In the first half of the concert on November 16, the CRR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Antonio Pirolli, is to play Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie Overture. It will then accompany Samoan tenor Pene Pati, hailed as ‘the most exceptional tenor discovery of the last decade’, in a selection of songs by Rossini, Donizetti, Gounod, Puccini, Massenet and Verdi.
In the second half, meanwhile, the orchestra will play Felix Mendelssohn’s four-movement Symphony No 4 in A major, the ‘Italian’. Like his Symphony No 3 (the ‘Scottish’) and his The Hebrides Overture, this work has its origins in the composer’s tour of Europe during the years 1829-1831. Wikipedia tells us that ‘Its inspiration is the colour and atmosphere of Italy, where Mendelssohn made sketches but left the work incomplete.’ While there, he wrote to his father as follows: ‘This is Italy! And now has begun what I have always thought … to be the supreme joy in life. And I am loving it. Today was so rich that now, in the evening, I must collect myself a little, and so I am writing to you to thank you, dear parents, for having given me all this happiness.’ He completed the work – in Berlin in March 1833 – in response to a request for a symphony from the ‘London’ (now the ‘Royal’) Philharmonic Society. He himself conducted the first performance, which took place at one of the Society’s concerts, in May of that year.
Conductor Antonio Pirolli is no stranger to Turkey, having once served as Music Director and Conductor of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra for many years. He is currently General Music Director of the São Carlos Opera in Lisbon, Portugal.
Issue 67, December 2024
Beauty in the Wilderness
