Beats of Pompeii, the summer of music in Pompeii goes from Nick Cave to Jarre

The world music legend Jean-Michel Jarre, but also the Nordic atmospheres and runic language of the Norwegians Wardruna. And then from pop to classical with Stefano Bollani, Nick Cave, Gianna Nannini, Bryan Adams, Antonello Venditti and Ben Harper. After the opening with the two dates of Andrea Bocelli accompanied by the Orchestra I Filarmonici di Napoli and the That's Napoli Choir, and the concert by maestro Riccardo Muti with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini, the Amphitheatre of Pompeii is once again 'playing' with Beats of Pompeii.

Where music is culture, the second edition of the season of live concerts by big stars, scheduled from 27 June to 5 August on that unique stage and symbolic place of ancient and modern history. The same one that welcomed the legendary Pink Floyd concert behind closed doors in 1971. "An opportunity," says Culture Undersecretary Gianmarco Mazzi, "not only to see artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, who with a song like Oxygen represented a watershed for me and an entire generation, combining melodies and the use of synthesisers," but also for that alliance between "heritage and cultural activities that I hope for" and without which "these places do not live, do not breathe, but remain only in memory. I hope that Pompeii will become an example throughout Italy and an icon in the world for this'.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, in collaboration with the Municipality of Pompeii and the Campania Region, the programme signed by artistic director Peppe Gomez counts a total of 14 appointments including Dream Theatre, Serena Rossi, Jimmy Sax. "We will be a bit like Gladiators 3.0," smiles Jean-Michel Jarre, who in the coming months will also perform "in St. Mark's Square in Venice and at the Biennale Architettura. I have had the privilege of performing at Versailles, at the Pyramids in Tiananmen Square,' he continues, 'but it has long been my dream to come to Pompeii', a city 'built by visionary architects and engineers with revolutionary ideas. That is also why I will bring a special project, with Artificial Intelligence and immersive sound. In fact, if it were possible to go a little beyond midnight...', asks the undersecretary.

"Performing music in places like Pompeii," adds Einar Selvik, leader of Wardruna, "is complementary to culture, it becomes a synergy whereby 2 plus 2 becomes 5 and not 4. We try to give voice to the past, which becomes universal. It is as if we breathe life into these millenary places and bring them into the contemporary world'. In recent months "there has been a lot of talk about the material and immaterial heritage of Unesco," says the director of the archaeological park Gabriel Zuchtriegel. "But it is precisely the intangible, almost spiritual dimension of these sites that is able to transform our vision of the world. It is also beautiful that a place for games, a bloody place, dedicated to gladiators and hunting animals, becomes a place for beauty. It is important, then, to offer more and more opportunities to stay in Pompeii'.

And the data are already comforting, reports artistic director Gomez: monitoring ticket sales for this year's concerts, which are more oriented towards international names, '28-53% are bought abroad. If we also add tourists from outside the region, the figure rises to 60-82% with a definite beneficial induced effect on the territory'. To them, adds the mayor Carmine Lo Sapio, 'we offer a Campania that is 'different' from the one that was told some time ago'.