7th Concerto 

Music by Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Schubert 

Sara Airoldi Cello

Nicola Paszkowski Director

Friday 28 April 8.00 p.m.

Saturday 29 April 5.00 p.m.

TEATRO FILARMONICO, VERONA

Having studied in Florence and many other cities around the world, Nicola Paszkowski has explored the symphonic and operatic repertoires in equal measure. Having perfected his skills with maestros such as Leitner and Giulini, he has been Muti's assistant and has been conducting leading youth and resident orchestras for years. He makes his debut on the podium of the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra at the weekend with an all-19th-century programme: a 19th century that favours the composure of classicism over romantic storms. 

The concert opens with the trumpet blasts of Felix Mendelssohn's Overture in C, a short youthful orchestral work composed by the Hamburg-born musician when he was only 17 years old, after an extensive apprenticeship (and some early masterpieces) in chamber music. Written in 1826 with the classical sonata structure and published posthumously, with its festive and solemn tone it is an example of the clear style and rich melodic inventiveness of its author, who was already famous for the set pieces in A Midsummer Night's Dream, also in 'pure' music. A slightly earlier piece is Franz Schubert's Fifth Symphony (1816), inspired by the late 'immortal Mozart', a model that together with Haydn pervades the four short movements with luminous grace, even where the light is veiled in melancholy, as in the central Andante and Minuetto/Trio: it is a light, all-Viennese shadow, closer to Mozart's K550 in G minor than to the abysses that Schubert would explore in the Unfinished Symphony and in his last works only a few years later. 

The only fitting piece between two fruits of the Romantic era that look back to the 18th century is a masterpiece by Tchaikovsky, the late-Romantic Russian composer who put Mozart at the top of his list of favourite masters, paying homage to his style and era in an orchestral suite, in his penultimate work for the theatre and with the Variations "on a Rococo Theme" (1876). The theme, elegant and graceful, is performed by the solo cello, which immediately dialogues with the other instruments of the orchestra, through the virtuosity and elegiac singing of seven variations, up to the brilliant coda. Sara Airoldi, first chair of the Fondazione Arena di Verona Orchestra is the Soloist for the occasion.  

The 7th Symphony Concerto debuts on Friday 28 April at 8pm and is repeated on Saturday 29 April at 5pm. You can buy single tickets and explore Verona's rich symphonic spring season with the new 3-evening mini-ticket books at the link https://www.arena.it/it/teatro-filarmonico

Fondazione Arena di Verona would like to thank BCC di Verona e Vicenza for supporting the activities of the 2023 Artistic Season at Teatro Filarmonico as main sponsor.

New for 2023: the Prelude doubles and offers a listening guide before each concert. The Ritorno a teatro review also continues for the Symphonic Season, as part of the various Arena Young initiatives aimed at students and staff from schools, universities and academies. As part of this approach to opera and symphonic music, schools will be able to attend performances at the Teatro Filarmonico with the opportunity to take part in a Prelude in the prestigious Sala Maffeiana an hour before the start, organised by the Fondazione Arena di Verona. For the 7th concerto , it is possible to book the Prelude on Friday 28 at 7 p.m. as well as the one on Saturday 29 April at 4 p.m. Info and reservations: School Training and Promotion Area scuola@arenadiverona.it  - tel 0458051933