The Festival once again presents one of the great masterpieces of ′900′s Musical Theater. Like Henze and Menotti, Britten-whose birth celebration (1913) we wish to anticipate-was a composer who managed to to reconcile the language to him contemporary with the more intrinsic reasons of musical drama. With very small means he succeeded to in creating a true masterpiece, one of the most fascinating dramas that not only opera but theater in general has ever had. Based on from one of Henry James′ most famous works, The Turn of the Screw is a tale that insinuates itself into the mysteries of Evil, into a contrast between innocence and damnation, between reality and imagination, between serenity and disquiet, between adolescence and maturity. It′s fair to call it a cursedopera where the charming and undefined atmospheres of the English countryside are the mirror of an affair that becomes, between hidden tensions and underground fears - which narratively translate into dramaturgical mechanisms close to those of cinema - the occasion for a subtle psychological game taken to extremes. It′s a very English game that generates a unique confrontation not only with the world of the unconscious and the supernatural but also between that puritanism and anti-conformism typical from always of the Anglo-Saxon world.

Alessio Vlad

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BENJAMIN BRITTEN

Benjamin Britten is one of the great English musicians of the 20th century. The son of a dentist and an amateur singer from Suffolk, he was born in 1913 and proved a prolific composer from from childhood. He took piano and cello lessons and in 1927, before attending the Royal College of Music, studied composition with Frank Bridge. With to Boy was Born (1934), a choral variation composed for the BBC Singers, he gained general attention. From the following year, fully in tune with the radical views of the poet W. H. Auden, he worked with him on the ironic song cycle Our Hunting Fathers (1936). And he writes music for children. Amusing compositions that will remain a specialty of his. In 1936 Britten meets tenor Peter Pears, who will be a life partner and his first collaborator, and with him in 1939 he moves to the United States, following Auden. In America Britten composed the operetta Paul Bunyan (1941) to a libretto by Auden, wrote a large number of songs for Pears, and composed many other works for orchestra. The memorable American period includes the Symphony from Requiem (1940) and several piano and violin concertos. Britten and Pears returned to England in 1942, with the composition to Ceremony of Carols written during the long sea voyage, and Britten completed the chorale Hymn to St. Cecilia, his last collaboration with Auden. Withopera Peter Grimes (1945) Britten establishes himself as an important new voice in Opera. In 1946 he founded the English Opera Group and soon after the Aldelburgh Festival. After Peter Grimes, the first of Britten's English operas, come the celebrated Billy Budd (1951) and The Turn of the Screw (1954), from Henry James; together to Gloriana (1953), in honor of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and to Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), from Shakespeare. Britten continued to composing instrumental pieces including the famous Young Person´s Guide to the Orchestra - Variations and Fugue on to Theme of Purcell (1946). In 1957, touring with Pears, Britten was influenced by Balinese and Japanese music, as evident in the Parables for Church Performance series, which includes Curlew River (1964), The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966) and The Prodigal Son (1968). The choral War Requiem (1962), composed for the reopening of Coventry Cathedral, with soloists Pears, Fischer-Dieskau, Visnevskaya, and with Britten himself conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, is from many considered the pinnacle of his career. Britten´s last major opera is Death in Venice from 1973. In the last years of his life, as serious health problems progressed, Britten worked on less demanding compositions such as the Suite on English Folk Tunes to Time There Was (1975) and the dramatic cantata Phaedra (1976). Appointed Baron of Aldelburgh by Queen Elizabeth II, Britten died of a heart attack in 1976. His remains rest in the Aldelburgh churchyard alongside to those of Peter Pears.

SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA OF MILAN GIUSEPPE VERDI

Founded in 1993 from Vladimir Delman, it has established itself as one of the most relevant national symphonic ensembles ranging from Bach to the cornerstones of nineteenth-century symphonism and up to twentieth-century music. The orchestra′s program schedule includes more than thirty programs each year, alongside less usual events such as Crescendo in Musica, an important review for children and young people. From 1999 to 2005 Riccardo Chailly, now honorary conductor, served as music director; Maestro Rudolf Barshai, who recently passed away, succeeded him as conductor emeritus in the 2006/2007 season to Carlo Maria Giulini; in 2008/2009 Wayne Marshall and Helmut Rilling assumed the role of principal guest conductors; and since 2009/2010 China′s Zhang Xian has been music director, with Ruben Jais as resident conductor. Principal conductor, since 2011/2012, has been American John Axelrod. With Mahler′s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection , conducted from Riccardo Chailly, in 1999 the orchestra inaugurated its new permanent home - the Auditorium in Milan - considered one of Italy′s best from concert halls. In 1998 the orchestra formed the Giuseppe Verdi Symphonic Chorus of Milan, led until his passing by Maestro Romano Gandolfi, a prestigious figure in choral conducting with the greatest conductors and in the most important opera houses in the world. The choir currently has one hundred members capable of tackling the great lyrical-symphonic repertoire, from the Baroque to the twentieth century; choirmaster is currently Erina Gambarini. Recurring appointments of the orchestra are the performance of one of Bach′s great Passions near the Easter holidays and Beethoven′s Ninth Symphony as a New Year′s concert. The orchestra has been conducted by, among others from Riccardo Chailly, Georges Prêtre, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Rudolf Barshai, Claus Peter Flor, Christopher Hogwood, Helmut Rilling, Peter Maag, Marko Letonja, Daniele Gatti, Roberto Abbado, Ivor Bolton, Kazushi Ono, Vladimir Jurowski, Yakov Kreizberg, Ulf Schirmer, Eiji Oue; also recall Herbert Blomstedt, Krzysztof Penderecki, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Wayne Marshall, Sir Neville Marriner, Oleg Caetani, Martin Haselböck, Alan Buribayev, Aldo Ceccato, Giuseppe Grazioli, Ion Marin, Juanjo Mena, Paul Daniel. And he has collaborated with soloists such as Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Mstislav Rostropovich, Vadim Repin, Lynn Harrell, Viktoria Mullova, Han-Na Chang, Sarah Chang, Midori, Alexander Kobrin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Salvatore Accardo, Mario Brunello, Enrico Dindo, Alexander Toradze, Hilary Hahn, Radovan Vlatkovic, Helene Grimaud, Luis Bacalov, Salvatore Accardo, Roberto Cominati, Emanuele Arciuli, Natasha Korsakova, Gianluca Cascioli, Yefim Bronfman, Massimo Quarta, Yuri Bashmet, Francesca Dego, Steven Isserlis, Hüseyin Sermet, Sol Gabetta, Alison Balsom, Kolja Blacher, Benedetto Lupo, Daniel Müller-Schott, Martin Fröst. Recording more than twenty-five CDs for Decca, Emi, RCA, DG, Arts, Sugar Music, Universal Music, the Verdi Orchestra has also developed an intensive recording activity.

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