Venice, 1st October 2021 – Until October 21st the events of the “Vivaldi Festival” will take place.
Created this year, together with the anniversary of 1600 years from Venice foundation, to celebrate the greatest musician, Antonio Vivaldi. Funded by Enrico Castiglione, globally known movie, and artistic director, the “Vivaldi Festival” pays homage to the “son” of music most popular of the whole Serenissima and author of the world-famous Four Seasons. Antonio Vivaldi, for many years, dedicated himself to the education of young orphans of the Santa Maria della Pietà Institute – also composing for them some of its most popular pieces -, especially by means of musical knowledge.
“No great composer, from Mozart, Verdi, Rossini to Puccini – claimed Enrico Castiglione – needs a festival, although every great composer has its own festival in the city in which he was born. We have begun this year, and we have decided to dedicate great attention to the holy and instrumental Vivaldi, in order to later enlarge the offer of the Vivaldi Festival next year, adding also its musical theatre, less popular among the public. As a movie director, the challenge will be to offer the works of Vivaldi with maximum adherence to the text, although with dramaturgical, scenic, and unconventional solutions. This, without forgetting that Vivaldi was a great innovator”.
The programming provides a series of concerts, some of which in the places where the great composer lived and played, as the Pietà Church, where Vivaldi express its own genius inside the orphanage, the Church of San Giovanni in Bragora, where he was baptized, but also the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo and some of the most ancient scuole of the city, such as the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.
The next event will be held on Sunday October 3rd, from 20.30 with the concert “Vivaldi Amor Sacro” in the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, played by the Orchestra Oficina Musicum Venetiae, conducted by Riccardo Favero, in a program entirely dedicated to the holy.
October 16th, at 20.30, the profane will be played by one of the most famous orchestras in the world: I Solisti Veneti, that in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista will play some concerts of Vivaldi for orchestra and oboe conducted by Giuliano Carella.
October 17th, in the San Francesco della Vigna courtyard, profane singing with soprano Silvia Della Benetta will be accompanied by Orchestra Le Putte di Vivaldi, conducted by Stefano Sovrani.
On October 19th, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco will host the concert of Uto Ughi dedicated to Vivaldi, providing a personal interpretation of the Four Seasons together with other less popular works of Vivaldi.
On October 20th at 20.30, it will be possible to enjoy the concert of the Estro Armonico di Vivaldi at the Basilica dei Frari, where the Canova Orchestra will be doubled in the ancient baroque style and placed above on of the two opposed choirs in front of the main altar, producing an ancient but natural stereophonic effect that had already been experimented back in 1700s. The concert will be conducted by Enrico Saverio Pagano and broadcasted on tv. On October 21st, at the Basilica dei Frari, the Orchestra Europa Galante conducted by Fabio Biondi will perform and, after the concert, Cecilia Bartoli will be awarded with the Vivaldi d’Oro Prize.
To know more: www.vivaldifestival.org.