A Mirror of Time in Music and Vision 3 Giugno

A Mirror of Time GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports on a trendy concert series in Rome The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma audience erupted in fifteen minutes of accolades and standing ovations at the end of the concert held in Italy's capital city on 1 June 2017. The theatre was packed with an especially young audience. Both the enthusiasm and the age of the audience (normally with grey air) were highly unusual. This was the last of twelve concerts, spread over two seasons. I have seen and heard almost all of them but did not report on them individually because each concert had only one performance, and I considered it more appropriate to provide a general overview. Advertising for the orchestral concert at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma on 31 January. Photo © 2017 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution The series of concerts was the brain child of Giorgio Battistelli, a world-known composer and music organizer (see Eclectic and Attractive, 28 May 2015). The basic idea was to attract a new and younger audience to the huge late nineteenth century opera house. Thus, first of all, low prices: 20 euros a seat in whatever part of the theatre, and 10 euros for those under twenty-six. Then, an innovative program: each concert included three or four symphonic pieces from the eighteenth century to modern and contemporary music and revolved around a theme, explained by the musicologist, Stefano Catucci, before the start of the performance. The series was called 'A Mirror of Time' (Specchi del Tempo), just because the theme is mirrored through three different centuries. Lastly, the orchestra not only occupied the stage of the opera house but also covered the pit and the first rows of seats so as to provide more intimacy and better acoustics. The series was highly successful because it was able to attract great conductors — George Pehlivanian, Ingo Metzmacher, Giovanni Sollima, Daniel Smith and Peter Rundel — and remarkable soloists such as Nemanja Radulović, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Vincenzo Bolognese and Jörg Widmann. The orchestral concert at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma on 31 January. Photo © 2017 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution The theme of the last concert was dances composed by mature musicians remembering and re-evocating their childhoods. Thus two Mozart pieces: Sechs ländlerische Tänze, K 606 and the Concerto in A major for clarinet and orchestra K 622 (a piece often heard recorded but rarely in a live concert); the well known Orchestral Suite No 2 Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel and the Dubairische Tänze by Jörg Widmann (also a clarinetist). Thus from Mozart to nearly avant-garde, because Widmann's work also includes water music. A 2016 orchestral concert in the 'Specchi del Tempo' series at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. Photo © 2016 Yasuko Kageyama. Click on the image for higher resolution Rome's musical life will miss Giorgio Battistelli, who has also been the organizer of the first contemporary music theatre festival (see Fast Forward, 12 June 2016). Giorgio Battistelli. Click on the image for higher resolution His new opera, Lot, just had an excellent debut in Hanover. Copyright © 3 June 2017 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy TEATRO DELL'OPERA JOERG WIDMANN WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART MAURICE RAVEL ROME ITALY ORCHESTRAL MUSIC  << M&V home       Concert reviews        Der Rosenkavalier >>

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