Dimitry Matvienko, conductor / Giuseppe Albanese, piano

MAIN PARTNER

TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA ORCHESTRA

An orchestra of great tradition, Sergiu Celibidache, Zoltán Peskó, Vladimir Delman, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Michele Mariotti have alternated at his leadership. Among the conductors who led the ensemble were 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 Municipal Theater 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, Macao 2013, Muscat 2015, Guanajuato in Mexico 2017, Paris 2018). A privileged relationship with Japan has resulted in several tours, the most recent in June 2019 in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, with Rigoletto directed by Alessio Pizzech and Il barbiere di Siviglia directed by Federico Grazzini.

Numerous record productions, including La Favorita directed by Richard Bonynge, Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio directed by Zoltán Peskó, Il barbiere di Siviglia directed by Giuseppe Patané, The daughter of the regiment directed by Bruno Campanella, The masks and La bohème directed by Gianluigi Gelmetti, The silk staircase directed by Gabriele Ferro, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto, La Cenerentola, Solemn Mass and the videographic productions of the Sicilian Vespers and of Joan of Arc and Werther directed by Riccardo Chailly, Armida directed by Daniele Gatti, Simon Boccanegra directed by Michele Mariotti.

The Orchestra, led by Michele Mariotti, has recorded a CD of sacred arias with Juan Diego Flórez for Decca and an album of romantic arias with Nino Machaidze for Sony. For Deutsche Grammophon Le Comte Ory with Flórez and La Nuit de Mai, opera arias and songs by Leoncavallo, with Placido Domingo. A CD of Rossini overtures has recently been published for the PENTATONE label to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.

In March 2013 the artistic bodies of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna directed by Michele Mariotti were the protagonists of the inaugural concert of the IV Mstislav Rostropovich International Festival in Moscow, performing Verdi’s Requiem Mass. In October 2015, again with Michele Mariotti on the podium, they inaugurated the Lingotto Musica review at the Giovanni Agnelli Auditorium in Turin, where they performed the Stabat Mater, the Overture and the Dances from Rossini’s Guillaume Tell.

After a thirty-year participation in the Rossini Opera Festival (from 1988 to 2016), 2017 marked a new collaboration between the Teatro Comunale of Bologna and the Verdi Festival of Parma which, among the various productions, saw the Orchestra involved in the Stiffelio signed by Graham Vick. Staged at the Teatro Farnese, it achieved great success with audiences and critics by winning the Special Prize of the 37th “Franco Abbiati” Music Critics’ Prize. The Orchestra’s autumn 2019 commitments for the Verdi Festival include Luisa Miller at the Church of San Francesco del Prato in Parma and Aida at the Verdi Theater in Busseto.

In 2019, the production of the Municipal Theater La bohème by Graham Vick won the Abbiati Award for best show.