ORT Inaugurates Its 43rd Concert Season

November 4 inaugurates the 43rd concert season of the Orchestra della Toscana which extends until May at Teatro Verdi (via Ghibellina 99).

The inaugural performance centers primarily on Gustav Mahler, featuring two of his capital works from the early 1900s: Symphony No. 4, heavily inspired by the verses of poet Friedrich Rückert, and Kindertotenliender, with five compositions interpreting on the complex emotional processes of losing a child.  For the occasion, the Orchestra della Toscana, conducted by Markus Stenz, will share the stage with Italian Youth Orchestra, a partnership created by the late School of Music head Piero Farulli 40 years previous to enable students to learn under the wing of grand masters. South African mezzo-soprano Sophie Harmsen lends her vocal prowess to the entire program, with the production starting at 9 pm.

The second concert is scheduled on November 16 at 9 pm, with James Conlon at the helm.  Currently head of the Los Angeles Opera and Baltimore Symphony, and boasting the guidance of an impressive repertoire of concerts at venues ranging from the Rotterdam Philharmonic to the Paris Opera, Conlon also has nearly 300 performances under his belt as a guest conductor of New York’s Metropolitan.  At Teatro Verdi he will be leading an evening highlighting eighteenth-century music, from the overture from the beloved Mozart opera Lucio Silla, to Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 D 485 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 op. 36, with a total running time of 1 hour and 20 minutes. 

The concert season also offers family-friendly performances, with Orchestra dell Toscana collaborating with the MagdaClan Circus to present various pieces from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The performance, scheduled at Teatro Verdi at 4:30 pm on November 11, features a live, exhilarating acrobatic show.  (Lyric Niv)

Tickets for these first three events range from €5 to € 24 and can be purchased by reserving on Ticketone.