STAGIONE SINFONICA 2022
BARBER | COPLAND | DVOŘÁK
Oksana Lyniv, conductor
Alessandro Carbonare, clarinet
Orchestra of TCBO
PROGRAM
Samuel Barber
Adagio for Strings
Age of composition: 1936
First performance: 5 Nov 1938, New York
Thanks to Arturo Toscanini, Samuel Barber decided to rework for string orchestra the second movement of his Quartetto in B flat minor. Toscanini himself christened the Adagio for strings in 1938 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, which he later repeated. Based on a varied and transformed melodic cell, the piece became Barber’s most famous composition, for its sad and meditative character often included in funeral ceremonies, such as those for Albert Einstein, J. F. Kennedy, Grace Kelly or Rainier III of Monaco. It was also used in films such as The Elephant Man or Platoon, reworked into dance and rock; Barber himself edited, in 1968, a choral version on the words of the Agnus Dei.
Aaron Copland
Concert for clarinet and orchestra
Age of composition: 1947 – 1948
First performance: 6 Nov 1950, New York
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 9 “New World Symphony“
Age of composition: 1892-1893
First performancee: 16 dicembre 1893, New York
Movements:
- Adagio – Allegro molto
- Largo
- Scherzo – Molto vivace
- Allegro con fuoco
It reached the moon with the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, but the Symphony From the New World by Antonín Dvořák (Ninth, but numbered Fifth by the author, which did not count his early works) refers to the American continent. It was composed between 1892 and 1893 when the Czech musician was director of the New York Conservatory. The stay in the United States was also an opportunity to learn about different musical traditions, especially African American spiritual and gospel and Native. The reference “to the new world”, therefore, is not only an external tribute, but also and above all an explicit reference to the “American” themes that dialogue in the form of the Western classical symphony also with Czech folkloric elements.
TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA ORCHESTRA
With its long-standing tradition, the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna has been led by Musical Directors like Sergiu Celibidache,Zoltán Peskó, Vladimir Delman, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Michele Mariotti. Some of the conductors who have worked with the ensemble include 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 Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale is often invited abroad (The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, France, and Switzerland) and has played in many 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 special connection with Japan has brought to several tours, including the tour in June 2019 in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, with performances of Rigoletto and of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
Its numerous recordings include La Favoriteconducted by Richard Bonynge; Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio conducted by Zoltán Peskó, Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Giuseppe Patané, La Fille du Régiment conducted by Bruno Campanella, Le Maschere and La Bohème conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti, La Scala di Seta conducted by Gabriele Ferro, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto, La Cenerentola, Messa Solenne, and the video production of Vespri siciliani and Giovanna d’Arco and Werther conducted by Riccardo Chailly, Armide conducted by Daniele Gatti, Simon Boccanegra and Attila conducted by Michele Mariotti.
The Orchestra, conducted by Mariotti, has recorded a CD under the label Decca with sacred arias sung by Juan Diego Flórez, and an album under Sony with Romantic arias sung by Nino Machaidze; under Deutsche Grammophon Le Comte Ory with Flórez, and La Nuit de Mai – a selection or arias and songs by Leoncavallo – with Placido Domingo; and under the label PENTATONE it released a CD containing overtures by Rossini, to celebrate 150 years since the death of the composer. In April 2021 the Orchestra recorded under Deutsche Grammophon an album coming out soon with the tenor Benjamin Bernheim and Frédéric Chaslin on the podium.
In March 2013 the artistic ensembles of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, led by Mariotti, opened the IV International Festival Mstislav Rostropovich in Moscow, where they performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. In October 2015, again with Mariotti on the podium, they opened the Lingotto Music Festival at the Auditorium Giovanni Agnelli in Turin, where they performed Stabat Mater by Rossini, and his Overture and Ballet Music from Guillaume Tell. The Teatro Comunale’s 2018 production of La Bohème conducted by Mariotti and staged by Graham Vick received the Abbiati Award as best show.
After working with the Rossini Opera Festival for nearly thirty years (from 1988 to 2016), the year 2017 brought new collaborations between the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Verdi Festival in Parma, where the Orchestra performed, among other productions, the Stiffelio directed by Graham Vick. Staged at the Teatro Farnese, the show was highly appreciated by audience and critics alike and was granted the Special Prize at the 37thedition of the “Franco Abbiati” Critics award. The Orchestra’s engagements with the Verdi Festival in 2019 included Luisa Miller at the Chiesa di San Francesco del Prato in Parma, and Aida at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto, and in 2020 a symphonic concert at the Parco Ducale in Parma conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Since January 2022, the Musical Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna has been Oksana Lyniv.