'Shaping an element as powerful as light is a great ambition and a great privilege'.
These are Silvia Vacca's words, a young lighting designer whom we met for this edition of our column dedicated to the success stories of former Academy's students.
Silvia, you attended the three-year course in Scenography and Scenotechnics. So, you have alwasy been very confident about working in theatre? What led you to choose the Academy's Course for Lighting Designers?
In my family and friendships, the culture of theatre and opera has never been strong and deep-rooted; it was rather a love born alone, slowly. When I was a child, I would often hear my grandmother sing the most famous arias by Puccini, Verdi, Rossini, but for me it was just music; I could have never imagined that all this, inside a theatre, could come to life in the most diverse forms and colours.
Growing up, thanks to my uncle who worked at the Opera house in Cagliari, I had the chance to finally meet the opera. The attraction was instantaneous and I clearly remember that as I sat in my little armchair, fascinated by what was happening on stage, I thought that this was what I wanted to do, the world I wanted to live in! At the time I was attending art school with a focus on architecture, so set design was the most spontaneous choice to try to get closer to theatre. While studying in Venice I encountered light. My teacher at the time recognised my falling in love and put me in contact with a young prose company, with whom I still work today, and thanks to whom I had the oppotunity to handle luminous matter for the first time. It was a fundamental experience; I then immediately started looking for a course that could give me the tools to proceed with awareness in approaching this new love. It was here that I first discovered the Academy's Course for Lighting Designers and, supported by my family, I decided to make this important investment for my future.
Do you have any particularly special memory from your years at the Academy?
My course year was the first post-pandemic, a real breath of fresh air. After months of restrictions. I was finally where I wanted to be, learning what I loved, in the company of nine fantastic strangers I was looking forward to meeting. We were all still cautious and dazed, but with a great desire to discover and discover ourselves. The Academy certainly taught me a lot from a technical and working point of view, but what I am most grateful for are the human relationships that developed during the course, both with colleagues and teachers.
The course gave you the opportunity to work as an intern at La Scala, how was this experience?
The internship experience at La Scala was certainly one of the most formative parts of the entire course. During this period, I had the opportunity to see important names in international theatre work up close and side by side, and to understand first-hand the production mechanisms of a top-level show. All this has helped me develop an overall vision that helps me better structure my work even in smaller productions.
After the Academy, you worked both in Italy and abroad, in important contexts such as the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, the Grand Théâtre of Tours in France, the Salone del Mobile and the Carcano in Milan… can you tell us about how you are building your work network and how you are growing professionally?
Studying at a renowned academy like La Scala and meeting great professionals in this field during my studies, was certainly an important springboard for my working career. Another great opportunity came with my participation in the Guido Levi Lighting Lab, a new reality that every year gives a young aspiring lighting designer the chance to debut with his/her own lighting design within the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano playbill. Participating and being chosen as the winner was an unmissable opportunity to meet and forge professional and personal relationships with fantastic people, with whom I continue to work, expanding my network and penetrating more and more into the not easy world of theatre. As I work, I realise more and more how technical skills and artistic sense are never the only relevant factors when approaching a new work environment. A fundamental role is played by human contact and the creation of a strong network of relationships.
What would you wish to all those who are now applying for the admission test for the next edition of the course? In your opinion, what approach and characteristics should they have in order to do this job?
I would like to wish all potential new trainees to find, perhaps in the light, their own path in life, encouraging them not to give up and to walk this new road with curiosity, humility and enthusiasm! I think these are three fundamental characteristics for doing this job. Shaping an element as powerful as light is a great ambition and an immense privilege. Being a curious experimenter is certainly a fundamental requirement, but as we said before, technical skills and artistic talent are not enough, we need to be attentive to relationships and relations because good theatre is not made by individuals but by a close-knit and functioning team.
