Antonio Pappano Conducts the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Carnegie Hall Debut

Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano makes his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in two programs, Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21 at 8:00 p.m.

At the first concert, Mr. Pappano leads the Orchestra in Respighi's Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome, Verdi's Sinfonia from Aida, and Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, featuring Martha Argerich, who recently collaborated with the Orchestra on a Saint-Saëns recording scheduled for release by Warner Classics on September 22 (digital) and October 13 (physical). The second program comprises Mahler's Sixth Symphony and The New York premiere of the Orchestra's 2015 commission from Salvatore Sciarrino, La nuova Euridice secondo Rilke, featuring soprano Barbara Hannigan.

The Carnegie Hall concerts are part of the Orchestra's East Coast tour that includes performances in Washington, D.C. (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Boston (Symphony Hall), and Rochester (Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre). The tour marks the Orchestra's first performances in the U.S. in nearly 50 years, having last performed at Carnegie Hall on October 8, 1969.

Tickets are available online, from CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, and at the Carnegie Hall Box Office located at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.

Tracing its origins to the founding of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in 1585, the Orchestra is recognized for its history of collaboration with major composers and conductors, including former Accademia professor Ottorino Respighi, whose music headlines the first program. Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome, the first two works in Respighi's "Roman Trilogy," were given their world premieres by the Orchestra in 1917 and 1924 respectively. The composer had been a professor of composition at the Accademia from 1913 to the end of his life in 1936. More recently, as part of a commissioning project conceived by Mr. Pappano to help bolster the Italian symphonic tradition, the Orchestra has worked with Sicilian composer and Accademia alumnus Salvatore Sciarrino, premiering his La nuova Euridice secondo Rilke in March 2015 with Barbara Hannigan and bringing the work to New York with her on this tour.

Performing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, Martha Argerich returns to Carnegie Hall for the first time in nine years. She and Mr. Pappano, who is active as a collaborative pianist, appear as duo partners in Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals on the Orchestra's latest recording for Warner Classics, which also includes the composer's Third Symphony ("Organ"), conducted by Mr. Pappano and featuring organist Daniele Rossi.

The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of Italy's few independent orchestras of international stature, known both for its artistic excellence and rich history. The Orchestra's origins can be traced back to 1585, when the Accademia, now one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, was founded in Rome by Pope Sixtus V and presided over by composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina as a confraternity of local musicians. Over the centuries, the Accademia has evolved into a modern academy, including a conservatory, museum, and-since 1908-a permanent symphony orchestra, the first in Italy to make symphonic music the focus of its repertoire. Presently, the Orchestra performs more than 200 symphonic performances each season in the Sala Santa Cecilia at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, tours to major festivals and venues around the world, and appears frequently on recordings. In addition to its U.S. tour this season, the Orchestra tours to Germany and-for the first time-the United Arab Emirates. In Germany, the Orchestra performs with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter at the Elbphilharmonie, among other venues, and on its U.A.E. tour, the Orchestra performs in Abu Dhabi with violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and Ms. Rana.

Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano has been Music Director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia since October 2005 and Music Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, since September 2002. In his role with the Accademia, Mr. Pappano has made a mission of gaining wider, international recognition for the Orchestra beyond its Roman subscription series, principally through touring and recording. His past tour engagements with the Orchestra include performances in Austria, Germany, Great Britain, France, Holland, Japan, Russia, Spain, and Switzerland. Awards and honors include Gramophone's "Artist of the Year" in 2000 and his naming in 2012 as a Cavaliere di Gran Croce of the Republic of Italy and a Knight of the British Empire.

Pianist Martha Argerich was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina). She began her first piano lessons at the age of five with Vincenzo Scaramuzza. Considered a child prodigy, she soon performed in public. In 1955, she moved to Europe and continued her studies in London, Vienna, and in Switzerland with Bruno Seidlhofer, Friedrich Gulda, Nikita Magaloff, Madeleine Lipatti, and Stefan Askenase. In 1957, she won the Bolzano and Geneva Piano Competitions, and in 1965 the Warsaw International Chopin Competition. Since then, she has been one of the most prominent pianists in the world both in popularity and ability. In 2016 she was named a Kennedy Center Honoree.

Barbara Hannigan divides her time between singing on the world's major stages and conducting leading orchestras. The Berlin Philharmonic, Münchner Philharmoniker, Gothenburg Symphony, Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony are among the orchestras with whom she holds close relationships. Ms. Hannigan has worked with the most prominent conductors, including Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andris Nelsons, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Kirill Petrenko, David Zinman, Vladimir Jurowski, Antonio Pappano, Alan Gilbert and Reinbert de Leeuw.

Born in Palermo in 1947, Salvatore Sciarrino began his musical studies at age 12 and went on to attend the Accademia. His music was first performed in 1962, and he has written works for the London Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI Symphony, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Teatro alla Scala, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, with premieres led by such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Chailly, and Susanna Mälkki. His music appears on over 100 recordings and is published by Rai Trade.

Friday, October 20 at 8:00 p.m.
New York, NY - Carnegie Hall

Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor
Martha Argerich, piano
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

VERDI Sinfonia from Aida
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No. 3
RESPIGHI Fountains of Rome
RESPIGHI Pines of Rome

Saturday, October 21 at 8:00 p.m.
New York, NY - Carnegie Hall

Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

SALVATORE SCIARRINO La nuova Euridice secondo Rilke (New York Premiere)*
MAHLER Symphony No. 6

*Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia commission

Tickets are available online, from CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, and at the Carnegie Hall Box Office located at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.