Festival Verdi 2009
From 1st to 28th October operas, concerts, events, exhibitions to the Teatro Regio di Parma, in Busseto and in the Land of Verdi

Yuri Temirkanov inaugurates Festival Verdi 2009

The Conductor of Teatro Regio di Parma Yuri Temirkanov will open the calendar of musical events (1st and 3rd October) on the podium of ensemble of Teatro Regio and of four excellent soloists as Svetla Vassileva, Daniela Barcellona, Francesco Meli, Alexander Vinogradov, with an extraordinary Messa da Requiem. The holy Verdi masterpiece will be presented also in Busseto, with a preview (28th September) and then in concert (4th October) in setting of Insigne Chiesa Collegiata di San Bartolomeo Apostolo.

Verdi masterpieces

Teatro Regio di Parma relies on the great Leo Nucci I due Foscari debut, (2nd, 8th, 11th, 13th, 16th October) opera inspired from Lord Byron Romanticism and offered in the new performance, coproduction with ABAO from Bilbao and Teatro Verdi di Trieste, created from Director Joseph Franconi Lee, scenery and costumes by William Orlandi. With celebrated baritone, the talent of Tatiana Serjan, Roberto De Biasio and Roberto Tagliavini, guided by expert baton of Donato Renzetti. After Parma there will be two performances (23rd e 25th October) to Teatro Comunale “Luciano Pavarotti” di Modena.

Nabucco, the opera that impresses the first and sudden Verdi achievement, will be proposed (12nd, 14th, 18th, 24th, 28th October) in the production of Teatro Regio, signed by Director Daniele Abbado, who just meets with outstanding success during the Wiesbaden Festival. Michele Mariotti, very young Conductor with big personality and talent and very popular in musical international outline, will be on the podium of Orchestra of Teatro Regio di Parma with the Chorus of Teatro Regio di Parma (Martino Faggiani as chorus master). With two big stars as Dimitra Theodossiou and Leo Nucci, will perform Giovanni Meoni, Bruno Ribeiro, Giorgio Surian and Riccardo Zanellato.

A monument to Giuseppe Verdi’ s art

As a confirmation of the extraordinary artistic level of the Festival Verdi 2009 productions I due Foscari, Nabucco, Messa da Requiem will be shooted in digital and in high definition for several distribution and broadcast channels such as television, cinema and dvd. All this, in cooperation with prestigious international partners, within the project that foresees the recording of all Verdi’s operas for the bicentenary in 2013.

The Festival in Busseto

The Festival Verdi will start with a special event in Busseto with the preview of “Messa da Requiem”, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov , on the 28th of September. Many international important artists will sing in this theatre, a splendid jewel, where Arturo Toscanini got the inspiration to celebrate is own version of Verdi's centenary and it is in this unique frame, in the radiance of the great composer , that the Festival Verdi, finds its truest expression. After this Opera, a rich program of recital and concerts with top quality artists singers of Verdi on the international set: the 07th of October: Amarilli Nizza soprano – Roberto Frontali baritone the 09th of October: Micaela Carosi soprano, Veronica Simeoni mezzosoprano, Vincenzo La Socla tenor, Simone Piazzola baritone with the Orchestra and Coro of Teatro Regio di Parma conducted by Antonello Allmandi.
In the day of the 196° anniversary of Verdi’s birth, a special evening will be dedicate to the Maestro Carlo Bergonzi. The 12th of October Bruno de Simone baritone. The 14th of October Andrea Rost soprano. The 15 th of October Chiara Taigi soprano, Massimiliano Pisapia tenor with the Orchestra of Teatro Regio of Parma conducted by Matteo Beltrami. The 22th of October Daniela Dessi soprano with Fabio Armiliato. The 27th of October Concert with the Orchestra of Teatro Regio conducted by Donato Renzetti.

Concert at Teatro Regio di Parma

New conductor talents at the Festival Verdi 2009, with the winner of the last edition of International Orchestra Conductor Competition “Arturo Toscanini” - Prize Giuseppe Sinopoli. On the podium of the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini (17th October) there will be the young Darrell Ang and he will play some pages of Giuseppe Verdi, Sergej Rachmaninov and Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij. Double baton of an exceptional concert (21st October) with Bruno Bartoletti and Donato Renzetti that will alternate on the podium to celebrate the last decennial of activity of Orchesta del Teatro Regio di Parma.

Performances at the Auditorium Niccolò Paganini
Carlos Izcaray, awarded on occasion of the last edition of the International competition of orchestra conduction “Arturo Toscanini” - Prize Giuseppe Sinopoli - will conduct the philharmonic society Arturo Toscanini in a concert (October 6) that roves from Haydn to the present-day music.

The Verdi Festival 2009 renews the cooperation with the international review Traiettorie (promoted by the Prometeo foundation) to reinforce the tie with the greatest expressions of contemporary music. The prestigious cycle of appointments will be opened with the renowned Klangforum Wien (October 15). To follow, the recital of the versatile pianist Nicolas Hodges (October 23) and the appointments with two of the most famous groups of the world-wide panorama: Ensemble Recherche (October 25) and Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik (October 27).

Parma in Festival
According to the spirit that usually characterizes the Verdi Festival, the renewed edition 2009 is transformed in a real celebration that will diffuse colours, scents and flavours all around, in the narrow lanes, in the squares, in the shop windows and it will envelop the city in the enthusiasm for the music of the Master. Traditional and new initiatives will involve people for a whole month and this year, more than ever, the more important cultural Institutions of the city will be leads thanks to their precious engagement in research, spreading and training. From the University to the Conservatory of Music “A. Boito”, from the National Institute of Verdi Studies to the Institution House of Music, from the prose and experimental theatre to the Arturo Toscanini Foundation: all these realities make of Parma a place of special and unique wealth.

Furthermore, the institutions, the musical circles and the cultural and artistic associations represent a characteristic brand of that “verdiana passion” that rises from the roots of the popular enthusiasm of the city.
During the sparkling invasion of the “Verdi Festival in the city”, from the morning to the evening, the Portici del Grano court will become a public lounge for debates, operas projections, reportage and photographic exhibitions, in order to fully live the pleasure of Verdi music.

Every evening, stimulating initiatives will precede the appointment with the great music at the Regio Theatre. Exhibitions, meetings and scientific contributions will give new cues of reflection. The prose theatre will celebrate Verdi, as well: the Teatro al Parco and Teatro Due will let the audience plunge in the Shakespearian world beloved by the composer and the Teatro Lenz will present attractive experimental performances that will be interlaced to the topics of the Festival. The initiative “Verdi tra noi“ (Verdi among us) renews the appointment at the space Ridotto of the Regio Theatre with the music and life of the Master: transcriptions for pianoforte and arrangements for chamber-music groups, meetings and lectures, presentations. A story will be told, day by day, in music, words and images, to create an ideal calendar in which the days of the Festival coincide with those of the catalogue of Verdi operas.

The arias and the music won’t be tightened in the walls of the Regio Theatre; on the contrary, it will literally invade the city thanks to “musical corners”, from which chamber-music groups will let Verdi music shine and echo in the streets of the historical centre and all the city quarters, painting the first days of autumn.

The edition 2009 of the Festival will be, once again, the symbol of the attention to those who have not the possibility to go and meet the music: the music of the Chorus of the Regio Theatre will enter nursing-homes, elderly circles, district penitentiary: an occasion dedicated to those who have more difficulties to being part of the Festival.

At the same time, the Verdi Festival is thought for the youngest people who will ideally identify with the rich proposal. Thousands of children will assist to the dedicated recitals of Imparolopera and the little ones will take part in the magic of the Il Gioco dell'Opera (the game of the opera). Performances and many other initiatives – as an illustrated book, a research, a deepening written in a simple language - will show that it is always the right moment to become acquainted with Verdi.

The international tournée of Festival Verdi

To give evidence to the quality and the utmost importance of Festival Verdi , followed by famous conductors from all over the world, there is the recently and triumphal double transfer, supported by international partners, of Teatro Regio of Parma: in Germany ( Wiesbaden 19-20 May) with Nabucco and in China ( New National Chinese Theatre in Pechino 18-21 June) with Rigoletto.
Thanks to this great success, next year , in the wonderful theater of Pechino, two operas will take place.

Festival Verdi : planned by Teatro Verdi of Parma Charters members: Municipality of Parma, Provincia di Parma, Fondazione Cariparma, Fondazione Monte Parma, with the Minister of Cultural Heritage and Enviromental Conservation.
Major partner Fondazione Cariparma. Main sponsor Cariparma Credit Agricole, Barilla. Media Partner Mediaset. Festival Verdi is realized thanks to : Arcus, Reggio Parma Festival, Fondazione Prometeo, Enia; with support and co operation of Mercedes Benza Agricar Group, Radio Italia, AD, Gruppo Immobiliare Arco, Parmaincoming and with accord with Municipality of Busseto, Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti of Modena.