Composer Gian Carlo Menotti
Conductor James Conlon

 

 

 

James Conlon and the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan will perform the Introduction, the March, and the Dance of the Shepherds from the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors; the Suite from the ballet Sebastian; and the Prelude from the opera Amelia at the Ball, all composed by Gian Carlo Menotti.

 

Amahl and the Night Visitors
Introduction, March and Dance
The television opera Amahl and the Night Visitors was written in 1951 as a commission by the NBC, the first time television had ever commissioned an opera by a composer and the first time that television broadcast the experiment in color.
Menotti also wrote the libretto for this opera based on a children’s story. Intended to be broadcast on Christmas Eve, the program was such a great success that it was retransmitted every Christmas Eve for several years.

 

Sebastian
Ballet suite
Menotti composed the ballet Sebastian, based on an original story, in 1944, the first time he had ever written music for a ballet.
The story is set in Venice in 1600. Sebastian is the servant of two aristocratic sisters who hope to put an end to the relationship between their brother and a courtesan. In truth, Sebastian is secretly in love with the courtesan himself.
To counter the sisters’ fury, Sebastian does not hesitate to sacrifice his own life, taking the place of the wax statue that the wicked women have created to resemble the courtesan. Covered by a veil stolen from the courtesan, the statue becomes the object upon which they cast their cruel spells.
The Suite includes almost all the music from the ballet and is composed of seven movements.

 

Amelia at the Ball
Orchestral Prelude
Menotti wrote the libretto of the opera Amelia at the Ball in Italian, and the work became the first great success of his American operatic career.
Menotti began work on the composition during a period he spent in Vienna in 1936 and completed it the following year in the United States.
The story is centered upon a young girl from high society. Bored with life, she is interested solely in preparing for and attending balls. This short, one-act opera portrays the main character as a symbol of spoiled bourgeois society.

 

 

Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan
Over recent years, Milan’s Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra, established in 1993 by Vladimir Delman, has become one of the most important symphony orchestras in Italy, with a repertoire that ranges from Bach to the cornerstones of nineteenth-century music and on to the music of the last century. Every year, the Orchestra’s program includes over thirty symphonies, and traditional classics are presented alongside less common works. The Orchestra’s season also includes supplementary programming such as the cycle called “Crescendo in Musica” (“Growing with Music”), an important review composed for children and young people. Riccardo Chailly, the Orchestra’s honorary conductor, was the musical director between 1999 and 2005; Vladimir Fedoseyev serves as the main conductor for the 2008/2009 seasons.
Since 2008/2009, Wayne Marshall and Helmuth Rilling have been guest conductors; Maestro Rudolf Barshai, who has been closely involved with the orchestra, was conductor for the 2006/2007 season, and now serves as emeritus conductor, a position previously held by Carlo Maria Giulini until his death. The horn player Radovan Vlatkovic and pianist Simone Pedroni have been resident artists since the 2007/2008 season.
Some concert favorites appear often in the Verdi Orchestra’s repertoire: The complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies, for example, the annual performance of the great Passions by Bach near Easter, and the New Year’s concert, featuring Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Alongside the traditional symphonic season, this year the 2008/2009 program will include a cycle of twentieth-century music prepared by Francesco Maria Colombo.
In the past, the Orchestra has been conducted by such illustrious names as Riccardo Chailly, Georges Prêtre, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Rudolf Barshai, Claus Peter Flor, Christopher Hogwood, Helmuth Rilling, Peter Maag, Marko Letonja, Daniele Gatti, Roberto Abbado, Ivor Bolton, Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski, Yakov Kreizberg, Ulf Schirmer, Eiji Oue, Herbert Blomstedt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Wayne Marshall and Sir Neville Marriner.
Guest soloists who have played with the Orchestra include Martha Argerich, Mstislav Rostropovic, Vadim Repin, Lynn Harrell, Viktoria Mullova, Han-Na Chang, Sarah Chang, Midori, Alexander Kobrin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Nelson Freire, Salvatore Accardo, Mario Brunello, Alexander Toradze, Hilary Hahn, Radovan Vlatkovic, Enrico Dindo, Domenico Nordio, Yefim Bronfman, and Massimo Quarta.
As well as the extremely rich symphonic season proposed for the Milan Auditorium, the Orchestra is often invited to perform in top theaters in Italy and abroad.
On April 24, 2008, the Verdi Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Oleg Caetani, performed in the Sala Nervi in the Vatican before Benedict XVI and the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, in a concerto offered by the President to celebrate the third anniversary of the Pope’s pontificate.
On December 12 and 13, 2008, the Orchestra and the Choir were invited to Baku, Azerbaijan, as guests of the Mstislav Rostropovich International Festival. Conducted by Maestro Eugene Kohn, they performed Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem Mass for soloists, choir, and orchestra, and also took part in the "World Stars" Opera Gala performance playing pieces from Verdi, Puccini, Mascagni, and Bizet.
The Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra was also the resident orchestra at the 2002 edition of Spoleto’s Festival dei Due Mondi.