Classical Hugs - International Music Festival & Concert Series
Trio "Italian Women in Music" - New York Debut!
"Gift of Opera - Ommagio All'Opera"
Program Details
Franz Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase, performed by Michael Bulychev-Okser
"Bella figlia dell'amore" ("Beautiful daughter of love") is a vocal quartet from the last act of Giuseppe Verdi's 1851 opera Rigoletto. It has been described as a "masterful quartet that is an intricate musical depiction of four personalities and their overlapping agendas",[1] and has been performed and recorded by many notable artists.
Rigoletto Paraphrase (1859, S. 434) is a virtuoso piano arrangement of the quartet by Franz Liszt.
La serva padrona (The Maid Turned Mistress) is a 1733 intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) to a libretto by Gennaro Federico, after the play by Jacopo Angello Nelli. It is some 40 minutes long, in two parts without overture, and was written as light-hearted staged entertainment between the acts of Pergolesi's serious opera Il prigionier superbo. More specifically each of the two parts, set in the same dressing room, played during an intermission of the three-act opera to amuse people who remained in their seats. La serva padrona was an immediate hit and became its own stand-alone work. Audiences found it appealing for its relatable characters: wily maid versus aging master. More significantly it became a model for the opera buffa genre and a quintessential piece bridging the Baroque and the Classical periods.
La traviata (Italian: The Fallen Woman) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas fils, which he adapted from his own 1848 novel. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at La Fenice opera house in Venice. La traviata has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. Fantasia is Genin's wonderful transcription for Flute and Piano on the most beloved themes from La Traviata.
La Bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème (1851) by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830 and shows the Bohemian lifestyle (known in French as "la bohème") of a poor seamstress and her artist friends. ​
"O mio babbino caro" ("Oh my dear Papa”) is a soprano aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between her father Schicchi and the family of Rinuccio, the boy she loves, have reached a breaking point that threatens to separate her from Rinuccio. It provides an interlude expressing lyrical simplicity and love in contrast with the atmosphere of hypocrisy, jealousy, double-dealing, and feuding in medieval Florence. It provides the only set-piece in the through-composed opera.
Verdi's "Attila", his ninth opera, had its premiere at Venice's Teatro La Fenice in March 1846. This title discusses the opera's origins, sources, and performance questions, and details editorial problems and their solutions. Angela will perform a piano transcription of Preludio, which serves as an overture to this opera.
Performed by Angela Ignacchiti.
"Casta Diva" is an iconic aria from the opera Norma. The work is a lyrical tragedy or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after the play Norma, ou L'infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide) by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831. The opera is regarded as a leading example of the bel canto genre, and the soprano prayer "Casta diva" in Act 1 is a famous piece.
"La campanella" (Italian for "The little bell") is the subtitle given to the third of Franz Liszt's virtuoso six Grandes études de Paganini, S. 141 (1851). It is in the key of G-sharp minor.
Performed by Michael Bulychev-Okser.
"Romanza della Vilja"
Romanza della Vilja” or "Vilja Romance" is an aria sung by the character of Anna in Act II of Franz Lehär's operetta "The Merry Widow".The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international
success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have
also been made.
'Frou frou del Tabarin' is an Aria from the operetta "The Duchess of Bel tabarin" from Leo Bard. Between the past and the present century, Tabarin was a place of sin, of lightness. The film is set in these places so "misunderstandings".
G. Bizet - F. Borne: “Habanera” from “Carmen” – for Flute and Piano
François Borne (1840–1920), sometimes spelled Bourne, was a French flutist playing with the orchestra of Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, composer and professor at "Conservatoire de Musique de Toulouse" (High School for Music in Toulouse). He is recognized for technical improvements to the flute. Furthermore, he is remembered today for his composition Fantasie Brillante on Themes from Bizet's Carmen which is a staple of the Romantic flute repertoire.
Performed by Angela Ignacchiti & Palma Di Gaetano.
Il Bacio ("The Kiss")
Luigi Arditi (1822-1903) was an Italian violinist, composer and conductor. He began his musical career as a violinist and studied music at the Conservatory of Milan. Arditi's best-known works are the opera's: I Briganti, II Corsaro, and La Spia. In addition he wrote numerous songs and vocal waltzes like Le Tortorelle (The Dove), Se Saran Rose (Rosebuds) and Parla (Speak!). But the most popular song Arditi composed is Il Bacio (The Kiss) which was dedicated to Marietta Piccolomini, to a text specially written by baritone Gottardo Aldighieri. Il Bacio is nowadays sung by all great singers and is even played often in an instrumental version as well.