BARTÓK
Juraj Valčuha, conductor / Károly Szemerédy, baritone / Atala Schöck, mezzo-soprano
Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra
Since 2016 Juraj Valčuha is Music Director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, as well as First Guest Conductor of the Konzerthausorchester in Berlin. He was also Principal Conductor of the Rai National Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2016. He was awarded the 2018 Abbiati Prize as best conductor. Born in Bratislava, he studied Composition and Conducting there, continuing his studies in St. Petersburg with Ilya Musin and in Paris.
Károly Szemerédy began his singing career at the age of eleven in the children’s choir of the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest and later completed his vocal studies with the Hungarian soprano Margit László. Over the course of his rising career Szemerédy has sung increasingly serious roles on notable stages and has been credited with numerous accolades.
Atala Schöck won the International Wagner Scholarship in 1999. In 2017 she received the Franz Liszt Prize from the Ministry of Culture for her outstanding musical and theatrical work.
Tuesday 8 June 2021 | H 19.30
Wednesday 9 June 2021 | H 19.30
Auditorium Manzoni
| SINGLE SEATS valid for all scheduled concerts. | |||||||||||
| The seats in the hall are spaced in order to ensure distance. | |||||||||||
| PRICES | |||||||||||
| FULL TICKET PARTERRE AND GALLERY | € 25 | ||||||||||
| REDUCED TICKET FOR SEASON TICKET HOLDERS* | € 20 | ||||||||||
| REDUCED TICKET FOR UNDER 30* | € 15 | ||||||||||
| *Titles that give the right to the reduction must to be shown in case of verification by the staff or personnel. | |||||||||||
MAIN PARTNER
Program
Béla Bartók
The castle of Prince Bluebeard (A kèkszakállú herceg vára)
IN CONCERT FORM
Composers
Béla Bartók
Bluebeard’x castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára)
Year of composition: 1911
First performance: Budapest Opera House, May 24, 1918
Bluebeard’s castle, an opera in one act from a libretto by Béla Balàzs composed in 1911, represents one of Bartòk’s early maturity masterpieces. Influenced above all by Impressionism and partly by Expressionism at the time in its first manifestations, Prince Bluebeard’s Castle already presents one of Bartòk’s deepest poetic motifs: that of mystery. Here it is the human soul that is mysterious, unfathomable, symbolized by the sinister castle of Bluebeard. Not even love is able to explore it if not on condition that it itself knows oblivion, cancellation, within a solipsistic, blind and totalitarian presence.
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 directed by Alessio Pizzech, and of Il Barbiere di Siviglia directed by Federico Grazzini.
Its numerous recordings include La Favorite conducted by Richard Bonynge; Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio conduted 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 conducted by Michele Mariotti.
The Orchestra, conducted by Michele 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 the Orchestra recorded Le Comte Ory with Flórez, and La Nuit de Mai – a selection or arias and songs by Leoncavallo – with Placido Domingo. Under the label PENTATONE it recently released a CD containing overtures by Rossini, to celebrate 150 years since the death of the composer.
In March 2013 the artistic ensembles of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, led by Michele Mariotti, opened the IV International Festival Mstislav Rostropovich in Moscow, where they performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. In October 2015, again with Michele 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.
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 37th edition of the “Franco Abbiati” Critics award. The Orchestra’s engagements with the Verdi Festival for the Fall of 2019 include Luisa Miller at the Chiesa di San Francesco del Prato in Parma, and Aida at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto.
The Teatro Comunale’s 2018 production of La Bohème staged by Graham Vick received the Abbiati Award as best show.