ORCHESTRA FONDAZIONE TEATRO CARLO FELICE

director Alvise Casellati

violin soloist Laura Bortolotto

Carlo Felice Theater Foundation Orchestra

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program

R. Schumann, Manfred Overture

P.I. Tchaikovsky, Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 35

R. Schumann, Symphony No. 4 in D minor op. 120

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ORCHESTRA FONDAZIONE TEATRO CARLO FELICE

The Carlo Felice Theater has had an orchestra for its productions since the early 1900s. This orchestra was seasonal in nature. Musicians were hired for one or more performances or for the duration of the opera and symphony season. Only in the 1960s did this evolve into that of a permanent ensemble.

Meanwhile, the Carlo Felice Theater had been hit by World War II bombing, and the problem of reconstruction had not yet been concretely addressed. In the half-destroyed and only summarily restored theater, concerts and opera productions were nevertheless held from '43 to the early 1960s, which then passed to take place at the Margherita cinema/theater until the final reconstruction of the Carlo Felice completed in 1991.

In 1965 the orchestra achieved the structure and order of a stable ensemble, and the musicians were permanently hired through national competitions. The activity of the orchestra of the then Ente Autonomo Teatro Comunale dell'Opera of Genoa was carried out, as in our days, on the dual terrain of opera and symphonic repertoire by holding concerts at home and in decentralization as well as abroad.

Many important conductors have taken turns on the podium: in the 1950s and 1960s Victor De Sabata, Franco Capuana, Igor Strawinsky, Sergiu Celibidache, Hermann Scherchen, John Barbirolli, etc. In more recent times we remember Georges Pretre, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Giuseppe Patanè, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, etc. until the present day with names such as Daniel Oren (Principal Conductor of the Orchestra in the second half of the 1980s), Gary Bertini, Antonio Pappano, Myung-Whun Chung, Yury Ahronovitch, Bruno Bartoletti, etc.

With a stable ensemble of 88 elements and a repertoire ranging from the early eighteenth century to contemporary music, the Orchestra of the Carlo Felice Theater of Genoa (which became a Foundation in 1998) ranks among the best in Italy for productivity and versatility. Numerous from chamber groups with various instrumental ensembles have been born and operate profitably within it, contributing with intense activity to musical dissemination throughout the region.

ALVISE CASELLATI

Alvise M. Casellati graduated in violin with Guido Furini from the "C. Pollini" Conservatory of Music in Padua, his hometown. He continued his studies with Felice Cusano and Taras Gabora. He also graduated in Law to Padua and received a Master's degree from Columbia University in New York, specializing in copyrights. He has performed with various orchestras and chamber ensembles in Italy, Belgium and the United States. Approaching conducting with Leopold Hager to Vienna and the Juilliard School of Music to New York, he trained with Piero Bellugi and participated to in international courses with Colin Metters, Korchmar and Nicotra and attended rehearsals of great masters such as Ivan Fisher with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He is music assistant to Gustav Kuhn at the Neues Festspielhaus Erl and a Member of the Montegral Academy. Among other experiences, he has conducted the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra in Moscow, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, the New York Chamber Virtuosi at Lincoln Center in New York. He made his Italian debut with the Fenice Orchestra and Chorus at La Fenice Theater in Venice with the Concert for the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy and returned the following year with the Fenice Orchestra at Teatro Malibran in Venice. He also conducts the Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali to Milan, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Orchestra della Provincia di Bari, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, where he is re-invited to to conduct as guest conductor. He is President and Founder of the "Venetian Community of New York," Founding Member of "La Fondazione," a nonprofit association to spread Italian culture in the United States and is involved in various associations for the promotion of Italian culture.

LAURA BORTOLOTTO

Laura Bortolotto, born in 1995, is among the best promises of the new Italian violin generation.

Graduated in violin to 14 years old from the Conservatory "G. Tartini" of Trieste with highest honors, praise and special mention of merit, she began violin studies at the age of four with maestro Domenico Mason at the school of the Altoliventina Association in Prata di Pordenone. He perfected with maestro Pavel Vernikov and attended courses and master classes by masters Fucks, Semchuk, Accardo, Rachlin, Volochine, Martin, Mazor, Pogorelova, Makarova, Montanari and others. He is currently specializing with maestro Marco Rizzi at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim.

In 2011 she won first prize at the International Hindemith Competition in Berlin. In 2010, to just 15 years old, she won the 29th Biennial National Violin Competition in Vittorio Veneto, Italy's most important violin competition, making her the youngest winner of the competition since its founding (1962). She had already won numerous first prizes and awards in national and international contexts including "Il Piccolo Violino Magico" to Portogruaro (VE), Postacchini International Competition in Fermo, Marcosig European Competition in Gorizia and, in 2010, she was among the three winners of the 14th Musical Review Best Diplomates of Italy to Castrocaro Terme.

Laura Bortolotto has already performed as a soloist with major orchestras, including: Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia of Rome, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Deutsche Kammerorchester Berlin, National Orchestra of Ukraine, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Nuova Orchestra Busoni of Trieste, Orchestra dell' Accademia Naonis of Pordenone, Orchestra Giovanile della Valle d'Aosta, Orchestra San Marco of Pordenone, Orchestra Mitteleuropa of Udine. He has given concerts with several pianists, including Leonora Armellini and Massimo Somenzi, with violinist Daniele Pascoletti and oboist Luca Vignali, and collaborates regularly with pianist Matteo Andri.

She has performed in such prestigious halls as those of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Kiev Philharmonic Theater, the Sale Apollinee of the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, the Teatro Comunale in Florence and the Sala Santa Cecilia of the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. He has given concerts as part of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival, "Assisi nel mondo" festival, "Fantasie 2008" and "Il Doppio" 2010 festivals in Portogruaro (VE), Symphonic Season of Valle d'Aosta, Spoleto Piano Festival and in the cities of Cosenza, Padua, Venice, Duino, Trieste, Pordenone, Milan, Aosta, Gressoney, Sirmione, Florence, Vicenza, Sulmona, Rome, Salzburg, Berlin and Kiev.

In 2010 he was awarded the Certificate of Honor of Ensign of the Republic by Italian Head of State Giorgio Napolitano "for his refined qualities as a young violinist."

Laura Bortolotto plays an 1815 Giovanni Battista Ceruti violin, made to available by the Pro Canale Foundation.

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