose to our audience, which has always been attentive and has participated enthusiastically filling the Theater in all the shows this year. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the Tirana Opera House have a stable structure or does it use external collaborations?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We basically have all the troupes and staff working within our facility and are an integral part of the theater. We have a stable ensemble of singers, with the orchestra, the corps de ballet, all paid to carry out the cultural activities. Then we are always very pleased to have prestigious international guests who mix with our artists and help us improve quality. Our theater stands on our own funds with support from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sports.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there private funders ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It would make both us and our audience very happy to have them. But so far there has been very little. Not because there is no sensitivity on the part of entrepreneurs and managers of private companies to art and culture.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But perhaps it is still not well understood by these companies how important it is in terms of communication and image return to sponsor cultural institutions and events. A different methodology needs to be developed to approach these circles .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We are working with the ministry to make sure that the issue of donors and sponsors is appreciated in the right way, including legally and fiscally.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How is the collaboration with Italy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Always very good. Not only because we are geographically close to Italy and because the work is by definition Italian, it speaks Italian, and the Italian language is very much loved and widespread here. There is a very positive common spirit of collaboration<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there any partnership in particular?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have started to create a relationship with the Cremona theater with the production of Trovatore with the direction of Roberto Catalano, who is a well-respected and well-known director. We are working on another project with a mixed cast, Italian and Albanian, and a new direction for a show that should be ready for the new year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How is opera considered in Albania? Do people get into this genre of music? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The signs are very positive. There is a growing interest in Opera. I am talking about the latest ones we have staged: the Aida, the Traviata, with Hugo Deana, which we did last September, the Trovatore, with a very original direction. These shows were enthusiastically received by the audience and were successful and echoed outside the walls of this theater as well. Lately we have<\/em> staged the Elixir of Love, in a very original version; it is our own production that will remain at the Tirana Theater.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the crucial points of my theater policy: to have one or more of our own productions. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Are new generations in Albania getting into opera?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was a really interesting discovery. The audience of the Tirana Opera is one of younger audiences for these genres of music than the average European. At the last performance of L'Elisir d'amore we conducted a test and saw that the majority of the audience was under 40 years old.Many of them were attending an opera for the first time, and this bodes well that they will return for future performances as well. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To engage citizens who do not live in Tirana, could shows be broadcast live in other Albanian cities as well? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in my plan for the 4 years of my management of the theater is this idea: to broadcast concerts and performances to theaters in small towns in Albania, via a projector or ledwall. .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Incidentally, the Elisir d'amore that we produced with a very beautiful setting combining the Amalfi coast and the Albanian coast, with the character of Dulcamara arriving by boat, like a journey between the two countries, could also be staged in a tourist town in Albania outdoors in the summertime. It could become a permanent fixture: every year an outdoor opera in a tourist place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there also a symphonic season of the Tirana Theater?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. We have really made a lot of concerts for an orchestra that is supposed to do mainly opera. We started last year, with Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto, all sold-out. Pianist Giovanni Bertolazzi had great success and then returned to perform with our orchestra with music by Tchaikovsky in June on the occasion of Italian Republic Day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We performed Dvorak's 9th symphony \u201cFrom the New World,\u201d Tchaikovsky's symphony number 5, Strawinsky's \u2019Firebird\u201c in which violinist Giuseppe Gibboni, who won the Paganini competition, performed. Lately we did with the beginning of the year the concert \u201dPetite messe solennelle\u201c by Rossini, with 4 soloists, our orchestra and the choir of the Kosovo Philharmonic\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Could the Tirana Opera House and its orchestra become the main point of reference for this kind of culture in the Western Balkan area? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it is a goal we can pursue. I am already in contact with Bulgaria, Croatia and Greece.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Will it be possible to book tickets online?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also part of my plan of action. I am already working on it with a well-defined plan, for my part. Then there are some bureaucratic issues that do not depend on the Theater. Hopefully, everything will be resolved soon so we can activate subscriptions as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In short, many good ideas and projects to be implemented...<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it really does seem like a lot. But if I go back, though, in just 11 months since I have been in this role, I realize that we have slowly accomplished things that seemed full of insurmountable difficulties. We will move forward.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Buongiorno direttore. Lei \u00e8 un musicista, compositore e, da quasi un anno, manager della pi\u00f9 importante istituzione musicale dell’Albania. Nel suo percorso formativo e professionale c’\u00e8 anche un po’ di Italia? S\u00ec, sono compositore, docente di composizione all’ Universit\u00e0 delle belle arti di Tirana. La mia formazione parte un’et\u00e0 molto piccola: ho studiato pianoforte all’et\u00e0 di 9 anni. Sono […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426,446,449,448,437],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-balcani-occidentali","category-cultura-2","category-in-evidenza","category-interviste-2","category-notizie-da-tirana-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6708"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6716,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6708\/revisions\/6716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"screenshot\"](\"https:\/\/albanitaly.al\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_4842-775x1024.jpg\")
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