Teatro Manzoni, Bologna James Conlon — Mozart and Brahms
Bologna, Auditorium Manzoni — Main Hall
About the Event
An orchestra of great tradition, Sergiu Celibidache, ZoltánPeskó, Vladimir Delman, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, and Michele Mariotti have taken turns at its helm as music directors. Among the conductors who have led the ensemble are Gary Bertini, Myung‐Whun Chung, James Conlon, Pinchas Steinberg, Valery Gergiev, Eliau Inbal, Vladimir Jurowskij, Daniel Oren, Peter Maag, Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovič, Esa Pekka Salonen, Georg Solti, Christian Thielemann, Charles Dutoit, Georges Prêtre. The Teatro Comunale Orchestra is frequently invited abroad (Holland, Romania, Spain, France and Switzerland) and has participated in prestigious festivals (Amsterdam 1987, Parma 1990, Wiesbaden 1994, Santander 2004 and 2008, Aix en Provence 2005, Savonlinna 2006, Macau 2013, Muscat 2015, Guanajuato in Mexico 2017, Paris 2018). A privileged relationship with Japan has resulted in several tours, most recently in June 2019 in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, with Rigoletto and Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
From “Thamos, King of Egypt,” Intermezzi, K. 345
In 1773, the 17‐year‐old Mozart met Emanuel Schikaneder, the future librettist of the Magic Flute and a charismatic actor, who convinced the young composer to write an opera on the subject of Tobias Philipp von Gebler, an ancient Egyptian story centered on the goodness of Thamos, son of the usurper Rameses. The composition, now very rarely performed, includes five instrumental pieces in addition to the three choruses, which already show an extraordinary modernity, presaging the future achievements of “Idomeneo.”
From “Lucius Sulla,” Overture, K 135
The 16‐year‐old Mozart had been out of Bologna for a couple of years when on December 26, 1772, he presented at the Teatro Regio Ducale in Milan the drama “Lucio Silla,” about the events of the Roman dictator and military man who lived a century before Christ. With this third and most ambitious opera (which followed “Ascanio in Alba” and “Mitridate, re di Ponto”) Mozart successfully concluded his activity on Italian stages, proving that he was now a genius in musical theater as well. “Lucius Sulla” remained on the bill for as many as twenty‐five performances.
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 73
To write and fire his first symphony Brahms had waited until he was 43 years old. Much shorter and more spontaneous was the genesis of his Second Symphony, written almost on the spur of the moment in the summer of 1877, during the always fruitful vacation periods spent in Carinthia, “a virgin soil, where so many melodies hover that one must be careful not to step on any of them,” the Hamburg composer described it. If the First was pointed to by critics as Beethoven’s “The Tenth,” in a sign of continuity with the genre’s great master, the Second was dubbed “Schubert’s last Symphony,” for its markedly melodic and cantabile spirit. Definitions aside, Carinthia’s Wörthersee brought good luck to Brahms, who composed his legendary Violin Concerto the following year, again against the backdrop of those Austrian landscapes.
Practical Information
You must print out the order confirmation and show it at the box office to collect your regular ticket, starting one hour before the start of the concert, at the Teatro Manzoni, Via De' Monari 1/2.
Cast / Production
Orchestra del Teatro comunale di Bologna
James Conlon, conductor
Address
Auditorium Manzoni, Via de'Monari 1/2, Bologna, Italy — Google Maps
