At the “Vivaldi” the exhibition with final concert on June 1st for Giacomo and Achille Panizza

It was inaugurated on May 21st, at the “A. Vivaldi” of Alessandria, the exhibition of historical posters entitled “Giacomo and Achille Panizza conductors at the Municipal Theatre”, created in collaboration with the State Archives of Alessandria and the Civic Library of Alessandria “F. Calvo” and curated by Cristoforo Moretti. For three weeks, until June 1st, posters and flyers of operas and concerts directed by Panizza in the city of Alessandria will be displayed on the main floor of Palazzo Cuttica (Conservatory entrance via Parma, 1 – Alessandria). Access is free during the Conservatory’s opening hours, i.e. from Monday to Saturday from 9am to 7pm (until 6pm on Saturdays).

The exhibition constitutes a sort of “prelude” to a concert that the Conservatory has organized in its Pittaluga Auditorium for Saturday 1 June at 4pm, on the proposal of Professor Federico Favali (the concert is in turn included within the Scatola Sonora 2024 festival – International Festival of Opera and Small Musical Theater created with the contribution of the Piedmont Region).

In particular, the event celebrates the talent and figures of two first-rate musicians. Giacomo and Achille Panizza, father and son, who worked for many years at La Scala and other theaters in Milan and were hugely popular in the Italian musical world in a crucial period for Italian opera. Their professional relationship with all the major composers, singers, dancers, choreographers and critics of the time was important.

On the occasion of the concert on June 1st, pieces by Giacomo Panizza, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini will be played. Performing will be the Australian pianist Nicole Panizza, the sopranos Anita Maiocco and Alexandra Ivchenko and the baritone Yulin Wang. The music will alternate with short narratives by Cristoforo Moretti (curator of the exhibition).
“We are particularly happy with these events hosted at the Vivaldi Conservatory – explained Moretti – because they allow us to celebrate two figures not too often remembered. Giacomo and Achille Panizza have held very prestigious roles. Giacomo was master of the harpsichord at La Scala in Milan for almost 30 years and Achille conducted the premiere of Le Willis by Giacomo Puccini at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan”.

“I am very happy – said Nicole Panizza – to come to Italy to play. This is a unique opportunity to get to know two characters perfectly integrated into the musical world in a crucial period for Italian opera and to listen to music that is not often offered to the public.”

Federico Favali
The music of Italian composer Federico Favali has received international recognition and has been performed by many notable ensembles, such as the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Lontano Ensemble. His catalog includes vocal music, an opera, compositions for solo instrument and music for ensemble and orchestra. As a musicologist he mainly deals with the analysis of contemporary music. He teaches harmony theory and analysis at the “A.Vivaldi” Conservatory in Alessandria.

Cristoforo Moretti
He has always been involved in the recovery of memory: as an engineer in the restoration of buildings, as an organizer of exhibitions in the valorization of the great masters of Italian illustration, as a researcher in the rediscovery of minor history between Milan and Alessandria, of which
Giacomo and Achille Panizza are forcefully part of it.
Like all journeys of the mind, this one also started from a spark, the public controversy between Giacomo Panizza and Gaetano Donizetti, and along the way it involved Rossini,
Verdi, Garibaldi, Puccini, the Scapigliatura…

Nicole Panizza
She is an internationally renowned collaborative pianist, scholar, educator and artistic consultant. A Fulbright Award winner and researcher at Harvard University, Oxford University, and the Manhattan School of Music, she is increasingly renowned for her intermedial research that creatively explores cultural memory, embodied ethnographies, and text-music partnership as a historical source.
Nicole currently holds the position of Assistant Professor (Music) at Coventry
University, artistic director of the Panizza Dynasty Project and Performing Emily Dickinson, creative consultant for the International Center for American Music and creative curator of the Women’s Song Forum.

Continuously updated information on Vivaldi concerts is available on the website http://www.conservatoriovivaldi.it.

INSTITUTE OF HIGHER MUSICAL STUDIES (ISSM)

“ANTONIO VIVALDI” CONSERVATORY
Via Parma, 1 – 15121 Alessandria

tel: 0131 051 500
[email protected] – http://www.conservatoriovivaldi.it