Italian Music: Rarely Performed Masterpieces, February 2 at Carnegie Hall

Discover the rare treasures few have experienced. For one night only at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall), February 2, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. The program includes three rarely performed Italian masterpieces for string orchestra in three distinctively different styles: A. Riccardo Luciani's Le Tombeau Perdu, Verdi's String Quartet in E Minor and Boccherini's Stabat Mater for Soprano and Orchestra

Luciani's Le Tombeau Perdu was written in 1991, the year when the classical music world marked the bicentennial of Mozart's death. In instrumental music, tombeau, which in French means "tomb", signifies a musical "tombstone". In true neoclassical spirit, A. Riccardo Luciani selected this instrumental genre, much popular in 17th century France, to pay tribute to the great composer. Verdi's Quatret is the only surviving chamber music work in his catalogue. Written during a decade long pause in his operatic writings, it strikes the listener with its impressive sculptural vigor of the Allegro, the dancing advancement of the second movement that fades out into a moonlight-atmosphere reminiscent of Don Carlo, and the severity, sometime almost Beethovenian, of the ending Fuga. Better known to the wider public for his prolific instrumental output than for his vocal works, Boccherini creates a true masterpiece in his Stabat Mater for soprano and strings. In his rendition of the medieval text, the 18th century Italian master captures in an unsurpassEd Manner the immediacy, awesome power and heartrending intensity of the maternal sorrow that makes the Passion of Christ so emotionally involving.

The soloist of the concert is world-renowned Italian soprano Elizabeth Norberg Schulz. Highlights of her career include performances at the most prestigious opera houses in the world: the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Opéra Bastille, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, La Monnaie, Teatro Real di Madrid, Opéra de Genève, Vienna Staatsoper, La Fenice, and many others. She has collaborated with some of the greatest conductors in modern history: Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, James Levine, Myung-Whun Chung, Semyon Bychkov, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Georg Solti, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, and Carlos Kleiber. Her many concert appearances include the Berlin Phiharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestra Nazionale di RAI, Dresden Staatskapelle, Munich Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.

The orchestra will be led by Mattia Rondelli, the famous Italian conductor. He recently recorded the Boccherini piece, Stabat Mater, with Barbara Frittoli and I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala for Sony Classical. His credentials include appearances with the Beijing Opera Theater Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Parma Teatro Regio Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini Symphony Orchestra, La Fenice Orchestra, Marche Philharmonic, Turin Philharmonic, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, and Cantelli Orchestra. He has appeared at theBologna Festival, MITO and the Ravenna Festival.

For more information, please visit http://www.carnegiehall.org/SiteCode/Intro.aspx