If Antiruggine, where we are going to play on Sunday, is an unconventional concert venue, the Sala Maffeiana (Maffeiana Hall), where we’ll play the day after, on the contrary, has been a concert venue for more than two centuries! In this very place on 5th January 1770, Mozart performed in front of all the members of Philharmonic Academy, and he astounded everybody with his amazing skill to the point that he was declared honorary Kapellmeister, even if he was just fourteen years old.
By the way, it is really a nice coincidence that we’ll perform Mozart’s Overture from Mitridate, whose first performance was in that same year in Milan. Musicians and audience may feel the spirit of the composer both in the place and in the music.
The Sala Maffeiana is part of the Teatro Filarmonico, and today it is the only intact part of the entire original building: it survived both the disasters that struck the Philharmonic: in 1749 the theater was almost destroyed by a fire, and on 23rd February 1945, during the II World War, it was severely damaged by bombing. But Sala Maffeiana luckily wasn’t damaged at all. The building is at the heart of Verona, in Piazza Bra and in front of the famous “Arena”.
As the Philarmonic Theater is the venue for the opera and the symphony concert season, the Sala Maffeiana hosts chamber music and, every year, the important “Settembre dell’Accademia” Festival, which this year in the main season has hosted the London Symphony Orchestra, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestra Filarmonica di Santa Cecilia, besides other exceptional musicians. Theresia’s concert in Verona will be the last of this edition, so we are very proud of this new and prestigious collaboration.
