Ready for a nice spring city trip? The season is in bloom, the weather is mild, and we are pretty sure our wind musicians are excited to embark on are excited to embark on a three-stop tour which takes the Theresia Wind Ensemble to Lodi, Rome and finishes in Koper (Slovenia).
Theresia Wind Ensemble’s tour venues
Starting from 1st May, the wind players of Theresia Orchestra will meet in Lodi, home of the iCons Foundation and regular starting point of many of orchestra’s residencies. Five full rehearsal days studying music by Krommer, Mozart and Rossini under the guidance of Alfredo Bernardini, will culminate in a concert on Friday 5 May at 9:00pm at the Aula Magna of the Liceo Verri as part of the concert season of Lodi’s Teatro alle Vigne.
The next day, we’ll travel to Rome! Part of the afternoon and evening may be used to enjoy the beauty of the Eternal City, as the capital of Italy is often called. No doubt there are plenty of opportunities to savour blissful moments in Rome, strolling along the Tiber, enjoying legendary ice creams, being enchanted by majestic monuments, Baroque fountains and lush gardens.
Without pushing it too far, the wind players will perform the next day at the Quirinale Palace, the residence of the President of Italy. The concert of Sunday 7 May, 11.50 am will be broadcast live (!) on Rai Radio 3 as part of the weekly concert series from the Quirinale organised by Italy’s national broadcaster.
The concert series “I concerti della Rai al Quirinale” started in 2001 and for over twenty years, every Sunday (with rare exceptions) has made it possible to listen to great chamber music thanks to live radio broadcasting on Rai Radio 3 and all other stations in the Euroradio network of the European Broadcasting Union. Performing at the Quirinale is a great honour and a great opportunities for Theresia to connect live with our remote audience. However, this is not the first time for us at the Quirinale: the orchestra also performed at the Quirinale in 2015. If you want, you can take a little trip back in time and listen to our previous concert following this link!
The spring tour of Theresia Wind Ensemble will end in Koper, a lovely, friendly city we’ve visited before. The wind players will perform on Monday 8 May, at 7.30 pm in a beautiful and historically rich venue, the Regional Museum. This concert will be broadcast and streamed live too (this time by RTV Slovenia) about which we are absolutely thrilled!
What’s on the music stand?
This wind academy will focus on Harmoniemusik: this term originally identified an ensemble derived from the military band and composed of five to fifteen musicians. The name is due to the fact that in the early days of classicism, in the orchestral context, the wind instruments had the task of supporting the harmony of the pieces, instead of the now increasingly obsolete basso continuo. With the technical improvement of wind instruments and the increasing technical skill of the players, this formation gained partial independence, thanks in part to a vast repertoire of compositions dedicated to it.
Wind ensembles became particularly sought after in certain contexts, such as outdoor concerts (Serenades or Nocturnes) or during short marches and parades. They became increasingly popular and widespread, as evidenced by the presence of an large, specially composed repertoire and transcriptions from operas, ballets and symphonies.
Franz Krommer’s Partita op. 71, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento K388, and Wenzel Sedlak’s transcription of the most famous parts of Gioacchino Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia will be the musical program. Enjoy!
