Concert
Concerto All’Italiana
Manoel Theatre

For the third consecutive year, Fiesole Artistic Productions have presented their annual concert of Italian opera, operetta and song last Saturday.

This year the concert was linked to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy which occurred in 1861 and the three opera singers plus comico/cantattore and pianist interpreted works ranging from 1832 (when L’Elisir d’Amore saw the light of day) to 1962 (when Rugatino was penned). The singers were accompanied on the piano by Debora Mori who is not only a very good pianist but is also an arranger, a music teacher and an orchestra director. As in her previous visits to Malta she distinguished herself by actually shouldering the weight of the whole evening, being very attentive to the singers and working as one with the soprano, tenor, cantattore and baritone who happened to be her father.

Orazio Mori, baritone, has had a well-established career having sung in many world-renowned theatres under famous conductors. His voice, though it may not be as steady in the upper register (as was evident in his first aria Udite o rustici) as it used to be, still retains its beautiful timbre and to me he appeared to have the best rapport with the audience that filled the Manoel to capacity. I may not be very partial to him singing from a manuscript, but his accomplished presence on the stage made up for minor inexactitudes. He gave several heartfelt interpretations of arias from different operas and also when he sang songs like Mamma, Mattinata and Musica Proibita which the audience, most of it reared on Italian music, clearly loved.

Tenor Enrico Giovagnoli did not impress me much with his first aria, the very famous Una Furtiva Lagrima when he went off-key towards its end. However, he recovered well and did much better in the very-famous La donna è mobile from Verdi’s Rigoletto. He interpreted several other solo compositions but he also teamed up with the soprano (the Brindisi from La Traviata is a case in point) and with the other participants at the end of both parts of the soirée, speaking of which may I ask why the evening ended with the Italian national anthem when it was not followed by the Maltese one?

The Maltese language was conspicuous by its absence as it was neither spoken nor sung. We are living in Malta, aren’t we? Fratelli d’Italia was incorporated as part of the repertoire which might explain many things, but I know that the lack of the Maltese anthem did wrangle and upset several persons.

Soprano Tiziana Scaciga Della Silva has become as established feature in the activities of Fiesole Productions. Her elegant figure compliments an elegant voice which goes down a treat with opera-loving audiences. This year she also illustrated her Thespian, dialectical and ballistic skills besides singing, of course, and she was her usual confident self.

A well-established figure in Italian operettas is the comico. Walter Rubboli is a comico/cantattore who is very much in demand in his native Italy and his part is to add a comic feature to the show. He was very good when he interpreted Aria di Tartaglia from Le Maschere by Mascagni in a stuttering manner. He showed a different side of his comicità when he sang Scettici Blues at the beginning of the second part of the concert which was held in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute.