The interview of the month

Let’s meet Elena Carbonari, the Festival’s Head of Tailoring Department.

  1. Could you tell us about your professional experience before coming to the ROF?

My first year at the Rossini Opera Festival was 2007. Before that date, I can say that I had more academic-educational experience than real professional experience, except for the work I did to support myself during my studies. From 2003 to 2007 I attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino, where I obtained a four-year degree in scenography, which I completed in 2009 with a two-year specialisation course. During these years, thanks to the collaboration with the Teatro della Fortuna in Fano, I was able to put into practice the lessons I had received and also to begin my professional training.

  1. What was your first contact with the Festival?

In the summer of 2007, the dressmaking department was looking for someone to follow Il viaggio a Reims, a historical production by the Accademia Rossiniana “Alberto Zedda”. I was contacted by Paola Mariani, then head of the festival’s costume department and my teacher at the Accademia, with whom I had just finished my exams. I did not think twice and accepted, it seemed too special an opportunity to miss. Every year since then I have been lucky enough to do the job I love.

  1. Could you explain your job at the ROF?

As Head of Tailoring, my job and that of my colleagues is to give shape to the sketches of the Italian and international costume designers we host. Specifically, my work consists of two macro-phases: firstly, I attend the presentations of the projects planned for the season, liaising with the costume designers to organise the production of each work in good time; I follow the development of the projects; I liaise with companies that rent shoes and other materials that we do not provide; and, last but not least, I manage the internal production of our sartoria. Then, just before the summer season, I organise the costume fittings for all the artists involved in the various productions, and I manage the teams of seamstresses and tailors who work both on making the costumes and on dressing them during the productions.

  1. Could you explain your job at the ROF?

As Head of Tailoring, my job and that of my colleagues is to give shape to the sketches of the Italian and international costume designers we host. Specifically, my work consists of two macro-phases: firstly, I attend the presentations of the projects planned for the season, liaising with the costume designers to organise the production of each work in good time; I follow the development of the projects; I liaise with companies that rent shoes and other materials that we do not provide; and, last but not least, I manage the internal production of our sartoria. Then, just before the summer season, I organise the costume fittings for all the artists involved in the various productions, and I manage the teams of seamstresses and tailors who work both on making the costumes and on dressing them during the productions.

Published in : 25 January 2025