L’Amfiparnaso di Orazio Vecchi Comedia harmonica for five-voice mixed choir and actors (revisited by Sergio Balestracci)
La Stagione Armonica conductor Sergio Balestracci direction Alessandro Bressanello
Alessia Donadio, Alessandro Bressanelloactors Carlo Rossiharpsichord Silvia De Rossoviol Sergio Balestracciflute
Orazio Vecchi, the choirmaster in the cathedral of Modena between the 16th and 17th centuries, was one of the few who knew how to bend the expressiveness of the polyphonic madrigal towards the comic, loading it with a popular theatricality that was unprecedented in the Renaissance practice of “singing upon the book”. His literary influences were not the popular poets of the time, such as Tasso, Guarini, and Petrarch, but rather vernacular poets like Giulio Cesare Croce, the author of the adventures of Bertoldo. In his ‘harmonic comedy’ L’Amfiparnaso, characters like the stuttering old miser Pantalone, his servant Predolino, the classic lovers’ couple, and the pedantic Graziano are featured. Vecchi’s theatre is built on endless allusions, while the music supports and encourages the free mixing of sound, song, acting, dance and pantomime. Not surprisingly, all specialties of the Commedia dell’Arte.
Basilica di Sant’Apollinare in Classe |
24 May 2024 | at 9:30 PM
Franz Joseph Haydn The Creation Die Schöpfung
Oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra Hob:XXI:2
conductorOttavio Dantone
Charlotte Bowden soprano Martin Vanbergtenor Andre Morsch bass
Accademia Bizantina
Philharmonia Chor Wien choirmasterWalter Zeh
When Haydn, no longer a young man and freed from his obligations to the Esterházy family, accepted an invitation from the impresario Salomon to go to London, he ‘discovered’ the success that Handel’s oratorios enjoyed there. On his return to Vienna, he brought with him a libretto based on Genesis and Milton’s Paradise Lost: translated into German by Gottfried van Swieten, this became the starting point for his most famous oratorio. The idea of the world’s creation is presented through a formal elaboration process, beginning with the well-known overture, ‘The Representation of Chaos’. But when the archangel Raphael begins to narrate the story of Genesis, the chorus announces the light, and a sudden C major chord initiates the creative process, ushering in life. The Accademia Bizantina and the Vienna Philharmonic Choir make an excellent partnership to restore the refined richness of this piece.
In just a few years, he would become one of the most prominent opera composers of the 18th century. He would rival Händel in London, mentor the great castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli, and influence Haydn in Vienna. Sadly, he would eventually die in poverty in his hometown of Naples. And it was for Naples that the very young Porpora composed this oratorio dedicated to the Passion of Christ, in which he already showed the mastery of contrapuntal technique and the sensitivity to vocal virtuosity of his approaching maturity. Mary, John, and Magdalene witness Christ’s crucifixion together with Divine Justice. But the latter’s unwavering confidence is not enough to ease the Virgin’s suffering. She barely resists falling into despair, revealing the mixture of humanity and theatricality that one expects from any great mourner.
Una iniziativa di Ravenna Festival per e nei territori alluvionati
Palazzo della Proviancia Forlì-Cesena |
12 March 2024 | at 12:00 PM
Presentation of the program 2024
XXXIV edition
Teatro Alighieri |
24 February 2024 | at 11:00 AM
Gala verdiano
Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, Busseto |
From 27 January 2024
conductor Riccardo Muti
with Elisa Balbo Isabel De Paoli Rosa Feola Juliana Grigoryan Vittoria Magnarello Luca Micheletti Riccardo Rados Giovanni Sebastiano Sala
Riccardo Zanellato
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Coro del Teatro Municipale di Piacenza choirmasterCorrado Casati maestro di salaDavide Cavalli
in collaboration with Regione Emilia-Romagna and Comune di Busseto
thanks to Crédit Agricole Italia
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The Programme
I part
from La forza del destino
Sinfonia
from Simon Boccanegra
“A te l’estremo addio… Il lacerato spirito” Riccardo Zanellato (e coro)
from La forza del destino
“Pace, pace mio Dio” Juliana Grigoryan
from Il trovatore
“Ah, si, ben mio” Giovanni Sebastiano Sala
“Timor di me?… D’amor sull’ali rosee” Rosa Feola
from Macbeth
“Perfidi! All’anglo contro me v’unite!… Pietà, rispetto, onore” Luca Micheletti
from La forza del destino
“Il santo nome di Dio… La Vergine degli angeli” Riccardo Zanellato, Juliana Grigoryan, coro
II part
from Macbeth
“O figli, o figli miei!… Ah, la paterna mano” Giovanni Sebastiano Sala
from Il trovatore
“Stride la vampa” Isabel De Paoli
from Otello
“Ave Maria” Elisa Balbo
from Don Carlo
“Ella giammai m’amò” Riccardo Zanellato
from I Vespri siciliani
“Arrigo! Ah parli a un core” Rosa Feola
from Otello
“Vanne; la tua meta già vedo… Credo in un Dio crudel” Luca Micheletti
from Macbeth
Finale atto primo “Di destarlo per tempo il re m’impose” Giovanni Sebastiano Sala, Riccardo Zanellato, Luca Micheletti, Elisa Balbo, Riccardo Rados, Vittoria Magnarello, coro
Soirée di musica e danza per Rachmaninov
curated by Daniele Cipriani
Palazzo Mauro De André |
from 7 July to 6 August 2023
On the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninov’s birth (1873-1943) Soirée di musica e danza per Rachmaninov curated by Daniele Cipriani
Beatrice Rana and Massimo Spada piano Ludovica Rana violoncello
music Sergei Rachmaninov Ettore Volontieri narrator music consultant Gastón Fournier-Facio
“Sonata”
set to the Andante from the Sonata in G minor for cello and piano, Op. 19
“Trio”
set to the Andantino, from the Suite no. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17 choreography Uwe Scholz performers Rachele Buriassi (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens), Esnel Ramos (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, formerly Ballet Nacional de Cuba), Oleksii Potiomkin (formerly Ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine)
“Alla fine del mondo” choreography Simone Repele and Sasha Riva, premiere of the work set to the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
costume design Anna Biagiotti props Michele della Cioppa lighting design Alessandro Caso
After the 50thanniversary of Igor Stravinsky, this tribute to Sergei Rachmaninov on the 150thanniversary of his birth renews the magical thread that links music and dance. At the piano will be Beatrice Rana—who first began to ‘due’ with dance steps here in Ravenna—and Massimo Spada. They will alternate between the Preludes and the Études-Tableaux, or in dialogue with the dancers on stage. Like Stravinsky, the Russian-born Rachmaninov later settled in America, but unlike him, he did not devote so much attention to ballet. However, it is because of the gentle nature of his compositions, the fluidity of the notes, and the butterfly lightness of his melodies that choreographers often ‘steal’ from his works. The programme features Uwe Scholz’s Sonata, choreographed to the Andante from Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G Minor op. 19, as well asthe world premiere of a choreography by Sacha Riva and Simone Repele on the Symphonic Dances, op. 45.
Palazzo Mauro De André |
08 June 2023 | at 9:00 PM
Martha Argerichpiano Mischa Maisky cello
Ludwig van Beethoven
Cello sonata in G minor No. 2, Op. 5
Claude Debussy
Cello sonata in D minor
Frédéric Chopin
Cello sonata in G minor, Op. 65
Still vibrant after more than 45 years, the formidable duo of Mischa Maisky and Martha Argerich is notable for its technical and expressive interplay, the direct musical consequences of fond personal friendship and instinctive compatibility. “Playing with him is the most natural thing in the world”, confesses the Argentinian pianist, who now tackles three sonatas for cello and piano spanning as many centuries: from Beethoven’s late XVIII-century Sonata no. 2 – a pioneering example of a genre that had no predecessors in Haydn or Mozart – to one of the rare chamber works by Chopin, who wrote mainly for the piano, and finally to Debussy’s Sonata, another unique work with its nocturnal, almost lunar atmosphere, anticipating the XX century with harmonic colouring prevailing over design.
Filarmonica Toscanini Kristjan Järvi conductor Stefano Bollani piano
John Adams Doctor Atomic Symphony
Stefano Bollani & Kristjan Järvi 50/50
for piano and orchestra Premiere
Stefano Bollani
Concerto azzurro
for piano and orchestra
When Charles Schulz had Lucy van Pelt say, “I thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that making the sky blue was a good idea,” he was unaware that he had provided a title for Stefano Bollani’s Concerto azzurro, a tribute to the colour of the sky, but also to the fifth or throat chakra, associated with self-expression and creative communication. Kristjan Järvi will be on stage with the eclectic pianist: it was Järvi himself who commissioned Bollani in 2017 to write this work, pleasantly suspended between composition and improvisation, between classical and jazz. Instead, the Doctor Atomic Symphony, in its Italian premiere, looks to a different kind of sky. Adapted from John Adams’ opera, the composer’s take on the story of the creation of the atomic bomb, it combines continuous pulsating beats and fierce rhythmic waves charged with energy.
Teatro Alighieri |
From 25 June to 31 December 2023
The best of English choirs The King’s Singers Songbirds
from Schubert to The Beatles
Patrick Dunachie countertenor
Edward Button countertenor
Julian Gregory tenor
Christopher Bruerton baritone
Nick Ashby baritone
Jonathan Howard bass
Christine McVie, lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, revealed that Songbird came to her in just half an hour in the middle of the night, in 1976. As she had nothing to record it on, she had to stay up all night playing it until she managed to get it onto tape the next day.
The King’s Singers, an all-male choir founded in Cambridge in 1968 by singers trained at King’s College, dedicate their programme to the ephemeral beauty of bird flight and song. Rooted in the prestigious English tradition of a cappella singing, they offer a journey through a repertoire inspired by birdsong, ranging from the early XIX century to popular music. They have no instruments to enrich their tonal, dynamic and harmonic palette: the sounds and rhythms of two centuries of music are entrusted to their voices alone.
