It will be with a dedicated concert At the origins of bel canto that will start, Tuesday 7 May 2024 at 8.30 pmthe programming of the first edition of Modena Belcanto Festival, the event that takes up the baton of Modena City of Belcanto, promoted by the Municipality of Modena, the Teatro Comunale Foundation, the Modena Foundation and the Vecchi-Tonelli Conservatory. The inaugural event – scheduled in the Church of Sant’Agostino in Modena – is created in collaboration with Grandezze&Meraviglie – Associazione Musicale Estense and will bring to light unpublished scores preserved in the Estense Library: the interpretation of these pages will be entrusted to the Violin Companywith Alessandro Ciccolini in the double role of violin soloist and director and with the participation of the soprano’s solo voice Monica Piccinini.
«The culture of singing – explains director Alessandro Ciccolini – has always been a protagonist in Modena. Since the dawn of melodrama, the Este court has recognized and supported the importance of musical performances. This concert will be a journey to rediscover a religious theater steeped in chiaroscuro and full of moments of refreshment for the human soul.”
At the origins of bel canto. Sacred female faces at the court of Francis II – this is the full title of the concert – will propose in particular a program of music by Antonio Gianettini (1649-1721), Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) and Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747) dedicated to the sacred female figures who were exalted in music during the historical period, very fruitful, dominated by the figure of Francesco II d’Este. A lover of music from an early age, Francesco II d’Este is in fact an emblematic figure of the second half of the seventeenth century, precisely because of the great attention he dedicated to music throughout his reign. This great passion made Modena a prominent musical center thanks to the presence of the best composers of the time. In those years there were numerous concerts, operas and oratorios composed for the ducal court. And the strong religious vocation of the Este court found a perfect union with the music and singing of the orators: through the arias and symphonies of these orators an idea of sacred theater was proposed which was the paradigm of a model that found diffusion throughout Europe .
