Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

“Dante in Jazz” (Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul)

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“Nel 700° anniversario della morte di Dante Alighieri, siamo qui sul palco del teatro dell’Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, con una lettura drammatica della Divina Commedia.

“L’attore Nuri Karadeniz declama in turco (sottotitoli in italiano) il Primo Canto dell’Inferno mentre il musicista Yiğit Özatalay eseguirà al piano sue composizioni jazz originali scritte per l’occasione.”

The performance is preceded by a short lecture (in Italian with Turkish subtitles) by Salvatore Schirmo, Director of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Istanbul, who highlights the influence of Dante and his works on contemporary Turkish literature and culture. The video premiered on YouTube on Dantedì (March 25) 2021.

Maurizio Guarini, live soundtrack for 1911 Inferno film (2017)

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“I started this live project in 2017. The director of the Italian Institute of Culture had the idea, and asked me if I wanted to do a live soundtrack with the occasion of the International Seminar on Critical Approaches to Dante organized by the University of Toronto. I saw this incredible movie from 1911—the first Italian feature film ever. and I took up the challenge.

“This first performance, that took place at the Innis Town Hall (University of Toronto), received a great audience response, so I decided to go ahead and do more shows.”   —Maurizio Guarini

Dantedì 2020 in Tunisia

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Hammadi Agrebi, Professor of Italian in the Tunisian Ministry of Education, posted a brief video of himself dressed as Dante and reciting the opening verses of the Inferno as a celebration of Dantedì 2020. He began his reading by remarking on the ways that Dante’s verses serve to unify people across cultures, and circulated them on social media with the hashtag #IoleggoDante, an initiative sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Culture to display solidarity with Italians and others worldwide who were in strict lockdowns during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The video was posted on YouTube on March 24, 2020.

How to Cite

Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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