The Settimana Musicale Senese, the traditional annual music week held in Siena, featuring music ranging from Baroque to modern, opens with Brahms’s magnificent German Requiem at the Teatro dei Rinnovati on July 9.
It will be performed by the Orchestre des Champs Elysées and the Collegium Vocale Gent-Accademia Musicale Chigiana under the baton of Philippe Herreweghe, with two leading singers, soprano Ilse Eerens and baritone Andrew Foster-Williams.
The festival, produced with the support of the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest Italian banks which plays a central role in Tuscany’s economy, commissions an opera by a young composerevery year.
This year’s new opera is Faust, by Silvia Colasanti, which will be given its world premiere at the festival. Her Faust is a tragedy in 18 scenes with a libretto by Fernando Pessoa and stage direction by Francesco Frongia.
Born in Rome in 1975, Colasanti is one of the most promising Italian composers, having already won various international awards which led to her working with music institutions in Italy and abroad. Her opera is a reflection upon the classic tale of Faust (immortalised by Goethe) in a contemporary key, depicting the drama of a soul which is unable to love.
Its premiere will take place at the Teatro dei Rinnovati on July 11 with actor Ferdinando Bruni together with soprano Laura Catrani and the Icarus Ensemble under the baton of Gabriele Bonolis.
On July 10, St Augustine church, whose acoustics are particularly suited for Baroque music, will host a concert by the Accademia Bizantina conducted by Ottavio Dantone, featuring music by Handel and Bach .
On July 12 and 13 it will be the turn of another important Italian Baroque ensemble, Europa Galante, directed by Fabio Biondi.
At the Teatro dei Rozzi they will perform La fede ne’ tradimenti, a drama in three acts set to music with sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Lucia Cirillo, mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland and tenor Joannes Weisser (bass).
The author of the piece, Attilio Ariosti, was born in Bologna in 1666 and died in 1729 in London, where he held the position of composer at the Royal Academy of Music.
The libretto by Gerolamo Gigli narrates the love story between King Fernando of Castille and Anagilda, daughter of Fernando’s enemy, Sancio, King of Navarre.
On July 14, pianist Alexander Lonquich will be the soloist and also conduct Chopin’s two piano concertos with Orchestra da Camera di Mantova.
Music by Stravinsky, Rameau and Brahms will be performed at the Teatro dei Rinnovati on July 15 by Camerata Salzburg under Philipp von Stainacke.
Traditionally, Siena’s summer music festival ends with a tribute to music from around the world. This year, Goran Bregovic, the famous composer from Sarajevo and his Wedding and Funeral Band, will present his album Champagne for Gipsies, a medley of folk music from the Balkans, where Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim cultures intermingle. This will be held on July 16 in Piazza Jacopo della Quercia
Besides the Settimana Musicale, Siena hosts an exceptional event every year at the Teatro de Rinnovati, in the form of a piano recital by the great Maurizio Pollini, who has close links with the city, where he holds master classes.
On August 9 he will perform four Beethoven sonatas, including the Aurora and the Appassionata.
This year’s summer of music ends on September 6, when famous pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, who in his youth attended master classes at the Accademia Musicale, returns to Siena after many years to conduct the La Scala Philharmonic in a concert of music by Rossini, Mozart and Beethoven.