News

On 1^st February , the Malaga Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of  José Ramon Encinar , will perform the Spanish premiere of Après Josquin by Giorgio Battistelli . The event is taking place in the frame of the 14th Contemporary Music Festival of Malaga.

On 1^st February , in the frame of the closing concert of Rai Nuova Musica Festival 2008,  the RAI National Symphony Orchestra  will present in Turin the world premiere of Ira for soprano and orchestra by Matteo D’Amico. The texts, taken from N. Tate, Racine and Ovidio, will be performed by Isolde Siebert.  Frank Ollu will conduct the orchestra.  Ira is a commission  of  RAI National Symphony Orchestra .

British premiere of Kubrick’s Bone and Encore/Da capoby Luca Francesconi in London on 31^st January 2008, Royal Festival Hall, in the frame of Music of Today. Luigi Gaggero on cimbalom and soloists of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra will be conducted by André De Ridder.

Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac opens at the Scala on 29^th January, 2008 (additional performances on 1^st, 5^th, 9^th, 12^th and 15^th of February). The production, which is by the New York Metropolitan and London’s Royal Opera House, features Placido Domingo as protagonist and Patrick Fournillier as conductor.

The world premiere of an opera by Battistelli, The Fashion, with a libretto in English by Bob Goody, will be performed on 26^th January, 2008 at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf (Additional performances on 29^th January and 1^st, 9^th, 12^th, 14^th, 17^th and 23^rd February, 2008.) The libretto deals with the glamorous world of fashion: in a five-star hotel a model, Tarquin, fails to appear at the presentation of a new collection created by the Milan designer Maria Maria. He is replaced by Mel, who appears to have been sent by an agency. But in fact Mel is Meli, the chambermaid of the hotel who, after finding the suitcase with the clothes of the new collection, puts them on and with her own charisma captivates the catwalk audience, up until the moment that Tarquin reappears… The musical direction has been entrusted to John Fiore, the production to Michael Simon and the costumes to Steven Galloway.

On 25^th January the RAI National Symphony Orchestra will perform, in the frame of RAI NuovaMusica 2008 concerts, the premiere of “Calatafimi!”, a suite for orchestra and spoken voice ad libitum from the opera Garibaldi en Sicile by Marcello Panni. The concert, devoted to the 200 ^th anniversary of Giuseppe Garibaldi’s birthday, will be conducted by the composer himself, Francesco Siciliano, spoken voice, Tempo Reale, sound engineer.

Riccardo Nova’s Seventeen Mantras of Victory for voices and string quartet will be premiered on 20^th January in Berlin, at Ultraschall Festival für Neue Musik. Performers are the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Arditti String Quartet,  to whom this piece has been dedicated. This work is a commission by Deutschlandradio Kultur for the Festival Ultraschall.

Salvatore Sciarrino’s Cantare con silenzio, for 6 voices, flute, electronics and percussions and Un fruscio lungo trent’anni, for 4 percussionists,  are the works included in the monographic concert which is scheduled on 19th January in Berlin at Ultraschall Festival für Neue Musik. Performers are the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Mario Caroli, Alvise Vidolin and the Schlagquartett Kőln.

Milan’s MDI Ensemble conducted by Yoichi Sugiyama, prepared together with Sylvano Bussotti a series of 4 concerts in Tokyo. On 10^th January at the Meiji Gakuin University “Art Hall”; on 12 ^th  and 13 ^th  January at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and on 16^th January at the Italian Cultural Institute “Agnelli Hall”. The programme includes, Phrase à Trois, Solo from La Passion Selon Sade, Three lovers’ ballet and Brillante.

Furthermore scores and pictures by Bussotti will be shown at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo from 11^th to 16^th January.

Trumpet concerto at the Santa Cecilia with Pappano and Hardenberger as part of the Pollini Project.

In 2004 Luca Francesconi heard Håkan Hardenberger play the trumpet in Amsterdam at a concert in memory of Luciano Berio at the Concertgebouw. Hardenberger’s brilliance gave Francesconi the idea of composing  a concerto for trumpet. This coincided with a commission from Antonio Pappano, who had been appointed musical director of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra. Hard Pace, written specially for Håkan Hardenberger, will be performed by the Swedish trumpet virtuoso on 5^th January, 2008 at the Parco della Musica in Rome. The concert, to be conducted by Pappano, forms part of the Pollini Project (additional performances on 7^th and 8^th).

First performance in Munich, Italian Cultural Institute, for Marco Betta. Tre mari Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano shall be performed by Francesco D’Orazio, violin and Roberto Prosseda, piano.

The Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the oldest scientific academy in the world, is organizing in Rome at Palazzo Corsini for the 12^th and 13^th of  December an event called Luigi Nono: shared creativity. The organizing committee includes: Luciano Martini, Giovanni Morelli, Giorgio Pestelli, Pierluigi Petrobelli (coordinator) and Cesare Questa. There will musicologists, experts and musical critics. On December the 12^th  there will also be an electronic music concert with works by Bruno Maderna and Luigi Nono.

Another important theatrical novelty by Ferrero will be performed at Teatro Comunale in Modena on 9^th December (additional performances on 10^th  and 11^th ): the one-act chamber opera Le piccole storie, based on a libretto by Giuseppe Di Leva. The theme is victims of war, explored through the theatrical device of a television format. Various fragments, ranging from the ancient Roman poetry of Cinna to whatever the headline news is on the day of the performance, form a complex narrative whose unity is assured by the presence of “your host this evening” who introduces the personalities and explains the background. The opera, under the direction of Francesco Frongia, scenes and costumes by Andrea Taddei and with Carlo Boccadoro as conductor, will also feature the “historical” founders of Milan’s Teatro dell’Elfo - Ida Marinelli, Elio De Capitani and Ferdinando Bruni. The opera has been commissioned and staged by the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena.

Three Belgian premieres for Marco Di Bari in Brussels on 26^th November. Bruno Canino, pianist, Alda Caiello, soprano and Fabrizio Paoletti  sax baritone will performer: Frammento primo, for soprano and piano; Primo studio sugli oggetti in movimento,  for sax baritone and piano; (Un)heavenly lullaby, for soprano and piano. The concert, completely devoted to the composer, has been organized by the Italian Cultural Institute with Europalia Festival.

First performance for Ottetto – L’orizzonte degli eventi, for ensemble by Alberto Colla on November 23^rd in Prato. The new work will be performed by Contempoartensemble conducted by Mauro Ceccanti in the frame of the fifth edition  of Contempopratofestival.

This year among its various activities the Associazione In Canto in Narni has commissioned the Milan composer Carlo Boccadoro to write an opera. The subject comes from one of the great literary classics for teenagers: the new opera in one act, Robinson, is based on a libretto that Lia and Dario Del Corno have written, drawing freely on the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. The world premiere will take place in Amelia at the Teatro Sociale on 18^th November. The adventures of Robinson and Friday (played respectively by the baritone Roberto Abbondanza and the soprano Eleonora Contucci) will be accompanied by the ensemble In Canto, to be conducted by the composer himself. The opera is directed by Claudio Di Palma. On 20^th November it will be performed in Narni at the Teatro Comunale “G.Manini” and on 21^st in Terni at the Teatro Comunale “G.Verdi”. The production will be taken up again in February, 2008 at the Piccolo Regio Puccini in Turin and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

Czech premiere for Isidora Zebeljan with three works in Ostrava, Concert Hall of the City of Ostrava Cultural Centre on November 15.  The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava conducted by David Porcelijn will perform New songs of Lada, for female voice and string orchestra; Escenas picaras, symphony in three movements and Selište, an elegy for string orchestra.

First complete performance for Cinque frammenti lirici by Alberto Colla next November 8 in Trieste, San Silvestro Church. The work will be performed by the Debussy Trio and the violist Olga Arzilli in the frame of Trieste Prima 2007, International Meeting with the Contemporary Music, XXI Edition.

To celebrate its 150^th anniversary Teatro Valli in Reggio Emilia has commissioned Giorgio Battistelli to write a new opera: Miracolo a Milano, based freely on Totò il buono by Cesare Zavattini. The story is the same one that inspired the film Miracolo a Milano by Vittorio De Sica, the cinematographic masterpiece of the 1950’s that expressed so powerfully the spirit of neorealism. The new opera, will be performed on 6^th and 8^th November,  under the direction of Daniele Abbado. The set is by Angelo Linzalata, the video direction by Luca Scarzella and the lighting by Guido Levi.

French premiere for Luca Francesconi with Etymo II for soprano, electronics and large orchestra at the Manca Festival in Nice on 3^rd November. The work will be performed by  RAI Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Pierre-André Valade, Alda Caiello, soprano.