The genesis. Andersen Festival 2008
In 2008, Vinicio Capossela took part at Andersen Festival in Sestri Levante (GE). There, he performed a reading-concert named Stories of marines, prophets and whales. He played on a ship in the sea of Silence Bay, choosing songs that have been written specifically for that venue, coming from Moby Dick to the Bible.
Here is a short video of that show.
2008. Andersen Festival
«Marinai, profeti e balene» on tour
«Marinai, profeti e balene» has been widely performed in Italy and not only. The tour was produced by Ponderosa.
Here are the tour dates of Spring 2011:
27th April / Genoa / Teatro Carlo Felice
28th April / Bergamo / Teatro Donizetti
29th April / Parma / Teatro Regio
2nd May / Vicenza / Teatro Comunale
3rd May / Bologna / Arena del Sole
10th and 11th May / Firenze / Teatro Verdi
13th May / Ascoli Piceno / Teatro Ventidio Basso
16th May / Turin / Teatro Regio
21st and 22nd May / Milan / Teatro degli Arcimboldi
23rd May / Cremona / Teatro Ponchielli
25th May / Rome / Auditorium Conciliazione
Summer tour
After the Spring leg, came the Summer leg in which Marinai, profeti e balene was performed in the most important Italian venues.
Those were the tour dates:
18th June / Ischia / Castello Aragonese
21th June / Tivoli (RM) / Villa Adriana
26th June / Udine / Castello di Udine
1st July / Senigallia (AN) / Foro Annonario
14th July / Modena / Piazza Grande
15th July / Ferrara / Piazza Castello
16th July / Milan / Arena Civica
19th July / Turin / Reggia di Venaria
24th July / Carrara / Porto
26th July / Gardone Riviera (BS) / Anfiteatro del Vittoriale
2nd August / Pescara / Teatro Monumento D’Annunzio
9th August / Lecce / Masseria Torcito
10th August / Molfetta (BA) / Banchina San Domenico
13th August / Macerata / Arena Sferisterio
16th August / Oristano / Spiaggia Torregrande
1st September / Calitri (AV) / Festa di San Canio
After a special box named «Marinai, profeti e balene» was published. In this box, you can find the album's two cds, a dvd with the whole Parco della Musica concert and Jacopo Leone's short film «The belly of the whale - Viaggio al centro della balena», and eventually a booklet with the songs' lyrics and some reflections.
Winter tour
Eventually, «Marinai, profeti e balene»'s ship landed again on the shores of the most important theaters in Italy for the last series of concerts, listed below:
13th October / Treviso / Teatro Eden
15th October / Brescia / Teatro Grande
17th October / Pordenone / Teatro Verdi
20th October / Roma / Auditorium Conciliazione
30th October / Reggio Emilia / Teatro Valli
31st October / Verona / Teatro Filarmonico
2nd November / Ancona / Teatro delle Muse
4th November / Ravenna / Teatro Dante Alighieri
11th November / Avellino / Teatro Gesualdo
12th November / Catanzaro / Politeama
15th and 16th November / Naples / Teatro Bellini
18th November / Potenza / Auditorium
19th November / Brindisi / Teatro Verdi
20th November / Bari / Teatro Petruzzelli
26th November / Como / Teatro Sociale
2nd December / Sanremo (IM) / Teatro Ariston
5th and 6th December / Milano / Teatro Smeraldo
7th December / Bologna / Teatro Comunale
9th December / Teramo / Teatro Comunale
12th December / Trento / Auditorium Santa Chiara
15th December / Venice / Basilica dei Fari
17th December / Florence / Teatro Verdi
5th December 2011. «Marinai, profeti, balene e Santo Nicola» at Smeraldo Theatre in Milan.
On 23rd December 2011, two days before Christmas, Rai Radio Two aired this audio recording of Vinicio Capossela's «Marinai, profeti, balene and Santo Nicola», which was performed on 5th December at Smeraldo Theatre in Milan. It was a special concert because of the reference to Santo Nicola.
2012 European tour
«Marinai, profeti e balene» has been performed in other European cities during May 2012. These were the tour dates, realised by Ponderosa:
8th May / Zurich (Swiss) / Volkhaus
10th May / Berlin (Germany) / Huxley's Neue Welt
13th May / Bruxelles (Belgium) / Theatre Saint Michel
20th May / Madrid (Spain) / Teatros del Canal
22nd May / Barcellona (Spain) / Teatro Arteria Paral-lel
24th May / Paris (France) / Casino de Paris
26th May / London (England) / Barbican
2012. «I fuochi fatui» at London's Barbican
In this video, you can watch the performance of the song «I fuochi fatui», which shows the great scenographic construction at its best: the half ship and the bones of the whale accompanied the whole «Marinai, profeti e balene» tour. Idea of Christopher Mallaby.
2010 and 2011 Tenco Prize
Vinicio Capossela performed at Tenco Prize both in 2010 and in 2011. Former, as a guest, and latter as an awarded artist with the album «Marinai, profeti e balene».
In 2010, he played an unpublished song, «Le sirene», that eventually appeared in 2011 «Marinai, profeti e balene».