And Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala

Maria Schiavo, soprano

Mirco Palazzi, bass

The great successor to the 18th-century opera buffo tradition, Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868), produced some of the last and most beautiful examples of this Italian comic opera genre, while also introducing a multitude of innovations to his serious operas, freeing opera from the conventions of the 18th century and ushering it into the magnificent 19th century. Gioachino Rossini is the successor to Cimarosa and Paisiello, who entered the world of theatre at a time of stylistic stagnation. With his music full of character and humour, but also liberated melody, new forms of arias and ensembles, fresh orchestral colour and rhythmic vitality, he created a new operatic style that would be continued by Bellini and Donizetti, and inherited by Verdi. He gained a reputation early on with a series of comic one-acts that he composed for the Venetian Teatro San Moisè.

Opera farce The Silk Ladder (Silk ladder) belongs to that early creative period, in which he conquered with the "freshness of the very morning of life" (which, speaking of his later works, Stendhal, the author of Rossini's biography, would long for The life of Rossini). The overtures of that early period, to which belong   The Silk Ladder i Mr. Bruschino, show him as a dedicated composer who strived for perfection; overtures are most often composed in sonata form without a development part, which is introduced by a singing melody on the oboe, English or French horn, while the first theme is presented by strings, the second by woodwinds, leading then into Rossini's famous crescendo. The Silk Ladder it was first performed in Venice in 1812, and the distinctive tone of the one-act overture is given by the interesting effects of the woodwinds. To date, his most performed opera and according to many the best comic opera of all time, The Barber of Seville, was written a little later, in 1816, when Rossini, at the age of 24, was already ruling Italian opera. It was also a time of tight schedules: Rossini worked very hard – prima donnas still earned more per performance than composers, and composers were only paid if they took part in the performances themselves. He often composed operas in less than a month, and one of the most famous examples is the masterpiece The Barber of Seville, which he wrote in just three weeks and staged at Rome's Teatro Argentina in February 1816. In this opera, one brilliant aria or ensemble follows another, and the ornamented melodies, piquant harmony and sudden turns reflect the temperament and intelligence of the characters, their sharpness and sarcasm, as well as their stupidity and bizarreness. One of the characters is Don Basilio, a bass, for some reason a malicious music teacher, who in the aria The slander advises Bartolo, an elderly doctor, on how to keep his young protégé Rosina for himself, and with a "rumor", which will heat up like a storm, drives away her young suitor. On the other hand, Rosina is not at all naive, but a wise young woman, who shows her Spanish temperament in the aria unite you well fa. A deceptively gentle beginning develops into a fireworks display of vocalizations, detached and ornaments, expressing her determination to get the one she wants, gently if she can, or with a hundred traps if she must.Mr. Bruschino is the last of the five farces that Rossini wrote for the Venetian San Moisè, and there is a legend associated with it that the composer, dissatisfied with his relationship with the impresario Antonio Cera, deliberately introduced a number of unusual, almost provocative effects into the score – right down to the counter-rhythm tapping of music stands (or candle holders) in the famous overture. It is this effect, in conflict with the drama of the opening minor motif, followed by a confusing mix of cheerful melodies punctuated by suspicious signals and unusual modulations, that gives the overture a note of absurdity, anticipation and irresistible charm. At the other end of Rossini's operatic spectrum is Semiramide, an opera of the mature period. This operatic tragedy based on Voltaire, written in 1923 for Venice's La Fenice, echoes an early masterpiece, also based on Voltaire, TancrediIt is Rossini's last truly Italian opera, written before leaving for Paris, in which Rossini gives a final glimpse of the great Italian Baroque tradition, composing the title role for his lover, later wife, the great dramatic soprano Isabella Colbran. Duet If life still exists for you Tsar from the beginning of the second act of the opera is one of Rossini's most dramatic: the conflict between Semiramis and Assur, who are blackmailing each other for the murder of King Ninus, is musically shaped as an ornamented quarrel - Semiramis's lavish ascending coloraturas bring defiance and authority to the music, while Assur's deeper and more threatening phrases carry a darker, almost demonic energy in this confrontation between two powerful characters in Rossini's operatic depiction of the ancient Babylonian kingdom.

Continuing the tradition bel canto Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) in his works would bring Italian opera to its peak. Bellini's lilting melodies, which in Verdi gradually became more and more a reflection of feelings and character, strong movement, rhythm and energy, as well as the way of building large ensembles and finales that came from Rossini's writing, and Donizetti's modern dramatic opera – all this influenced Verdi, who would gradually, in his first creative period, transform this great heritage, and especially improve the role of the orchestra, which from a simple accompaniment to the voice became a powerful means of drama. Verdi in his early years, which he called years of prison, because he worked at a slave-like, "galiot" pace, he formed his own recognizable musical language, in which characteristic short orchestral motifs, strong rhythmic figures, the increasingly important role of brass instruments, dark, dramatic orchestral colors, and the overall specific harmonic, melodic, orchestral atmosphere that gives a special color, "ink" to each opera. Macbeth, his tenth opera, inspired by Shakespeare's tragedy and premiered in Florence in 1847, belongs to this period. In it, Verdi's voices are no longer bel canto but completely dramatic, and the main characters – Lady Macbeth and the title character himself, composed for a baritone, are not positive but negative. He builds a dark, almost grotesque world of the north, of pagan customs, of witches, among whom more humane characters emerge, with softer, more melodious vocal lines. Among them is Banco, the moral opposite of Macbeth, whose melodies, entrusted to a deep, dark bass, remain calm and dignified, in contrast to the nervous lines of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, even at the moment when he foresees his own death and advises his son to flee, because the witches have prophesied to him that his lineage will produce a king, in his aria in the second act Come dal ciel precipita. The Overture The opera already brings Verdi's typical dramatic style: it is short, dark, immediately creating an atmosphere and announcing the sinister tone of the opera, starting with dark colors and a sense of unease, while the thematic material in it is connected to the music of witches and that of Lady Macbeth. At the very end years of prison and on the threshold of Verdi's full maturity, his "Latin trilogy" of operas was created Rigoletto (1851.), Troubadour (1853.) I Traviata (1853), in which incredible vocal virtuosity becomes like a powerful brush with which he paints a series of powerful and realistic portraits. The coloratura of Gilda's vocal lines in Rigoletto, are the sound of her youth and innocence In the first aria Dear name, as she dreams of the student Gualtiero Maldè (not knowing that he is the notorious seducer, the Duke), her melody is light and airy and full of small ornaments, as if her first love is taking shape before us. In All the festivals at the temple that musical world is changing, a broader, calmer melody with long phrases and more expressive declamatory moments, to which the orchestra provides an elegiac background, says that she has faced a harsh reality, but she is also in love, ready to defend the Duke, even though she has experienced humiliation and pain. In Fantasy on themes from Rigoletto Three different melodic worlds meet – Gilda's bright, airy, finely decorated melodic lace, Vojvodina's moving, direct, self-confident arias, full of lightness and seduction, like This or that or The woman is mobile, and Rigoletto's dark, more intermittent and somber musical world, whose phrases often carry the weight of words and situations, becoming an expression of his despair, fear and powerlessness, in the face of the fate that takes his daughter away.

Unlike Rossini, who often placed the virtuosity of the voice at the very center of the musical event, Gaetano Donizetti (1797–1848) increasingly linked melodic beauty and singing technique to character and dramatic situation, transforming the bel canto tradition into a more powerful dramatic language. In just a few decades, he wrote more than seventy operas.

Lucrezia Borgia , premiered in 1833 at La Scala in Milan, was based on a play by Victor Hugo and belongs to the period in which Donizetti increasingly embraced the aesthetics of Romanticism: a historical framework, dark passions, family secrets, the conflict between love, honor and revenge. At the center is Lucrezia, a historical figure whom Romantic literature transformed into an almost mythical figure of a woman associated with poisons, crime and political intrigue. Donizetti, however, gradually dismantles this one-dimensional image and foregrounds her maternal side and the tragic conflict between public identity and private feelings. In the aria of the Duke Don Alfonso d'Este, Vieni, la mia vendetta, we still recognize the elegance and virtuosity of the bel canto vocal line, but it already becomes a means of expressing threat and revenge. The overture extends this emotional world to the orchestra, while in the duet of Lucrezia and the Duke Soli noi siamo… che chiedete? the melody becomes the language of their conflict.

The opera belongs to an important period in Donizetti's work, between his earlier successes and the masterpieces that would follow, such as Maria Stuarda and Lucia di Lammermoor . In Lucrezia Borgia he still fully believes in the power of the great aria and the bel canto vocal line, but he connects them more and more strongly with the dramatic development. In the final scene, when Lucrezia realizes that she has poisoned her own son Gennaro, the beauty of the melody becomes the bearer of tragedy, and it is this combination of bel canto vocal line and strong dramatic expression that will become one of the foundations of Verdi's operatic language and the future of Italian opera a few years later.

- Zrinka Matic

I VIRTUOSI DEL TEATRO ALLA SCALA is a distinguished chamber ensemble composed of top musicians, members of the Teatro alla Scala orchestra and the Scala Philharmonic, who share many years of artistic experience gained through collaboration with some of the greatest conductors and musical names in the world. Their special artistic mission is to promote and present Italian instrumental virtuosity at the highest level.

The ensemble brings together musicians of exceptional quality, including numerous internationally recognized soloists, which gives it a distinctive artistic identity and enables an exceptionally wide and diverse repertoire. Their programs encompass works from the Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism and contemporary music, with a special emphasis on solo instruments. The repertoire includes divertimento, serenades, symphonies, concertos, rarely performed works, as well as instrumental transcriptions of overtures from Italian operas, fantasies and variations on opera arias and duets for solo instruments and orchestra.

During almost two decades of activity , I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala have performed in the most prestigious concert halls and at prestigious festivals in Italy and abroad. Among the important stages where they have appeared are the Musikverein in Vienna , the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Teatro Ristori in Verona, the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the Teatro Verdi in Pisa and the Opera in Riga . They have also participated in important European festivals such as the World's Chamber Orchestras Festival in Moscow, the IMG Tuscan Sun Festival , the Bologna Festival , the festivals in Varna and Sofia and the Easter Beethoven Festival in Poland.

The ensemble also regularly performs on special occasions, including a concert at the Violin Museum in Cremona on the occasion of Stradivari Memorial Day 2016 , a performance at the opening of the Renate Tebaldi Museum in Busseto, the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the VIDAS organization at the Teatro alla Scala, and gala concerts in Cortina d'Ampezzo . In 2011, they performed at the invitation of the Italian Embassy in Warsaw , where they closed the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. During the pandemic, the ensemble recorded a concert at the Teatro alla Scala for Polish state television.

A special feature of this ensemble is that it most often performs without a conductor , relying on superb chamber harmony, mutual trust and a shared musical vision. It is precisely this immediacy of musicianship, a combination of technical excellence and deep interpretative connection, that makes I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala an ensemble of exceptional artistic strength and international reputation.

SOLOISTS

Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano

Maria Grazia Schiavo was born in Naples, where she graduated with honors in singing at the Conservatory under the direction of R. Passar. She won first prizes at the Santa Cecilia Competition in Rome and the International Singing Competition in Clermont-Ferrand. She made her stage debut in the title role of the work La Gatta Cenerentola Roberto De Simone, and then she performed as Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Adina in The elixir of love, Countess of Folleville in The trip to Reims, Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Semiramide, Marie in The fille du régiment, Norina in Don Pasquale and Liu in Turandot. In the baroque and classical repertoire, she performed the roles of Asteria in Tamerlane, Almirene in Rinaldo, Dalinda in Ariodante, Susanne in The Marriage of Figaro, Constance in The abduction from the Seraglio, Pam's in Die Zauberflöte, Donna Anne in Don Giovanni and Elijah in Idomeneo. She has performed under conductors such as Nello Santi, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Diego Fasolis, Ottavio Dantone, Christophe Rousset, Carlo Rizzi and Alessandro De Marchi, in theatres and festivals including the Teatro di San Carlo, Teatro alla Scala, La Fenice, Teatro Regio di Torino, the Rome Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Theater an der Wien. She has recorded for the labels Naïve, Eloquentia and Glossa, and has released a solo album Furor! with music by Domènec Terradellas.

Mirco Palazzi, bass

Mirco Palazzi graduated with the highest grades from the Gioachino Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro in the class of Robleta Merolla, and trained under the bass of Bonaldo Giaiotti. In 2001, he won first prizes at the international singing competitions Riccardo Zandonai in Riva del Garda and Gianfranco Masini in Reggio Emilia, and second prize at the Ferruccio Tagliavini competition in Deutschlandsberg, and in the same year he made his debut at the Opera Festival in Wexford. He performed in Milan's Scala, Royal Opera House, Gran Teatre del Lice, Teatro Real, La Fenice, Roman Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Concertgebouw, Barbican Centre, Suntory Hall, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. His repertoire includes Rossini's Assur in Semiramis , Maometto II, Lord Sidney in Il viaggio a Reims , Podestà in La gazza ladra and Le Gouverneur in Le comte Ory , Rodolfo in Bellini's La sonnambula , Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor , Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia , Enrico VIII in Anna Bolena , Figaro and Leporello in Mozart's operas, as well as Seneca in L'incoronazione di Poppea , Caronte and Pluto in L'Orfeo , Creonte in Cestius' L'Oronteia , Achille in Handel's Giulio Cesare and Garibaldo in Rodelinda . He has collaborated with conductors Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Ottavi Dantone, Valeri Gergiyev, Antonio Pappano, Kent Nagano and Gianandre Noseda. He has recorded for Decca, Naxos, Opera Raru, Arthaus, Unitel, Opus Arte, Urania Records and Warner, and his recording of Semiramide for Opera Raru, in which he sang Assura, won the 2019 International Opera Award, the International Classical Music Award and the Opus Klassik for Opera Recording of the Year.

Location: Peristyle, Split.

Pupils, students, pensioners and existing subscribers of the Croatian House Split receive a 20% discount on individual tickets exclusively at the Croatian House box office. Discounts are not cumulative and do not apply to festival tickets.

You can purchase the Peristil Vibrez Pass for all three events at Peristil here.

Croatian House Split ensures an accessible and inclusive experience for all visitors. Persons with disabilities, persons with reduced mobility, and persons requiring assistance are provided with appropriate accessible seating at all concerts and performances of this year's Vibrez Festival.

Gioachino Rossini

The Silk Ladder
Overture

Il barbiere di Siviglia
"La calunnia" - aria by Don Basili
Act I

Mirco Palazzi, bass

"Una voce poco fa" - Rosina's aria
Act I

Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano

Mr. Bruschino
Overture

Semiramide
"Se la vita ancor t'è cara..." – a duet between Assur and Semiramide
Act I

Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano

Mirco Palazzi, bass

Giuseppe Verdi

Macbeth
Overture

"Studia il passo... Come dal ciel precipita" - aria Banca
Act IV

Mirco Palazzi, bass

Rigoletto
Fantasy on themes from the opera Rigoletto

"Tutte le feste al tempio" - Gilda's aria
Act II

Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano

Gaetano Donizetti

Lucrezia Borgia
"Vieni, la mia vendetta" - Duke Alfonso d'Este's aria
Act II

Mirco Palazzi, bass

Overture

"Soli noi siamo… che chiedete?" – duet of Lucrezia and Duke Alfonso d'Este
Act I

Maria Grazia Schiavo, soprano

Mirco Palazzi, bass