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By Vivien Schweitzer
17 Nov 2006
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| Lorin Maazel |
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| photo by Stephanie Berger |
We in New York are so accustomed to seeing and hearing Lorin Maazel at the head of our own Philharmonic that it's easy to forget that he has other high-level jobs as well. Beginning with this season, he is serving as music director of the new Palau de les Arts in Valencia, part of the City of Arts and Sciences complex that star architect Santiago Calatrava designed for his hometown.
Maazel is also Music Director for Life of Italy's newest major orchestra, the Symphonica Toscanini, and he'll be introducing that ensemble to the Americas, Japan and Israel on an international tour this winter in honor of the 50th anniversary of the legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini's death.
Symphonica Toscanini, comprised of a rotating group of nearly 200 young musicians, was founded in Rome in May 2006. The orchestra has already toured Russia, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
The Symphonica is "dedicated to the musical ideals and integrity embodied by the great conductor, Maestro Arturo Toscanini," who served as music director of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
The 2007 Symphonica Toscanini tour title, "In the Footsteps of Toscanini — Symphony of the Air," is inspired by the Symphony of the Air, the orchestra formed after Toscanini's retirement from the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1954.
The U.S. portion of the tour will take place from January 11-28 and follow the route of the tours Toscanini (1867-1957) made in 1920 with the Orchestra Arturo Toscanini and in 1950 (aged eighty-three) with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The Symphonica will go then go on to perform in Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Japan, and Israel.
A highight of the tour will be a joint gala concert at New York's Avery Fisher Hall on January 16 with the New York Philharmonic and soprano Renée Fleming. Repertoire for the concert includes the Philharmonic playing Strauss's Don Juan, the Symphonica performing Respighi's Pines of Rome, both orchestras together performing Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini and Fleming singing several arias, including "Signore, ascolta" from Turandot and "Casta diva" from Norma.
Proceeds from Gala will establish the Arturo Toscanini Associate Conductor’s Chair at the New York Philharmonic.
Repertoire for the tour is inspired by the programming choices of Arturo Toscanini and includes Brahms's Symphony No. 4, Rossini's Overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia; Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini, Respighi's Fontane di Roma and Pini di Roma, and the overture to Wagner's Tannhäuser.
Dates and locations for the U.S. portion of the tour include:
January 11: Italian Embassy, Washington, DC
January 12, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
January 13, Grand Opera House, Wilmington, Delaware
January 14, State Theatre, New Brunswick, New Jersey
January 16, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City
January 17, Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois
January 19, Great Hall, Krannert Center, Champaign, Illinois
January 20, Edman Memorial Chapel, Wheaton College, Illinois
January 21, Lied Center, Lawrence, Kansas
January 23, McCallum Theatre, Palm Desert, California
January 25-26, Segerstrom Concert Hall, OCPAC, Costa Mesa, California
January 27, Artemus Ham Concert Hall, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
January 28, Zellerbach Hall, University of California at Berkeley
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