A selection of international artists from the renowned Arena di Verona will perform tomorrow evening at the Italian Embassy
UniCredit, HypoVereinsbank and the Embassy of Italy in Berlin are proud to host the annual "Arena di Verona meets Berlin" concert for the seventh year. The event will take place tomorrow evening at the Italian Embassy in the German capital.
The opera singers of the Arena di Verona will offer the public a "lively sampling of great opera music", taking them on a journey through Europe's musical traditions. The artists performing at the event will include Valeria Sepe (Sopran), Alice Marini (Mezzo soprano), Raffaele Abete (Tenor) e Alessio Verna (Baritone), accompanied by Fabio Fapanni on the piano.
The concert and the subsequent reception held by UniCredit in cooperation with the Italian Embassy have become an anticipated event in the cultural calendar of Berlin. Some 250 guests from the fields of politics, finance and culture are expected to attend. The event is also testimony of the stable friendship and cooperation between the Italian and German people.
"For the seventh time Berlin meets the great Italian Opera, which, as usual, pays homage to the highest European lyrical tradition", said of the event the Ambassador of Italy, Pietro Benassi. "Beyond recalling the extraordinary value attributed by the Italian and German governments to the bilateral political, economic and cultural dialogue in order to face the common global challenges, I consider that this year's appointment brings forward another great value. Indeed, music must continue to resonate and spread the values of tolerance and comprehension among people. With the magnificent arias we celebrate the best that Italy, Germany and Europe have to offer to the world: a unique heritage of values, peace, freedom and respect for human rights, which we will together continue to preserve."
Giuseppe Vita, Chairman of UniCredit, remarked: "The Arena di Verona meets Berlin concert has become a regular and welcome feature of the Italian and German relationship, which UniCredit is proud to support. Culture is a fundamental part of German, Italian and European life and it can help bring people together. Today, more than ever before, given the crisis and emergencies that our Continent is facing, a harmonious cooperation between our two countries is imperative. More than ever before, we need a strong Europe that acts in concert. Closer European integration is the antidote to fear".
Photographs of the concert will be made available after the event online at the following website: www.hvb.de\presse
Some facts and figures about the event:
- The historic partnership between UniCredit and the Arena di Verona is now 22 years old - it began in 1994 when the ticketing system became computerized and has seen over 10 million tickets being sold since then.
- The 2013 edition of the concert coincided with the bicentenaries of the births of both Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner, as well as with the centenary of the Arena di Verona. The 2014 edition coincided with Italy's rotating Presidency of the European Union.
- The Arena di Verona meets Berlin concert is part of UniCredit's broader commitment to promoting culture. The Group is present in 50 countries and has commercial operations in 17 European countries. In Germany it operates through HypoVereinsbank (UniCredit Bank AG), one of the largest financial institutions in the country, with roughly 19,000 employees and some 850 branches. Both UniCredit and HypoVereinsbank regard music and art as connecting influence, bringing together people with different mindsets from diverse backgrounds.
Berlin, Munich, Milan, 25 November 2015