Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is an opera festival founded in 1933 that takes place every year in May and June in the Tuscan capital, Florence . It is considered the oldest music festival in Italy .
history
The music festival Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was originally founded in 1933 as a triennial (from 1937 with an annual program) by the fascist nobleman and government official Luigi Ridolfi Vay da Verrazzano and the conductor Vittorio Gui . The first concert took place on April 22nd at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze with Verdi's Nabucco . Gui founded an orchestra as early as 1928 ( Stabile Orchestrale Fiorentina ). In 1933 it changed its name to Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino . In addition, the associated choir ( Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino ) was founded in 1933 by Andrea Morosini . The reason for the foundation of the festival was the custom lived in Florence in May ( Calendimaggio ). At the time, the organizers set themselves the goal of providing space for contemporary works and having forgotten operas re-performed as authentically as possible.
Many famous conductors and singers like Bruno Walter , Wilhelm Furtwängler , Zubin Mehta and Herbert von Karajan have performed here. Composers who have performed their own works at Maggio Musicale include Pietro Mascagni , Richard Strauss , Paul Hindemith , Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky . The artistic director is currently Paolo Arcà , the chief conductor Fabio Luisi .
In 1952 the Maggio Musicale was one of the founding organizations of the European Festivals Association .
Music directors of the orchestra
- Vittorio Gui (1928-1936)
- Mario Rossi (1937-1946)
- Bruno Bartoletti (1957–1964)
- Riccardo Muti (1969–1981)
- Zubin Mehta (1985-2018)
- Fabio Luisi (since 2018)
World premieres (selection)
- Gian Francesco Malipiero : Deserto tentato (1937)
- Gian Francesco Malipiero: Antonio e Cleopatra (1938)
- Vito Frazzi : Re Lear (1939)
- Ildebrando Pizzetti : Vanna Lupa (1949)
- Luigi Dallapiccola : Il prigioniero (1950)
- Vito Frazzi: Don Chisciotte (1952)
Performance venues
The performances take place in the Opera di Firenze (until 2014 in the Teatro Comunale di Firenze ) as well as in the Teatro Goldoni and the Teatro della Pergola .
Awards
The performances of Janáček's Jenůfa (1992/93), Schubert's Fierrabras (1994/95) and Handel's Tamerlano (2000/01) were awarded the Premio Abbiati from Italy .
literature
- Karyl Lynn Zietz: Opera Companies and Houses of Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference . McFarland & Company, Jefferson, NC et al. a. 1999, ISBN 0-7864-0611-9 , pp. 273-277.