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Heroines
Orchestra Haydn
1.Verdi GIOVANNA D’ARCO Sinfonia
2. - 4. Shostakovich LADY MACBETH OF MTSENSK SUITE Op. 29a: I. Allegro
con brio; II. Presto; III. Allegretto
5. Giordano FEDORA Intermezzo
6. Cherubini MEDEA Sinfonia
7. Piazzolla MARÍA DE BUENOS AIRES Part 1, Scene 5: Fuga y misterio
8. Lloyd Webber EVITA Interlude
9. Wagner TRISTAN UND ISOLDE Liebestod
10. Wagner DIE WALKÜRE Walkürenritt
11. R. Strauss SALOME Op. 54, Scene 4: Salome’s Dance Of The Seven Veils
12. Respighi BELKIS, REGINA DI SABA P. 177: II. Danza guerresca
Orchestra Haydn
Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi bandoneon (7)
Giulio Tampalini guitar (7)
Recording: 17-20 May 2021, TEATRO COMUNALE, Bolzano
Released by Warner Music Italy
Sound engineer, Editing & Mastering: Matteo Costa
What is heroic? Do not believe that the title “Heroines”, which I have used to name these characters of the operatic repertoire, implies a moral judgment on my part. It is in fact a mere verdict of their great courage. In this disc you will find a number of symphonic portraits of women who, in the collective imagination, are considered par excellence heroines. You will discover characters with no need for introductions, such as Joan of Arc, Isolde or Evita, as well as portraits of women who have been socially stigmatised as negative models, witches before women: Medea, infanticide of their own children, for example, or Maria de Buenos Aires, born “a day when God was drunk”, or the Lady Macbeth of Shostakovich, a vexed and abused woman who finds freedom by committing murder. Passion, love, revenge, ideals, - whichever the purpose, and the means employed to reach it -, in this kaleidoscope of human behaviours and female psychologies, we find a common denominator: courage, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, and willpower. All of which are achieved without accepting compromises, without fear of social judgment and marginalisation, aware of the consequences and ready to pay its price. These are women who are not afraid to express their ideas and opinions, to go against the tide, to make uncomfortable - and sometimes painful - choices, to claim their right to self-determine and to exercise their sacrosanct free will. And for these the very reasons they are heroic, revolutionary, disruptive, even subversive. Get to know these women: I have carefully selected them for you, and this choice says a lot about me too. I am not just offering a two-century journey inside the history of music in the female soul, I am presenting a hymn to personal freedom, a warning, an example, indeed a plurality of examples of heroism and femininity, still so relevant to us today. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s my Heroines: the perfect antidote to politically correctness.
Le Sorelle di Mozart
Stories of forgotten performers, brilliant composers and rebellious musicians
“This is the story of some unique women. Brilliant musicians. Innovative composers. Sublime performers. Unique women able to emerge in a world that would willingly do without them.That considered them unsuitable, shameless, scandalous, incapable. This is the story of some unique women, in a world of men.”
Some were prevented from playing, others could not sign the compositions resulting from their work, while the doors of the conservatories were open only to men, the Church forbade them to sing, society relegated them to an ancillary role, subordinated to the male will... The official historiography of music for centuries has excluded women from its pages, ignoring revolutionary composers, innovative musicians and talented young people. Forgetting, or neglecting, experiences and insights destined to change the course of classical music.
In this book Beatrice Venezi, a young conductor, gives us back their surprising and meaningful stories. We thus discover the life of Hildegard, a brilliant nun who used singing to communicate with God; that of the great Baroque composers portrayed by the Gentileschi; that of the women of the eighteenth-nineteenth century, confined in the house and defined only in their role to men, as Mozart’s sister, or Schumann’s wife; up to the rebellious musicians of the last century and today, to Maria Callas, for example, to Nadia Boulanger, Martha Argerich, Björk, women who, despite the difficulties, have forced the boundaries of the space that was given to them in the world of music, fighting for themselves and for future generations.
This is a story of talent and determination, of resourcefulness and technique: an all-female path that comes from the Middle Ages to the present day, highlighting the mistakes of the past and those in which we still persevere. Twelve examples of courage and determination for all women who, even today, are forced to abandon their passion, to give up a dream, just because someone believes that the job is not suitable for a girl.
ALLEGRO CON FUOCO
Falling in Love with Classical Music
Beatrice Venezi
A CLEVER AND UNEXPECTED BOOK: BECAUSE IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH CLASSICAL MUSIC.
ONE OF THE YOUNGEST ORCHESTRA DIRECTORS IN EUROPE LISTED BY FORBES AMONG THE MOST INFLUENTIAL "UNDER 30".
Beatrice Venezi, not even 30 years old, did not let commonplace take over her: everyone can still fall in love with classical music, just like her. After all, we just need to follow the right guide. The melody will become a way to discover the world, the rhythm an attempt to listen to ourselves and harmony an evidence of social life. If we take a closer look, the plots of the opera seem to be reproducing the present times: Carmen becomes a symbol to fight violence against women, the Bohème a Parisian transposition of famous TV series, such as Friends or How I Met Your Mother. Among scores and crotchets, biographies of composers and conductors, Beatrice Venezi shows us how classical music, once set free from stereotypes, becomes a global right, a beauty belonging to everyone.
My Journey
Live Recording: 7 December 2018 at Teatro del Giglio, Lucca
Producer & Sound Engineer: Raffaele Cacciola, Luca Contini
Editing & Mastering: Bartokstudio, Bernareggio (MB)
Released by Warner Music Italy
1. Scherzo SC34 e Trio SC52 per orchestra
(critical edition and Trio orchestration by Virgilio Bernardoni)**
world premiere recording
2. Suor Angelica Intermezzo*
3. Capriccio sinfonico SC55
(critical edition by Marcello Panni)*
4. Manon Lescaut Intermezzo*
5. Madama Butterfly Intermezzo*
6. Edgar Intermezzo*
7. Preludio sinfonico in La SC32
(critical edition by Michele Girardi)**
8. Crisantemi*
9. Le Villi - L’abbandono, La tregenda*
* Editore: Casa Ricordi, Milano
** Giacomo Puccini, Orchestral Compositions, Stuttgard, Carus Verlag
2015 (Edizione Nazionale delle Opere di Giacomo Puccini)
Living surrounded by music is a privilege: for me, it means being constantly immersed in beauty, at every level. Even though I may seem distant, on my feet at the conductor’s podium, or if sometimes the study of something so luminous and complex may take me to places which are very difficult to imagine, my life isn’t very different from yours. I know what you’re thinking. In popular opinion, the conductor is a very crystalized figure, one set in stone – a man with an authoritarian attitude and a furrowed brow – and the whole world of classical music, in general, seems somewhat grizzled. But classical music is so much more than that; its beauty can once again become everybody’s heritage, even for the youngest of listeners. My message is about the motivation which drives me in the definition of my role every day. I want to be the point of contact between the orchestra and the audience, and keep all their energy together. I want to demonstrate the modernity of tradition, fighting prejudice from the inside and from the outside. I want to reject all stereotypes, continuing to work so that classical music becomes synonymous with freedom and beauty, and not with boredom and constriction. And it doesn’t matter if one of you claps at the wrong point, because maybe you don’t know the piece we’re playing or the conventions of that type of form like the back of your hand. The main thing is that the music gets inside you. Flying in from above, with light hearts and quick fingers, on the instruments, on the music sheets, is what I want for all musicians and for anyone who benefits from this great beauty. So music stops becoming a place of mechanical reproduction and becomes a place of joy, entertainment and perhaps even a place with a touch of madness.
Everywhere I go, thanks to my profession, I think of myself as an ambassador not only for music, but for Italy, for culture, for visionary creativity and for Italian know-how, recognized the world over. Italy is this: a language that sings, a fun yet heartbreaking work, extraordinarily sensual, a country of tradition and creativity, of innovation and technique, in which every city has an excellent composer or musician that deserves attention, a record-setter in every place. A cultural heritage of intelligence and enchantment that is the only luggage I take on every trip around the world. And it is from here where “my journey” starts with a first homage, duly owed, to Puccini.