Veneto Contemporanea - 2nd edition

From 23 April to 3 June 2022 will take place at Padua there second edition of Contemporary Veneto, One of a kind Festival, entirely dedicated to the Italian composers of the present. Organized by the Orchestra Foundation of Padua and Veneto and conceived by the musical and artistic director OPV Marco Angius, Veneto Contemporanea this year sees the collaboration of Giorgio Cini Foundation of Venice and of Hans Werner Henze Stiftung from Munich, Besides Radio 3 RAI which will broadcast all the events of the Festival.

This second edition of Veneto Contemporanea, entitled Disguises, includes a tribute to Giacomo Manzoni for his 90th birthday, a musical portrait of Hans Werner Henze in the tenth anniversary of his death and a monographic concert dedicated to Fabio Nieder, as well as first absolute and Italian performances of Caneva, Pierini, Sciortino, Solbiati, Traversa, Casale, Cloths.

Scanned as last year in five appointments between music and dissemination with some of the most popular international soloists, the 2022 edition of Veneto Contemporanea "develops the salient aspects and the backbone of the original project, the only one entirely dedicated to Italian composers: the investigation into Italian contemporary art music, the comparison between generations of composers, the transversal declinations between distant eras, the musical offer of absolute (and) Italian novelties ”explains the creator Marco Angius.

L'preview of the Festival, scheduled for Saturday 23 April (8.45 pm) at Hall of the Giants at Palazzo Liviano in Padua, is a conference-concert dedicated to Hans Werner Henze: by the German composer who found his second homeland in Italy, the two pieces will be presented The feelings of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach is The vitalino doubled, Ciacona by Tomaso Antonio Vitali. On stage theOrchestra of Padua and Veneto and the soloists Anna Tifu to the violin, Mario Caroli to the flute ed Emanuela Battigelli harp directed by Marco Angius. The concert will be preceded by a conference by Gastón Fournier-Facio who will also present Henze's latest video interview in Italian.

The first official appointment is scheduled Saturday 30 April (8.45 pm) atPollini Auditorium in Padua, with Sara Càneva on the podium ofOrchestra of Padua and Veneto. He will conduct the new version of his song Mobile backdrop and other absolute novelties, Clockworks of Stefano Pierini and the new version for string orchestra of To the great circle of shadow of Orazio Sciortino. The mezzo-soprano Chiara Osella will interpret Zodiac, twelve poems by Gaia Servadio set to music by Marcello Panni.

The festival continues on May 14 (8.45 pm), always atPollini Auditorium in Padua, with a monographic concert dedicated to the composer from Trieste Fabio Nieder. With the direction of the Hungarian László Tihanyi, one of the most authoritative musicians in the field of contemporary music, and the participation of the German baritone Pascal Zurek, will be performed in the Italian premiere 3 unvollendete Portraits, Besides Dem Doppelgänger in memoriam and to the orchestral elaboration of the Four lyrical pieces by Edvard Grieg.

The May, 20th (8.45 pm) in the same Pollini Auditorium the first ever performance of the orchestral version of Martino Crossbar of the Prelude Des pas sur la neige by Debussy, and the Italian premieres by Third symphony by Alessandro Solbiati ed élet… fogytiglan of Marco Stroppa. By the Friulian composer Daniela Terranova the new version of Light Cloud, Dark Cloud (d'après Rothko) with the clarinetist Roberta Gottardi, and di Emanuele Casale the new one will be premiered Concerto for piano and orchestra, the young soloist Alberto Ferro.

The 3 June (8.45 pm) to Verdi Theater of Padua will take place theclosing event of Veneto Contemporanea 2022, a tribute to the Milanese composer and intellectual Giacomo Manzoni for its 90 years. L'Orchestra of Padua and Veneto with the soprano Livia Rado and theContinuum vocal ensemble directed by Luigi Azzolini they will perform two fundamental works by the composer, Ten lines by Emily Dickinson of 1989 and Words from Beckett from 1972, which will also be recorded for a forthcoming record release. The concert will also be the subject of a new video production by the director Francesco Leprino. For the occasion the Giorgio Cini Foundation of Venice will dedicate one Study day to Manzoni, who was also Adorno's Italian translator and author of the famous one Guide to listening to symphonic music.

* (Above, the Orchestra of Padua and Veneto conducted by Marco Angius, below Marco Angius in a photo by © Silvia Lelli)