De Martino interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68xwpJVsfuI

What he says sintetically:

First two night: all the songs will be performed

Third night: Cover night

Fourth night: Performance Night, songs will be performed with staging, the winner of the night will go to Esc

Fifth night: Grand Final

Original article

https://www.adnkronos.com/spettacoli/sanremo-stefano-de-martino-maneskin_1FGtkDZahzokeyQCALwiYX

ARTICLE TRANSLATION

Sanremo, De Martino: "I'm already building my international festival."

The host: "The idea is to bring Europe and the world even closer to Sanremo."

Preparations for Sanremo "are going well, because thanks to Carlo Conti, who invested in me so early, I was able to start working very early . We've already started grinding away at building the entire chassis of this machine, and so we've been up and running since the festival ended." Speaking to journalists is Stefano De Martino, the next host of the Sanremo Festival and currently among the stars of the Rai schedule presented in Ancona. This year's festival will be more international, explains the host: "The idea is to bring Europe and the world even closer to Sanremo. Because studying the Festival itself, I realized, along with everyone else, that it's the only music event in existence with such a strong presence. For five nights, a country stops to listen to songs. Because that's what Sanremo is: I find it incredibly romantic and speaks highly of Italian culture. The idea is to further expand the scope so that everyone realizes that Sanremo exists and has always been a model. Also because Eurovision, as you know, was born precisely by imitating the Festival."

"Yes to Eurovision night"

This will actually happen "even simply in the staging," reveals De Martino, who, without giving too much away, explains a little about the rules of the five evenings: " On Tuesday and Wednesday, all the competing singers will perform with their songs . On Thursday there will be the cover night, which we are all fond of, and then on Friday there will be this performance night, which will then determine who will represent us at Eurovision , where the artists will have the opportunity to perform according to their creative idea. Their performance is related to their competing song. This is because, wandering around the stages, I realized that there are artists, so many, more and more, who, when you then go and see them live, give a lot back to the audience with their ideas, with their world of aesthetic references, and so it was right, in my opinion, to bring part of that world." That evening, the artists "will really lay themselves bare and will have the entire Ariston team at their disposal to put their ideas into practice. I believe this is already a small boost towards the internationality of the Festival."

The Maneskin Mystery

And regarding a hypothetical Maneskin reunion, which has been discussed in recent weeks, the host jokes : "I don't know if they'll have the reunion, but they told me they have a meeting to hold in Sanremo, and it could very likely happen during the week of the Festival. I don't know." The Neapolitan host can't say much about the festival's rules, but he does reveal that the intention is to reduce the number of songs, "precisely to give the performances some breathing room, to give the festival's narrative a bit of space, and above all to focus more on how all the artists will be treated."

Amadeus's praise

De Martino then spoke a few words about Amadeus , whose baton he took over at 'Affari Tuoi' and who has now said goodbye to Discovery, while today Rai CEO Rossi opened up about his possible return to the company. "I believe that Amadeus, after the five glorious festivals he's hosted, will now have a queue named after him at the Ariston. It's me who's in a foreign land. I believe what Giampaolo Rossi said is true, that Rai by definition is not a closed company, and as part of this team of talent, I can only be happy if this team grows stronger.

The team

At his side for Sanremo is a team that helps him: "To choose, to listen to the songs," he reveals. "What all the artistic directors who have put on Sanremo and what they all tell you in the end is that 'Baudo docet': choose with your head because the face, not to mention any other part of the body, is yours. So it's right, in my opinion, that the artistic director then takes the responsibility of saying yes and no, but certainly, in the end, they are shared listening."

The host of the 2027 festival makes it clear that his ideas are clear, starting with the method of choosing the songs : "I listen to the song in three ways," he explains. "The first time with headphones, a clean listen. The second time in the car while I'm driving. And the third time while I'm running. If it survives these three listens, it means that something is already there. And I'm also borrowing a bit from something De Gregori said, that is, that music should sometimes be listened to like this, a little distractedly. And so that's what I do at the moment." For the results, tune in in February 2027.