Don Chisciotte della Mancia, a comic opera by Giovanni Paisiello and Giovanni Battista Lorenzi (1769), newly arranged by Hans Werner Henze and Giuseppe Di Leva (1976), stands at the heart of an extraordinary international cooperation project between the seven arts and music academies of North Rhine-Westphalia united in the Kolleg der Künste, together with the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano and the European Academy at Palazzo Ricci Montepulciano.
The production was conceived as a homage to Hans Werner Henze, in a year marked by significant anniversaries: Henze would have turned one hundred on 1 July 2026; fifty years ago, the opera Don Chisciotte received its world premiere on 1 August 1976 during the very first Cantiere; and 2026 also marks the 25th anniversary of the inauguration of the Academy at Palazzo Ricci, which has been home since 2010 to the Kolleg der Künste ("Ateneo renano"), founded on the initiative of the NRW Ministry of Culture and Science. These historical milestones form the backdrop for a production deeply rooted in the history of Montepulciano, while at the same time aiming to forge new collaborations — with an innovative artistic approach that brings together students from Italy and Germany, local institutions from Montepulciano, and internationally established professionals, fully in the spirit of Henze's "workshop" philosophy ("Cantiere").
These three anniversaries are at the centre of the international conference taking place at Palazzo Ricci and in the Council Chamber of the Municipality. The conference aims to shed light on the musical aesthetics and the political and pedagogical dimensions of Henze's compositional work, with a particular focus on his opera Don Chisciotte. The programme includes conversations with long-standing colleagues and friends of Henze, founders and artists of the Academy, lectures by renowned musicologists, and musical performances by students who have engaged deeply with Henze's music.
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