31 December 2024 at 6:00 p.m.
End of Year Concert
Grand Symphonic Opera Gala
Overtures and operatic arias by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Ponchielli, Puccini
Conductor ENRICO CALESSO
with
Soprano EKATERINA BAKANOVA
Tenor IVÁN AYÓN-RIVAS
Baritone ALESSANDRO LUONGO
ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR BY FONDAZIONE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI DI TRIESTE
PROGRAMME
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
Overture from Guillaume Tell
“Largo al factotum” Figaro’s cavatina from Il Barbiere di Siviglia
“Quelle horrible destinée” from Moïse et Pharaon
GAETANO DONIZETTI
“Una furtiva lagrima” from L’Elisir d’Amore
GIUSEPPE VERDI
“Va’ pensiero” from Nabucco
“La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto
“Mercè, dilette amiche” from I Vespri Siciliani
“Il balen… / Per me ora fatale” from Il Trovatore
“Chi del gitano i giorni abbella” from Il Trovatore
AMILCARE PONCHIELLI
“Dance of the Hours” from La Gioconda
GIACOMO PUCCINI
“Ah vittoria vittoria” from Gianni Schicchi
“Quando m’en vo” from La Bohème
“Nessun dorma” from Turandot
GIUSEPPE VERDI
“Libiamo ne’ lieti calici” from La Traviata
Once again, the Teatro Verdi marks the end of the year with its traditional end-of-year concert, much appreciated both by the local public and by the numerous foreign tourists in town. The evening will be dedicated to Italian opera, from Rossini to Puccini, with conductor Enrico Calesso and an international trio of young and established singing stars, the beautiful soprano Ekaterina Bakanova, Operalia winner Iván Rivas, from Peru, and baritone Alessandro Luongo. The evening, which will see the participation of the choir of Fondazione Teatro Verdi, led by Maestro Paolo Longo – will be one of celebrations for everyone, including our artists and staff, climaxing with the final toast from Traviata, a symbol of the festive season.
New Year’s Eve at the Verdi Theatre will be a true celebration of Italian opera. No wonder the theatre is becoming more and more of a flagship of this genre, a symbol of Made in Italy that is so very much loved by our neighbours from Austria and the South Slavs. To celebrate the end of a highly successful year for the city, all the Verdi artists will be gathered around the podium of Enrico Calesso, by now at home in Trieste, surrounded by three excellent soloists: soprano Ekaterina Bakanova (who next year will be Carmen at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and Kovancina at the Grand Theater in Geneva), the young Peruvian tenor Iván Rivas (whose debuts at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and at the Vienna Opera were highly appreciated), and the internationally-acclaimed baritone Alessandro Luongo, a renowned voice on the stages of the major European capitals.
The programme will touch on all the great sentiments of Italian opera, from Rossini’s brilliant and popular passages with Guillaume Tell and Barbiere di Siviglia to the great arias from Verdi’s Elisir d’Amore, Rigoletto, Vespri, Trovatore, and from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Bohème and Turandot. Music from Nabucco and Traviata will see the choir dominate the stage, while the orchestra – the driving soul of the entire evening – will star in symphonic moments from Rossini to Ponchielli.
The New Year’s Eve concert marks the conclusion of a particularly vibrant year for the Teatro Verdi – one that saw the consolidation of its summer programme throughout the city, a substantial increase in subscriptions, thanks to performances of ever-increasing quality and a lively relationship with the local public as well as with foreign, even casual, audiences.