Friday, September 3, 2021

Ensemble “La Ragione e la Follia”

Maria Luigia Borsi, soprano - Alberto Bologni, violin - Brad Repp, violin - Luigi Puxeddu, cello - Gabriele Micheli, harpsichord

The Program

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 -1643) 
Se l'aura spira tutta vezzosa, F 7.15

Barbara Strozzi (1619 - 1677)
dalle cantate, ariette e duetti Op. 2
La Vendetta

Georg Friederich Händel (1685 - 1759)
dalla Suite n.4, HWV 437
Sarabanda “La Follia”

Barbara Strozzi
dalle arie e cantate Op. 8
Che si può fare

Joseph Dall'Abaco (1710 - 1805)
dagli 11 capricci per violoncello solo
Capriccio n.1 in do minore 

Georg Friederich Händel
dall’opera Rinaldo, HWV 7
Lascia che io pianga 

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)
dal Concerto No. 4 in fa minor, Op. 8, RV 297 “L’inverno”
1. Allegro non molto

dall’opera Il farnace, RV 711
Gelido in ogni vena

dal Concerto No. 3 in fa maggiore, Op. 8, RV 293 “L’autunno”
I. Allegro

Trio Sonata in Re minore Op.1 n.12  RV 63 “La Follia”

Georg Friederich Händel
dall’opera Xerxes, HWV 40
Ombra mai fu

Antonio Vivaldi
dall’opera Ercole sul Termodonte, RV 749.31
Zeffiretti che sussurrate

The Ensemble

The raison d'etre of this ensemble is a fortuitous musical experiment that brings together five accomplished musicians who otherwise may never have crossed paths. An exceptional premise which promises to create a unique interpretative vision of the Baroque repertoire, in this extraordinary conjunction of artists, each member transmits a palpable creative energy to the group. The performance is an operatic vision infused with syntactical rigor, orchestral precision, and an omnipresent innovative flair.

The ensemble thus gives life to a new way of making music that reaches beyond the traditional boundaries of style and genre: from the "philological" choice of instruments and tunings, to the "fidelity" of the musical text and respect for the author's will. The result is a convincing and authentic program, a moving performance which exudes respect for music as a spontaneous art par-excellence.

Maria Luigia Borsi, soprano

Hailed by critics worldwide for her vocal dynamism and interpretive prowess, Italian lyric soprano Maria Luigia Borsi has forged a career that has taken her throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. Ms. Borsi began her career as Liù in Turandot at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Shortly thereafter she made her Venetian debut for the historic reopening of the Teatro La Fenice singing as Violetta in La traviata, under Lorin Maazel.

Ms. Borsi has performed at the Salzburg Festival (Otello), Zurich Opernhaus (La traviata), Berlin Philharmonie (Suor Angelica), Deutsche Oper Berlin (La bohème), Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona (La bohème), New National Theatre of Tokyo (Così fan tutte and Otello), Arena di Verona (Carmen), Royal Danish Opera (Madama Butterfy), Les Chorégies d’Orange (Turandot), Pittsburgh Opera (Madama Butterfy), Novaya Opera of Moscow (Il trovatore), and with the London Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Münchner Philharmoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Tokyo Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In 2010, Ms. Borsi made her recital debut at London's Wigmore Hall.

She has collaborated with illustrious conductors Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Myung-Whun Chung, Marcello Viotti, Michel Plasson, Alain Lombard, Marco Armiliato, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Andres Orozco-Estrada, Pablo Heras-Casado, Carlo Rizzi, Ramon Tebar, Giordano Bellincampi, Enrique Mazzola, Donato Renzetti, Maurizio Benini and eminent stage directors Franco Zefrelli, Hugo De Ana, Damiano Michieletto, Stephen Langridge, Graham Vick, Jurgen Flimm, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Mario Martone, Daniele Abbado, Giancarlo del Monaco, Nicolas Joel and Robert Carsen.

Borsi has established herself as a 'well-rounded' Artist, having focused as much on the symphonic repertoire as that of the operatic. She enjoyed a long collaboration with Maestro Lorin Maazel (more than 40 performances), specifically in Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Verdi's Messa da Requiem. Other symphonic repertoire include Respighi's Il tramonto, Poulenc's La Dame de Monte-Carlo, the Last Four Songs by R. Strauss, Canteloube's Chants d'auvergne and Mahler's 2nd and 8th Symphonies.

The 2016/17 season will see her as Desdemona in Otello in Auckland, La bohème at the Royal Danish Opera, Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro at the Gothenburg Opera and Liù in Turandot at the Pittsburgh Opera. A highlight of her recent engagements is the opening concert of EXPO in Milan, where she shared the stage with the orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, pianist Lang Lang, soprano Diana Damrau, tenor Francesco Meli and baritone Simone Piazzola. Other highlights include Otello in Oviedo, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in Moscow and a concert version of Tosca with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The 2017/18 season will see her in a production of Don Giovanni by Hugo de Ana at Beijing's NCPA.

Ms. Borsi’s discography includes a live recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni with Zubin Mehta (Helicon), a live recording DVD of Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Lorin Maazel (Kultur), Puccini's Turandot (Fenice), Bizet's Carmen with Franco Zefrelli, Peter von Winter's Maometto II (Marco Polo) and her frst solo album “Italian Soprano Arias” with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yves Abel (Naxos). Born in Sora (Italy), she studied with Antonietta Stella, Lucia Stanescu, Claudio Desderi, and Renata Scotto.

Alberto Bologni, violin

Alberto Bologni studied at the Conservatorio Cherubini in Florence, and subsequentely took a soloist’s diploma at the Rotterdam Conservatoire. His training was informed by some of the most celebrated European violin-playing traditions: the Venetian school of Giulio Pasquali and the German-Hungarian school of Jenö  Hubay via Sandro Materassi, and the Russian-Soviet of Oistrakh and Kogan through Stephan Gheorghiu and Ilya Grubert.

An enthusiast of art, cinema and literature, Alberto Bologni’s intellectual curiosity has made him one of the most versatile violinists. His solo and chamber repertoire combines well known masterpieces with rarities and rediscoveries, as well as a substantial number of contemporary compositions, many of them dedicated to him or commissioned by him. He appears regularly on the major Italian and European stages. Mr. Bologni is the author of the theatrical dialogue “Goldoni e Haydn ovvero dell’arte della conversazione” and has composed cadenzas for violin concertos by Mozart, Haydn, Viotti (no. 22) and Paganini (no.1).

His recordings has been highly praised by the Italian and English-speaking musical press. He teaches violin at the Conservatorio Luigi Boccherini in Lucca, and collaborates regularly with several universities in the USA and UK. He plays a Santo Serafino, Venice 1734, formerly belonging to Cesare Ferraresi.

Brad Repp, violin

American violinist Brad Repp presently resides in Pisa, Italy, where he has forged an impressive international career encompassing many genres of musical performance. He studied in the US at the 'Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Visual and Performing Arts' and at University of Nevada Las Vegas. Later he worked privately and academically with violinists Norbert Brainin (Amadues Quartet), Aaron Berofsky, Teresa Ling, Charles Castleman, Scott Yoo, Brian Lewis, Eugene Drucker (Emerson Quartet), David Chan (concertmaster of the MET Orchestra in New York), Gilles Apap e Michael Gilbert (formerly with the New York Philharmonic). In Italy, Repp studied at the 'l’Istituto Musicale Luigi Boccherini' in Lucca where he graduated with honors and received special recognition for his achievements from the President of the Italian Republic.

In 2004 Repp and pianist/actor Aldo Gentileschi created DUO BALDO, a musical comedy team that combines virtuosic performances, theatrical humor and pop culture. In addition to appearances throughout Italy, they were invited to performed at the opening of the 2010 Salzburg Festival (it's 90th Anniversary) and have since performed the prestigious Festival MiTo in Milan, at the Auditorium Paganini in Parma, at the Festival Mozaic in California, the Musashino Concert Hall in Tokyo, the Beijing Concert Hall and at the National Concert Hall in Taipei to name a few.

In 2018 the duo made their first US tour which included 36 cities. In 2022, the duo is scheduled to return to the US in a tour which will cover 30 cities. In October of 2021, the duo will return to the National Concert Hall in Taipei during their 2021 Taiwanese tour.

As a violin soloist Repp has accompanied tenor José Carreras at the Shanghai Concert Hall, performed as guest soloist with the Viva Classic Live Orchestra in Venlo, Holland, accompanied tenor Andrea Bocelli in various occasions and performed as guest soloist with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in Shenzhen. Most recently, Repp participated in the first and fourth episodes of the successful new TV program, “Now Hear This”, which is broadcast on Great Perfromances/PBS (USA). It is the first classical music television series to be broadcast in primetime since 1967, and it is estimated to have 50 million viewers nationally each episode. Repp plays a violin crafted by P.A. Testore of 1736 and a violin by Ferdinando Galimberti of 1973.

Luigi Puxeddu, cello

Luigi Puxeddu was born in Rovigo and studied cello with Luca Simoncini, Franco Rossi, Amedeo Baldovino, Mario Brunello, Antonio Janigro and David Geringas. For many years he was the solo cello of the Venetian Soloists and now he is the soloist of the Italian Philharmonic Soloists. He has collaborated in various chamber ensembles with the best Italian and foreign musicians such as Mario Brunello, Bruno Canino, Filippo Gamba, Ivry Gitlis, Ramo Jaffè, Michel Lethiec, Piernarciso Masi, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Roberto Prosseda, Giovanni Sollima and Giampaolo Stuani.

After winning important prizes (Vittorio Veneto, Viotti di Vercelli, Milan AMI) he embarked on a brilliant career that led him to play in the most important halls in the world (Teatro alla Scala, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Lincoln Center New York, Vienna Musikverein, Tokyo Suntory Hall, etc.).

He performed as a soloist - also recording for Rai and Orf - and as first cello of the most important Italian symphonic orchestras (Teatro alla Scala, Teatro La Fenice, Filarmonica Toscanini, etc.), directed by the greatest conductors such as Barenboim, Chailly, Oren, Maazel, Bychkov, Dudamel, among others. He has recorded for Rai, Orf, Amadeus, RCA, Erato, Frequenz, Hyperion, Tactus, Dad Records and Brilliant.

The box set of the twenty-six Milanese sonatas for cello and bass by Luigi Boccherini for the Brilliant (the only complete recording) was chosen by Angelo Foletto (critic of Repubblica) as the disc of the month of Suonare News, reported with 5 Diapason in France and excellently reviewed in American Record Guide and Classical Voice. He is a cello teacher at the “F. Venezze” Conservatory of Music in Rovigo and the creator of the Rovigo Cello City Festival.

Gabriele Micheli, harpsichord