Opera Tickets Italy

A trio of Russian, Spanish and English composers feature on the bill of a concert conducted by the acclaimed British conductor, Neil Thomson, at the Malibran Theatre in Venice. Born in London in 1966, Thomson serves as the Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra in Brazil. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and, afterwards, he went on to complete his conducting qualifications studying under Norman Del Mar at the Royal College of Music. The maestro has led the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, among many other illustrious ensembles in the past. This concert sees him take charge of the esteemed La Fenice Orchestra, based in Venice, to perform music by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Joaquín Rodrigo and Edward Elgar.

The programme opens with a rendition of Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, by Rimsky-Korsakov, a five-movement orchestral suite the Russian composed in 1887. Exploring Spanish rhythmic patterns, the suite includes touches of folk and dance music. The composer had initially conceived the work for solo violin and orchestra but ultimately changed his mind to keep the music firmly in the hands of the entire orchestra. Capriccio Espagnol's premiere took place on 31 October 1887, performed by the Imperial Orchestra in St. Petersburg, conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov himself. Much of the music, including the energetic final movement, Fandango asturiano, is inspired by Asturian music from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Concierto de Aranjuez was written by Rodrigo in 1939 and it remains his most frequently performed work. This piece, the second on the concert programme, features a solo guitar and orchestra. First performed at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona on 9 November 1940, the work is notable for its guitar strumming in the first movement's opening bars which sets something of a hypnotic tone before an oboe and violins take up the piece's main theme. Like Capriccio Espagnol, Concierto de Aranjuez draws upon folk melodies and rhythmic figures to provide a fascinating aural journey.

The concert concludes with Variations on an Original Theme (Enigma), Op. 36, by Edward Elgar, among his most beloved musical works. The Enigma Variations premiered at St James's Hall in London on 19 June 1899. After its initial performance, Elgar added an organ part and made other revisions. Subsequently, the completed work went on to be performed for the first time at the Worcester Three Choirs Festival, near to the composer's home in Malvern, on 13 September 1899, with the great maestro himself conducting. The work consists of a main theme, Enigma, and 14 musical variations of it.

Teatro Malibran's concert, featuring three well-known and much-admired compositions, offers an intriguing programme of passionate music under a highly regarded conductor.