A storyteller, two actresses and one hundred cellists to revive some of the most relevant passages from Thucydides’ History of Peloponnesian War. Giovanni Agnelli Auditorium will not merely serve as a backdrop but becomes a community venue: according to the author and narrator on stage Alessandro Baricco “works like this are rituals which have to be performed with many people”. In 2021 Baricco edited the six-part video project I Migliori anni della nostra vita: next November he will returns to Lingotto Musica with Thucydides. Athens vs. Melos, a Holden Studios production featuring Stefania Rocca, Valeria Solarino, the 100 Cellos directed by Enrico Melozzi and Giovanni Sollima, composer and performer of the musical score. The show revisits the Athenians’ ultimatum sent to the oligarchs of Melos in 416 B.C. before attacking their island. Melians’ refusal to submit lead to an exemplary punishment: before starting the fight the two sides’ ambassadors face each other in a verbal clash which deeply highlights a sharp reflection on the meaning of Justice and Law facing aggressors and defenders, strong and weak, winners and losers. 

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