Stuck in Sri Lanka After Concerts: Italian Conservators Awaiting Return

“We are stuck in Sri Lanka without knowing when we will be able to return. We are 4 teachers and 3 students from the Corelli Conservatory of Messina and we are stuck in the capital Colombo,” explains Michele Amoroso, conductor of the Corelli Conservatory of Messina, while speaking with La Sicilia.

Stuck in Colombo because the return flight was supposed to go through Doha, in the Persian Gulf. They are from the conservatories of Messina, Catania, Palermo, Trapani, Cagliari, and Sassari, but some managed to return because their return trip had a different route. They were all in Colombo for a series of concerts planned as part of a project of the Pnrr that also involves the University of Palermo and Calabria. This is about music in 4D, meaning conductors and orchestras working with artificial intelligence and a robot that moves according to the music. In this case, after a first concert in May in Palermo, they were presenting a show resulting from an “extreme synthesis of Orlando Furioso, made by AI, and then rendered in music by us.” In recent days, they had rehearsals, yesterday they performed, and today the return was scheduled, but now we do not know when it will happen. “We have rebooked hotels, thanks to the travel agency, all at our own expense, we have not yet received specific news from the Farnesina,” explains Egidio Bernava, director of the Corelli Conservatory of Messina. The return currently planned will not happen before next week. In total, there are 45 of them, including teachers and students (all of legal age): “It’s very hot here,” continued Amoroso, “fortunately they found us another hotel, because the one we were in was fully booked. We hope to be able to return home soon.”