From September to June all‘Rai Auditorium “Arturo Toscanini” TreviñoDantone, Albrecht and soloists like Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Nikolaj Szeps-ZnaiderMarie-Ange Nguci, Pablo Ferrandez, Sergei KhachatryanMario Brunello
Homage to Berio, Shostakovich And Eötvös on the anniversaries of birth and death
BIRTHDAY
The Rai National Symphony Orchestra turns thirty, and celebrates it with two extraordinary non-subscription concerts which precede the start of the 2024/2025 Symphony Season. Both evenings, at the Rai “Arturo Toscanini” Auditorium in Turin, are entrusted to the Principal Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and faithfully follow those which were the first two concerts of the newly formed OSN Rai in September 1994. On the same dates, the 25th and on September 30th, the same programs are in fact proposed that thirty years ago were entrusted to two glorious batons such as those of Georges Prêtre and Giuseppe Sinopoli. Wednesday 25 September the concert that was Prêtre, with sparkling pages such as the Suite dal Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, the one from L‘oiseau de feu by Stravinsky and the Bolero by Ravel. Monday 30 September the concert that was Sinopoli’s, and which combines the two last symphonies, both n. 4 in their respective catalogues, by Schumann and Brahms.
OROZCO-ESTRADA
Andrés Orozco-Estrada also returns to the podium for the actual opening of the season, Thursday 17 and Friday 18 October, for an evening entirely dedicated to Beethoven, with two cornerstones of his production: the Violin Concerto, played by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, and the “Eroica” Symphony. The concerts are scheduled at the Rai Auditorium in Turin, like the rest of the season. The evening of 17 October will be broadcast by Rai Cultura live in prime time on Rai5 as well as on Radio3 and in streaming. After the thirty-year anniversary and inaugural concerts, the Principal Conductor of the Rai Orchestra will return six more times, for a total of nine different programs over the course of the season. In December he will propose pieces by Strauss and Dvořák together with the cellist Pablo Ferrández, in addition to the traditional Christmas Concert with The nutcracker by Tchaikovsky narrated by the actor Mario Acampa. In February he will pay homage to Shostakovich on the fiftieth anniversary of his death with the “Leningrad” Symphony. In April he will join Scotland and Spain with Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and Spanish symphonies for violin and orchestra by Édouard Lalo e María Dueñas soloist. In May it will be the turn of a trip to La Belle ANDpoque French, thanks to pages like the Prelude to l‘après-midi d‘a fauna by Debussy and Le sacre du printemps by Stravinsky (8 and 9 May) or the two Suites from the ballet Daphnis and Chloé by Ravel, alongside another ballet: Pulcinella by Stravinsky (15 and 16 May).
TREVINO
Great involvement also for the main guest director of the Rai team, Robert Treviño, involved in four concerts between February and March. In the first (13 and 14 February) he compares himself with Mahlerian’s ultimate legacy: Symphony no. 9. In the second (13 and 14 March) he proposes a double homage to Luciano Berio on the centenary of his birth, with the Folk Songs performed by Justina Gringytė, and to Shostakovich on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, with Symphony no. 4. In the third (20 and 21 March) he combines pages by Brahms – the Violin Concerto played by Augustin Hadelich – and Elgar. The last program however (27 March) is part of the Rai NuovaMusica cycle, which this year too punctuates the season with twentieth-century and contemporary proposals, and features songs by Castiglioni, Berio, Grisey and Adams.
LUISI
The Honorary Director Fabio Luisi takes to the podium twice: on 4 and 5 April he proposes Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto – the much feared “Rach 3” – with the pianist Tom Borrow, while on 5 and 6 June he closes the program with the Schubert’s “Unfinished” and Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony.
DANTONE
Double commitment this season also for one of the other reference directors of OSN Rai: Ottavio Dantone. Known for his extraordinary quality as an interpreter of ancient music, on 30 and 31 October he will try his hand at Classical symphony by Prokofiev, who pays homage to that repertoire with a twentieth-century look, Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto – with the first clarinet of the OSN Luca Milani as soloist – and Haydn’s “Military” Symphony. He then returns for the Easter Concert, on April 18, and with the orchestral version of Last seven words of Christ on the Cross by Haydn.
RETURNS
The 2024/2025 season marks the return after a few years of two Italian conductors of great international success such as Daniele Rustioni – on 24 and 25 October with the pianist Francesco Piemontesi – and Andrea Battistoni, on 9 and 10 January with the cellist Anastasia Kobekina. Other important returns are those of Marc Albrecht, on 20 and 21 February with the pianist Marie-Ange Nguci for an evening entirely dedicated to Richard Strauss; John Axelrod, who on 16 and 17 January pays homage to Berio on his centenary with Renderingalongside The Planets by Gustav Holst; Constantinos Carydis, on 7 and 8 November with the violinist Karen Gomyo; Stanislav Kochanovsky, May 22 and 23 with pianist Nikolai Lugansky.
DEBUTS
There are also many debuts, with particular attention to young people such as Giuseppe Mengoli, born in 1993 and winner in 2023 of the Mahler competition of the Symphony Orchestra of Bamberg, who on 21 and 22 November faced two monuments such as the “Emperor” concert of Beethoven ( pianist Bruce Liu) and Symphony no. 4 by Mahler (soprano Leonor Bonilla). First time on the Rai podium also for the Austrian Patrick Hahn, who less than thirty years of age covers roles with orchestras such as Wuppertal’s, Monaco radio and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, engaged on 30 and 31 January with the Trull celler Mørk.Debuttano also the Belgian American Giulio Cilona, current Kapelmeister of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, protagonist of the traditional Carnival concert on March 2 together with the violinist Stefan Milenkovich; Marta Gardolińska, musical director of the Opéra National de Lorraine and the main guest director of the Barcelona symphonic orchestra, engaged on 29 and 30 May with the violinist Marc Bouchkov; and Cristian Măcelaru, who will take the stage at the Rai Auditorium on 12 and 13 December with violinist Sergey Khachatryan.
RAI NUOVAMUSICA
Rai NuovaMusica returns, with three events dedicated to twentieth-century and contemporary repertoire distributed as usual throughout the season. The first, on 6 March, features Pascal Rophé on the podium with Mario Brunello solo cello and music by Francesco Antonioni, Giya Kancheli and Peter Eötvös, a great protagonist in the past with OSN Rai both as composer and as director, remembered one year after disappearance. The second, on March 27, is entrusted to Robert Treviño. While the third, May 4, marks the return to the podium of Maxime Pascal with the great violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the soprano Anna Prohaska, interpreters of works by contemporary Italian composers such as Stefano Gervasoni, Aureliano Cattaneo and Francesco Filidei. The appointment will be brought forward to La Scala in Milan on May 2nd for the Milano Musica Festival.
OFFSITE
In addition to Milan Music, other important billboards will host the Rai Orchestra: the Mito Settembremusica Festival (with three evenings directed by Robert Treviño, Vimbayi Kaziboni and Enrico Pagano); the season of the Freni-Pavarotti Theater in Modena (with Andrés Orozco-Estrada); and Ferrara Musica (again with Orozco-Estrada). In addition of course to the usual Christmas Concert from the Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, broadcast on Rai1 on 25 December.
TRANSMISSIONS
All concerts are broadcast by Radio3 and in live streaming on the Rai Cultura portal. Many are also filmed and broadcast on TV on Rai5.
THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
«This year too – says the Artistic director Ernesto Schiavi– we try to reinvent a concert calendar that presents balance, liveliness, variety and uniqueness. The cornerstone of the Season is the solid musical complicity with Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Robert Treviño, Fabio Luisi and Ottavio Dantone, conductors with whom the Orchestra is closely linked in the search for mutual musical growth. Alongside them, precious and happy returns and long-awaited debuts, even among the soloists.
Let us tune in with the antennas of the music, which always vibrate, place and at the same time the boundaries of the present disgust with intelligence, sensitivity and imagination; How and more than the other arts, music knows the lethal cult of completeness, but seeks a partial possibility rather than an unreal and unattainable totality. Embark on the music ship with us. There is still and always room for everyone” – concludes Schiavi.
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND TICKETS
Subscriptions to the “Symphonic Season 2024/2025” are on sale at the Rai Auditorium ticket office (subscription and series renewals from 14 June to 5 July) and online (new subscriptions) from 11 to 31 July and from 3 to 13 September 2024. The carnets – which can only be purchased at the ticket office – and tickets for individual concerts (box office and online) are on sale starting from 17 September 2024. Particularly advantageous formulas are proposed in the event of season ticket renewal, as well as for minors thirty-five years old and for students.
