Fiftieth anniversary of the Morlacchi conservatory of Perugia
Fiftieth – by Antonella Valoroso – The choice of the program with which the «F. Morlacchi» will celebrate its first fifty years could not have been more appropriate. Sunday 12 May at 8.30pm, at the Morlacchi Theater in Perugia, the evening-event will in fact be entirely dedicated to the compositions of Valentino Bucchi (1916-1976), who directed the Liceo Musicale Comunale «F. Morlacchi» precisely in the crucial years of its transformation into a State Conservatory.
To protest against the delays in the nationalization procedure started already in 1967, on 21 May 1973 Maestro Bucchi even decided to organize a large protest demonstration with a final concert involving students, music teachers and all the school staff. The procession of demonstrators started from the headquarters in Via Fratti, crossed via Maestà delle Volte, Piazza IV Novembre and Corso Vannucci to reach Piazza della Repubblica where the concert was held.
On that occasion, Councilor Giacomo Santucci – Educational Director and well-known personality from Perugia – gave a speech on the importance of the demands of the musicians from Perugia and Umbria who were protesting not only to obtain the nationalization of the Conservatory but also for the creation of an Orchestra Regional which, to date, has not been established in Umbria. Among the pieces performed in the concert there was a singular first performance: the «Battaglia for brass, timpani and tambour» composed for the occasion by Maestro Bucchi and performed, under the direction of Maestro Campanella, by Prof. Pietro Franceschini, by Prof. Gennaro Urbani and the students of the trumpet, trombone, horn and percussion classes.
Also thanks to this effective initiative, starting from the following academic year, the «Morlacchi» Municipal Music High School became a State Conservatory. To therefore celebrate the first fifty years of the Perugino Conservatory and pay the necessary homage to M° Bucchi, in next Sunday’s concert the «Laudes Evangelii» for soloists, choir and orchestra will be performed, a mystery based on medieval Umbrian poetic texts reworked by Giorgio Signorini . The Conservatory orchestra, directed by Maestro Carlo Palleschi, will accompany a powerful choral ensemble which will see together the Conservatory Choir – with the participation of the Children’s Choir and the Youth Choir – and the Choir of the University of Perugia, prepared by teacher Marta Alunni Pini.
This will then be followed by the spectacular performance of «Una notte in Paradiso», a one-act fairy tale with a libretto by Luigi Bazzoni inspired by Italo Calvino’s Italian Fairy Tales. Maestro Gianluigi Zampieri will conduct the orchestra while the choir master will be Leonardo Lollini.
The scenes were designed by Cristiano Schiavolini, while the costumes were developed by Gabriele Tiberi, of the Living Nativity Association of Marcellano. The direction is instead by Pacifica Artuso, Professor of Theory and Technique of Stage Interpretation at the «Morlacchi» Conservatory. Entrance is free while places last.
