Verdi Happening

Passion, drama, despair, love and power, all in the form of throbbing pathos, arias of heavenly beauty and enthralling orchestral sounds. The profoundly felt operas of Giuseppe Verdi are among the very greatest in the repertoire. This year, the annual Composer Happening organised by deSingel and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra is for the first time focusing on a full-blooded opera composer. For every note he put down on paper, Verdi viewed the human condition through a magnifying glass.
For the Verdi Happening, Giancarlo Andretta, a specialist in Italian opera, uses forgotten overtures and delightful orchestral music to argue that Verdi knew exactly how to make an orchestra chug and steam. Together with the cream of the singing classes of The Hague and Antwerp, he will bring unforgettable scenes from Verdi’s operas to the stage. However, the composer’s more intimate side will not be forgotten either. The Malibran Quartet will demonstrate that Verdi’s only string quartet is a pocket-sized opera. Together with the golden voice of Anna Samouil, they will present an affectionate portrait of Verdi’s finest female roles. Although Verdi adopted an emphatically anti-clerical position – in his operas, priests, bishops and inquisitors are always shown as crooked and power-mad – as an old man he had a weakness for religious music. Philippe Herreweghe shines his artistic light on the overwhelmingly beautiful ‘religious works’ that the anti-clerical Verdi wrote at the end of his life and which display his talent for choral music. As a grand finale, the Verdi Happening closes with the requiem that he dedicated to the political poet Alessandro Manzoni. This imposing ‘Requiem’, with its monumental solos and dazzling choruses turns the Latin mass into an operatic spectacle.

14.30
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra & Collegium Vocale Ghent
conducted by Philippe Herreweghe
Quattro Pezzi Sacri

15.45
deStudentenFilharmonie
conducted by Giancarlo Andretta
soloists: singing students from the Conservatoires in The Hague & Antwerp
Kristina Bitenc soprano Felipe Gallegos tenor
Sinfonia dal ‘Nabucco’
Sinfonia ‘Giovanna d’arco’
Macbeth Choir ‘witches choir Che faceste s’allontanarono’
Traviata Scena ed aria Violetta - E’strano/Ah forse e’lui/sempre libera degg’io
Traviata Scena ed aria Alfredo - ‘Lunge da lei/Dei miei bollenti spiriti/O mio rimoroso
Sinfonia ‘I vespri siciliani’
Traviata ‘Noi siamo zingarelle’
Traviata ‘Parigi o cara’
Sinfonia ‘La forza del destino’

17.30
Malibran Quartet & Anna Samouil soprano
String Quartet in E minor
Arrangements of arias for soprano and string quartet:
Ave Maria
‘Tu puniscimi, o Signore’, aria by Luisa from ’Luisa Miller’
‘Morrò, ma prima in grazia’, aria by Amelia from ’Un Ballo in Maschera’
‘Teneste la promessa’, aria by Violetta from ’La Traviata’
‘Mercè, dilette amiche’, bolero by Elena from ‘I Vespri Siciliani’ 

20.00
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra & Collegium Vocale Ghent
conducted by Philippe Herreweghe
Eleanor Lyons soprano Gerhild Romberger alto
Mario Zeffiri tenor Luca Pisaroni bass
Messa da Requiem