Date: December 6, 2013
Venue: Oshwal Centre
Entry: Free
Booking essential nairobi.rsvp@esteri.it Ensure you receive a written confirmation to show at the door
Programme
Antonio VIVALDI Concerto in D minor RV 127
(1678 –1741) for strings
Giovanni BOTTESINI “Gran Duo concertante”
(1821 – 1889) for violin, double bass & strings
Gioacchino ROSSINI Variations in E flat major
(1792 – 1868) for clarinet & orchestra
Antonino PASCULLI “Beautiful souvenirs of Verdi’s Traviata”
(1842 –1924) for hoboe & strings
Giuseppe VERDI From the Opera “I Lombardi”
(1813 – 1901) Introduction Act II for violin & strings
Ennio MORRICONE “Gran Cinema Paradiso” for orchestra
(Born 1928)
Nicola PIOVANI “Life is beautiful” for clarinet & strings
(Born 1946)
Jean ARBAN Variations on the “Carnival of Venice”
(1825 – 1889) for trumpet & strings.
Vittorio MONTI “Czarda” for violin & strings
(1868 – 1922)
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The ensemble
CLAUDIO SCIMONE, Musical Director
Lucio DEGANI, Chiara PARRINI – violins
Charlie DI VACRI – viola
Giuseppe BARUTTI – cello
Gabriele RAGGHIANTI – double bass
Paolo GRAZIA – hoboe
Lorenzo GUZZONI – clarinet
Daniele GRECO D’ALCEO – trumpet
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I Solisti Veneti
The “I Solisti Veneti” orchestra which was founded and directed (to this day) by Claudio Scimone in 1959, quickly reached worldwide fame and obtained unconditional enthusiasm by audiences and the critics alike. To its name are almost 6.000 concerts in over 80 countries, participation to the Major International Festivals (more than 30 concerts at the Salzburg Festival), an impressive discography of over 350 titles on LP, CD and DVD editions and a wide range of musical and historical as well as cultural and promotional activities.
The fiftieth anniversary of “I Solisti Veneti, in 2010, was solemnly celebrated at the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua by the President of the Italian Republic and in December 2010 as part of the official Christmas concert for the Italian Senate (the most important official concert of the Italian musical life) in the presence of the President of the Republic and of all the official Italian authorities and the Vatican.
The highest awards in the music world were conferred to “I Solisti Veneti “and to Claudio Scimone: Grammy Award, several Grand Prix du Disque and the ‘ Academie du Disque Lyrique’, a number of awards from Discography Critics in Italy and other countries. The brilliant award of the Festival Bar with 350,000 votes from the youngest listeners. In 2008 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice they were awarded the Arthur Rubinstein Foundation Association prize “Una vita nella musica” (“A life in music”) which is considered by the international critics to be the Nobel Prize of music.
The Solisti were the focus of major television programs including “The Seven Words” by Haydn at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua (Ermanno Olmi, director), “Vivaldi peintre de la musique” by François Reichenbach and many others. They have worked with the greatest singers and soloists of our time from Placido Domingo, to Josè Carreras, June Anderson, Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Itzaak Perlman, Sviatoslav Richter just to name a few. They were the first in Italy to hold concerts with special programs and presentations in the premises of primary and secondary schools.
They brought to light hundreds of unknown works from Italy’s great musical heritage in concerts and in theatres bringing to life many of the illustrious musicians from the past as well as taking care of the complete works by Giuseppe Tartini.
With the memorable first modern performance of “Orlando Furioso” (Verona 1978) with Marylyn Horne, Victoria de Los Angeles and with Luigi Pizzi as the director, they disclosed to the world the ‘importance of Vivaldi’s theatre works.
By performing the “Birth of Dawn” and the “Council of the Planets” by Tommaso Albinoni and his interlude “Pimpinone” they revealed the beauty of the vocal works by Tommaso Albinoni.
Many amongst the most famous composers of our time, including Ennio Morricone, Bussotti, Donatoni, R. Malipiero, Halffter, Constant, De Pablo, Corghi, Guaccero, Manzoni, De Marzi, devoted music to “I Solisti Veneti” thus creating an important series of works for 10 or more solo strings.
To express the deep connection existing between Venetian music, architecture and visual arts they have recorded a series of DVDs of great importance including “Vivaldi’s Seasons at the Palladian Villas” (Arthaus), “The Glory and the sacred music of Vivaldi in San Marco Square in Venice and at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua” (Dynamic), “Vivaldi Concertos for flute with James Galway at the Palazzo Ducale of Venice” (Hardy Classic), “Council of the planets” by Tommaso Albinoni (Unitel) at the great, historical Sala della Ragione in Padua (Unitel) and many others.
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Claudio Scimone
Claudio Scimone founded “I Solisti Veneti” in 1959 and has to date conducted all concerts and all recordings of his Orchestra.
A pupil of the great Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos and of Franco Ferrara, he made his debut in opera at Covent Garden in London with Donizetti’s “Elisir d’Amore”.
For operas, concerts and recordings he co-operated with many of the world’s top organizations such as the Arena of Verona, La Fenice in Venice, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (for the first performances in modern times of “Moses in Egypt”, “Il Maometto”, “Edipo a Colono”), the San Carlo theatre in Naples, the Opera in Rome (at the “Terme di Caracalla”), La Scala of Milan, the Opera Theatres in New York, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Zurich, Melbourne and so on… and with the London Symphony Orchestras (Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic), and equivalent in Brussels, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Sydney, Montreal to mention but a few.
Claudio Scimone is also the Honorary Conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon.
He has conducted and recorded the first modern integral performance of many operatic works by Rossini (“Moses in Egypt”, “Maometto”, “Edipo a Colono”, “Hermione,” “Armida”, etc…) and by other great Italian composers (Vivaldi, Albinoni, Galuppi, Salieri, etc.) and he conducted the world’s first recording of the symphonic works by Muzio Clementi.
He collaborates with the Rossini Foundation of Pesaro in the ‘Rossini edition of the Opera Omnia’.
He has dedicated a passionate activity to teach music to young people.
He taught Orchestra at the “B.Marcello” Conservatory of Venice, and for a good 30 years held the directorship of the Padua Superior National Conservatory of Music holding music master classes there as well as in many countries. Because of this activity and the many others Claudio Scimone was bestowed with both the honour of “Cavaliere di Gran Croce al Merito della Repubblica” (the Italian Republic’s highest honour) and the Gold Medal Of School, Art and Culture, from the President of the Republic of Italy.
He is the only musician awarded the Veneto Lion by the Veneto Region of Italy, an award given by the unanimous decision of the Regional Parliament.
The University of Padova – one of the two most ancient Universities in the world – awarded him with the honorary title of Doctor in Law.
