IMAGE OF ROME

Since the very beginning of opera, the history and myth of ancient Rome have inspired composer’s and librettist's imaginations.
The seventh Pergolesi Spontini Festival proposes a journey from Adriano in Siria by Metastasio – one of two of the librettos of the Cesarean poet set music by G.B.Pergolesi – to Vestale, that combines the glory of the Roman Republic with that of the Napoleonic Empire.
The characters evoked in these librettos and scores are shrouded by legend and myth, even when they are figures taken from history. Modern heroes, such as the Austrian and French Emperors, appear with this aura, while past enterprises tell about contemporary exploits.
Pergolesi and Spontini’s original sound is rediscovered by using the original period instruments also in the transcriptions for chamber groups, a kind of composition which allowed works to have a wider circulation outside theatres walls. For Vestale, the Festival is run back to the tradition of the puppets, to revive a historical radio record that saw protagonist Maria Vitale directed by Fernando Previtali. La Vestale, two hundred years after its first performance, while representing a milestone of neoclassicism can also be considered as the starting point for the romantic generation such as Bellini (Norma), Berlioz and Wagner.

Friday 7 September, 9.00 p.m.
Sunday 9 September, 9.00 p.m.
Jesi - Teatro G.B. Pergolesi
ADRIANO IN SIRIA
Music drama in 3 acts
libretto by Pietro Metastasio
Music by G.B. Pergolesi
First performance: Napoli, Teatro S. Bartolomeo, 25th October 1734
Critical edition by Dale Monson
(Pendragon Press, New York – BMG Ricordi Music Publishing Spa, Milano)
Ottavio Dantone, conductor
Ignacio Garcia, director
Zulima Memba del Olmo, set and costume
Accademia Bizantina

carachters and interpreters:
Farnaspe, Olga Pasichnyk
Adriano, Marina Comparato
Emirena, Lucia Cirillo
Aquilio, Francesca Lombardi
Sabina, Nicole Heaston
Osroa, Carlo Allemano

NEW PRODUCTION

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Saturday 8 September, 9.00 p.m.
San Marcello – Teatro P. Ferrari
ACCADEMIA STRUMENTALE
Music by A. Corelli
Ottavio Dantone, conductor
Accademia Bizantina

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Tuesday 11 September, 9.00 p.m.
Monte San Vito – Teatro Condominale La Fortuna
DA VESTALE A NORMA: REMINISCENZE DALL’OPERA ROMANTICA
Transcriptions, imaginations and paraphrases from
G. Spontini, V. Bellini, G. Donizetti, S. Mercadante, G. Verdi
Trio Voces Intimae
Riccardo Cecchetti, fortepiano
Luigi De Filippi, violin
Sandro Meo, cello
Fortepiano Broadwood & Sons (1827)

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Wednesday 12 September, 9.00 p.m.
Thursday 13 September, 10.00 a.m. – performance for the schools
Maiolati Spontini – Teatro G. Spontini
LA VESTALE
Reduction for marionettes of the Opera, libretto by Victor-Joseph-Étienne de Jouy
Edited by Eugenio Monti Colla
Music by G. Spontini
Marionette della Compagnia Marionettistica Carlo Colla e Figli 
Eugenio Monti Colla, director
Carlo III Colla, director of stage design
Scenes of the historical repertoire of the Company
Eugenio Monti Colla, costume
Franco Citterio, light designer
Tiziano Marcolegio, technical director
Production: Associazione Grupporiani, Milano;
Comune di Milano - Cultura - Teatro Convenzionato

1951 recording, Conductor Fernando Previtali, protagonists Maria Vitale, Renato Gavarini,
Elena Nicolai, Alfredo Fineschi e Giuliano Ferrein
Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAI (FONIT CETRA)

NEW PRODUCTION

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Thursday 13 September, 9.00 p.m.
Monsano - Chiesa degli Aroli
MITI ED EROI SULLA TASTIERA
Music by F. Couperin, J. Duphly, G.F. Händel
Edward Smith, harpsichord

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Friday 14 September, 9.00 p.m.
Montecarotto – Teatro Comunale
SALOTTO CON VESTALE
Music by H. Cramer, G. Spontini, L. van Beethoven
R. Schumann, S. Thalberg, F. Liszt, C. Saint-Saëns 
Opera transcriptions for four hands piano and for two pianos
Flavio Ponzi, Massimiliano Génot, piano
Gioachino Rossini’s Pleyel Piano (1845-'46) and two pianos Erard (1859 e 1873)

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Saturday 15 September, 9.00 p.m.
Monte Roberto, Villa Salvati
LE GRAZIE DI ISABELLA
Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi and Antonio Canova
Melologo by Davide Daolmi
Music by M. dall’Ongaro after G. Spontini
with Elisabetta Pozzi
Francesca Mondanaro, soprano
Marcello Nardis, tenore
Roberto Recchia, director

Ensemble Canova
Federico Amendola, fortepiano
Giorgio Baldan, violin
Nicola Boscaro, cello
Mario Folena, flute
Luca Lucchetta, clarinet
Tiziana Tornari, harp

In collaboration with Canova Foundation of Possagno (TV) and Asolo Musica

NEW PRODUCTION

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Sunday 16 September, 6.00 p.m.
Maiolati Spontini – Chiesa di Santo Stefano
Organ Gaetano Callido (1788)
PER ORGANO
Music by G.F. Händel, G.B. Pescetti, F.M. Veracini, V. Bellini, G. Verdi
Roberto Loreggian, organ

in collaboration with Festival Organistico Internazionale Città di Treviso e della Marca Trevigiana

The concerts will be broadcast by Rai Radio3

The Management of the Foundation is entitled to make any necessary changes to the present programme

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CONVEGNO INTERNAZIONALE DI STUDI
GASPARE SPONTINI E LA VESTALE:
DAL MITO ROMANO ALLA GRANDEUR IMPERIALE
In collaboration with Université La Sorbonne - Paris IV, Observatoire Musical Français,
Freie Universität Berlin, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Parigi
Saturday 15 september, 9.30 am - 6.30 pm
Maiolati Spontini (AN), Sala Consiglio Comunale
Coordinator: Jürgen Maehder, Freie Universität Berlin

First session:
“Gaspare Spontini e La Vestale:
il successo di un’opera assurta a simbolo della grandeur impériale”