The 2023-2024 season of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia promises to be “special” since it opened. In fact, it will be a real festival to open the symphony and not a simple concert next October 12 – in collaboration with the Rome Film Fest – with a tribute to the capital, music by Ottorino Respighi, video art by Yuri Ancarani and Ivan Fisher on the Podium of the Cecilian teams. It will also be the first (and last) season without the musical director: Although Antonio Pappano conducted the last concert in this capacity, he will be present in the next season both in the Auditorium Parco della Musica and on tour at the next Easter festival in Salzburg Emeritus Conductor of the orchestra, who will reside in the Austrian city for a week, for the first time for an Italian ensemble. The new musical director, Daniel Harding, will arrive in 2024 to open the ’24-’25 season with “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini on the centenary of his death, which will also be celebrated with a series of conferences led by Michele dall’ Ongaro to be curated.
“For the sixteenth year in a row, we have a balanced budget,” said dall’Ongaro, unveiling the season’s billboard, which opens with a festival “invented by Ivan Fisher, who put our orchestra and choir in one program dedicated to Rome.” Respighi’s three symphonic poems (“Fontane di Roma”, “Pini di Roma” and “Feste romane”) alternate with two compositions written by Franz Liszt during his stay in the Italian capital. Respighi’s music is ‘accompanied’ by video artist Ancarani’s images in a mix of audio and raw video for Santa Cecilia. The festival, Fisher himself explains in a video link, “aims to build bridges between Hungary and other European countries and arrives in Rome this year after Berlin, Amsterdam and the pandemic-imposed halt”. The review also includes a non-subscription concert on Sunday October 15 with Fisher on the podium of the Budapest Festival Orchestra with the Eva Duda Dance Company and Dejan Lazic on piano, with sides by Liszt (“Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2”) . and “Piano Concerto No. 1”) and “The Marvelous Mandarin” by Bela Bartok choreographed with the dancers performing on a raised stage in the center of the orchestra.
The programme, which includes 28 symphonic and 19 chamber music productions, continues with magnificent wands, from Pappano, conducting November (with Beethoven, Cherubini, Sibelius and Strauss) and February (Verdi’s “Requiem” with Elina Garanca) at Ildar Abdrazakov) to principal guest conductor Jakub Hrusa, from Daniele Gatti to Myun Whun-Chung, Gianandrea Noseda, Manfred Honeck, Theodor Currentzis, Barbara Hannighan, Jaap van Zweden, Philippe Jordan, Semyon Bychkov and Riccardo Minasi (with whom he will make his debut). as soloists of the Academy’s concertmaster, Andrea Obiso, in Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Third Violin Concerto” and Tugan Sokhiev. Alongside them, the young Finns Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Tarmo Peltokoski, the Israeli Lahav Shani and the Russian Stanislav Kochanovsky will make their debuts.
Among the soloists will return pianists Marta Argerich, Grigory Sokolov (known for not giving interviews, but who gave a short and amusing interview with the head of the Academy’s press office, Daniele Battaglia), Maurizio Pollini, Evgeny Kissin and Arcadi Volodos to Santa Cecilia, Lang Lang and Igor Levit as well as the violinists Maria Duenas, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Gil Shaham. Also of note is the return of conductor and harpsichordist Rinaldo Alessandrini at the helm of the Concerto Italiano in Vivaldi’s Estro Armonico.
After the postponements due to the pandemic, Tan Dun will finally arrive in Santa Cecilia with his “Buddha Passion”, a composition inspired by Bach’s “Passion according to Matthew”. The final concert of the symphony season, scheduled for June 13, 14 and 15, 2024, will feature Lahav Shani on the podium and Argerich on the piano for the ‘Concerto n.’ 2′ and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
“The Lazio region is a proud member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia – said Councilor for Culture Simona Renata Baldassarre – one of the oldest academies in the world. We are here and we will continue to support because music is everything, it is a universal and inclusive language that allows us to embrace the world. “What cannot be said, music expresses,” Baldassarre quoted Victor Hugo in conclusion. Ornella Segnalini, Capitoline Councilor for Public Works and historical subscriber to the Academy, echoed her: “Santa Cecilia, who achieves extraordinary goals with significant numbers, is a fundamental piece of Rome and the Mayor Gualtieri has invested a lot in this institution.” II So is there a tariff formula for young people who I hope will approach music from which they can learn a lot.
