The ORT Christmas Eve Concert’s Romantic Flair

The traditional Christmas concert of the Orchestra della Toscana (ORT) will be conducted by Paolo Bortolanameolli on December 24 at Teatro Verdi (5 pm).  The program features Romantic works by Tchaikovsky and  Dvořák.  The Chilean-Italian musician has recently been nominated Associate Conductor to Gustavo Dudarmel at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, after studies at Yale and Peabody.  He was also the Guest Conductor in Residence at the Orchestra of the Americas, an academy for young orchestral musicians representing more than 25 countries of the Western Hemisphere.

The concert begins with the popular Concerto No. 1 for the piano by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, known for its sequence of pounding chords opening the first movement.  Written between 1874-5, it premiered in Boston on October 25, 1875 with the celebrated German conductor and pianist Hans von Bulow as the soloist.  Dmitry Masleev, born in Ulan-Ude, Siberia in 1988, who will perform the concert with the ORT, is the 2015 winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the most prestigious award in the world for pianists.

The Symphony n. 7 in D minor, Op. 70 by Antonín Dvořák rounds out the program.  Dvořák received an invitation from the London Philharmonic Society in 1884 to write a new symphony. The themes are dark and passionate and reflect his strong sense of patriotism for his country. The work premiered in London on April 22, 1885, conducted by the composer and was considered one of the greatest triumphs of his career.

Before Christmas, the concert will be performed around Tuscany at Livorno on December 20, Figline Valdarno on the 21st and Poggibonsi on December 23.  (anne lokken)