It is just wood. It is just pieces of wood cut into a funny improbable shape with a few holes and gut strings over it. And yet when Antonio Stradivari started turning that wood and gut string into instruments, he created a legendary legacy that would outshine all other instruments and turn him into an artisan-hero. Part of that legacy is now coming to Malta.

Next Sunday Maestro Mauro Ivano Benaglia will conduct the Orchestra d’Archi e Coro da Camera dell’Accademia Concertante d’Archi di Milano, with the special presence of the world renowned Stradivarius violinist Mro Matteo Fedeli. Fedeli will be performing on a 1715 Stradivarius known as the ex Bazzini – De Vito violin.

Mauro Ivano BenagliaMauro Ivano Benaglia

Opinion is still divide on whether Stradivari violins are really the best violins of their time, but their high quality is undeniable.

“They marry together elegance of form, fine woods, and even a particular varnish that result in a magnificent, crystalline and powerful sound,” says Benaglia. “They are the pride and joy of the art of Italian violin making.”

“The project Stradivarius Among Us was created together with Fedeli 10 years ago,” says Benaglia. “It is a project that has taken us around the world with around one hundred concerts per year. It has also brought to life about 25 different Stradivarius violins and delighted audiences worldwide.”

Benaglia resolved to study music at a very young age when he decided he wanted to accompany his mother’s singing at the piano.

“My mother was a soprano,” says Benaglia, “and she sang in the famous 1946 concert at La Scala for the re-opening of the theatre after the war, all under the baton of Toscanini.” It was thus natural that with such an upbringing that he would go on to graduate in organ studies and voice at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan.

Benaglia’s career has seen him conduct over a thousand concerts in some of the most beautiful venues around Italy and Europe. “One of the most memorable concerts was a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in the Duomo of Milan, with a 504-strong choir and an orchestra of 120 musicians. There were about 12,000 people in the audience that day. Unforgettable.”

He will be conducting the Academia Concertante, which he describes as “a real forge of artists”, an ensemble that has distinguished itself over the years.

“They will be joined by a choir which together form a formidable ensemble that is equally at ease in baroque music as it is in Piazzolla.”

In fact, the Malta programme will be dedicated to Piazzolla’s music, which will be performed in several interesting arrangements. “I have arranged a lot of the music, which Piazzolla originally wrote for instruments, for choir. Voices as instruments! It will not be easy!” This will be played alongside Fedeli’s own arrangement of the famous Four Seasons for Violin and piano solo with strings.

Sunday’s concert will be in aid of various cancer charities.

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