Verona: Mozart Festival kicks off

The sixth edition of the Mozart Festival in Verona opens on Sunday 5 January at 20:30 pm in the Sala Maffeiana of the Teatro Filarmonico. Born thanks to the promoters Municipality of Verona, Fondazione Cariverona, Accademia Filarmonica di Verona and Fondazione Arena di Verona, the event involves twenty-eight partner entities, including for the first time also non-Verona entities which, under the artistic direction of Michele Magnabosco, will present a festival from January 5th to February 2nd consisting of forty-three events hosted in nineteen locations in Verona. This year the artistic offering is enriched with the proposal of cinema, dance and cultural events such as readings and guided tours.

The inauguration respects tradition. It was at the Teatro Filarmonico, on January 5, 1770, that the young Mozart held his first concert in Verona.

On Sunday, at 20.30:XNUMX pm, the Accademia Filarmonica di Verona will open the festival with Rosso Verona Baroque Ensemble: Un soffio di Mozart. Chamber music for wind and string instruments, with music by Mozart and Girolamo Salieri. The Rosso Verona ensemble, which performs on historical instruments, offers a program of chamber music that sees the voices of the clarinet and oboe shine alongside a more traditional group of string instruments. The Oboe Quartet and the Clarinet Quintet are undoubtedly two of the most brilliant gems of Mozart’s chamber music repertoire.

The festival kicks off with the concert promoted by Cariverona, Tuesday 7 January at 20,30:XNUMX pm in San Tomaso Cantuariense: “Young Mozart. The inspirations of a genius”, with Magdalena Malec, an internationally recognized concert pianist and teacher, on the famous organ played by the Salzburg composer himself during his trip to Verona.

Admission to both events is free upon reservation.

International Guests

Il 13 30 and January at the Filarmonico Marc Minkowski at the head of his Les Musiciens du Louvre will propose Mozart’s last three symphonies in the second concert promoted by the Accademia Filarmonica, while at the Teatro Ristori the Russian violinist Sergej Krilov will play the first two violin concertos together with I Virtuosi Italiani. 17st January.

Mozart and Salieri

The sixth edition of Mozart in Verona reconciles the two composers, Mozart and Salieri, who legend has it were in conflict with each other: precisely on the occasion of the bicentenary of the death of the composer from Legnago, in this new edition of the festival a place of honor is reserved for Antonio Salieri, a leading figure in the European musical panorama in the second half of the eighteenth century and in the early nineteenth century. Two conferences at the University of Verona in the Biblioteca Capitolare are dedicated to him, as well as a concert (Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and Ensemble di fiati di Fondazione Arena di Verona), a concert-lesson conceived by Elena Biggi Parodi, one of the world’s leading experts on Salieri with the participation of the Orchestra and Choir of the University of Verona, and two operas: from 19 to 26 January, Falstaff in the new production by Fondazione Arena directed by Paolo Valerio and conducted by Francesco Ommassini, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Teatro Filarmonico (1975) and Mozart e Salieri by Rimskij Korsakov at the Ristori with I Virtuosi Italiani, which starting from Pushkin’s drama creates a bridge with Shaffer’s play. Finally, to seal the tribute to the composer from Legnago, Fondazione Arena di Verona proposes the screening of the film Amadeus by Forman, at the Teatro Filarmonico, on Saturday 18 January.

The newness

Increases the contribution of cultural events, such as readings at the Academy of Agriculture, Science and Letters and the Civic Library (for children), concert-lessons, two thematic guided tours on the musical heritage of the Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare, one of the new partners of the festival, and one in the jewel of Veronese Baroque art, San Domenico al Corso.
This edition also attests to the desire of the four promoting and organizing institutions to increasingly expand the offer.
Cinema and dance enter, with the participatory dance event at the Fresco Museum and the screening of a film on the life of the genius from Salzburg at the Philharmonic Theatre: two new forms of art and creative expressions are added to the prose and musical theatre shows, events for children and young people, concert-lessons, exhibitions, conferences, conventions and book presentations, made possible thanks to the institutions involved.

Among the new partners, in addition to the aforementioned Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare, the Unified Army Circus, Arte3 APS and the Verona Piano Festival, even extra-Veronese realities: the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Ensemble Musagète (among the most interesting chamber music groups on the national scene) and the Società Italiana di Musica Contemporanea, which will offer a concert in which eight compositions specifically commissioned for Mozart in Verona will be presented in absolute first performance.

The festival’s offering is enriched by concerts of L’Appassionata, Piazza Brass Quintet, Amici della musica and Steinway Society, Società Letteraria, the “Montanari” Music High School, Bettedavis Duo with an incursion into light music inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnets (a tribute to another genius inextricably linked to Verona) and the now unmissable double appointment with the Verona Bell School.

There is also news on the Festival venues, nineteen in total, six more than last year: these are the Chapter Library, the “GB Cavalcaselle” Museum of Frescoes, the Great Hall of the Zanotto Center of the University of Verona, the Halls of the Verona Philharmonic Academy, San Giorgio in Braida, and the Civic Hall of the Municipality of Zevio.

A green choice

Given the increasingly crowded events in the festival calendar, which is wider, even going beyond the month of February, the promoters have chosen to print the programs in a reduced edition to limit paper consumption: the details of all the events, constantly updated, will be available with QR Code.

Younger (and more social)

The festival aims to embrace all age groups, with an increasingly varied and captivating offering. In addition to the eagerly awaited event dedicated to the children of Fondazione Arena and Fucina Culturale Machiavelli Baby Mozart k1, k2, k3… star!, young people are increasingly at the centre. This year too they are an integral part of the event, with IUSVE students involved in the organization.

Mozart goes social: the festival has opened a Facebook page and an Instagram channel (@mozartaverona), with which everyone can interact by tagging the page and using the hashtag #mozartaverona.

Information and details on all Mozart events in Verona on www.mozartaverona.it