From June 20th the curtain will rise on the traveling exhibition along the shores of the lake
The protagonist is the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra, conducted by Rossella Spinosa
LECCO – He leaves Thursday 20 June the new adventure of Bellagio and Lake Como Festival, an event that every summer animates the splendid locations of the lake, bringing a world of sounds among the numerous historical and landscape beauties of the area. A musical journey to be experienced for an entirely orchestral and ever-growing festival, promoted byTEMA Association (European Talents for Music and Art) and supported by Municipality of Bellagiotogether with numerous municipalities in the Como province (Bellagio, Como, Lezzeno, Lomazzo, Magreglio, Menaggio, Rezzago, Zelbio) and the province of Lecco (Dervio, Lecco, Mandello del Lario, Oliveto Lario).
Now in its 13th edition, the Festival is divided into a mosaic of proposals from classic to contemporary for a dynamic crossroads of artists and repertoires, with Lake Como becoming a natural stage for cultural contaminations and extensive creativity.
“The Festival is a cultural dissemination project imagined for the valorisation of a territory, already relevant for its natural beauty, but which generates – with the creation of itinerant orchestral events – a new opportunity for discovery and contemplation. The XIII Edition will be rich with 26 events and 26 different concert programs, with the presence of the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra, as well as Italian and foreign artists, also selected as part of the Cosima Wagner International Concert Competition, competition homage to the figure of Franz Liszt, who has always been the ideal Father of this Festival”, so the artistic director Rossella Spinosa.
The 2024 edition presents a particularly large program with focuses dedicated to anniversaries and anniversaries, in a network of links and references which, between memories and surprises, see in the lineup famous pages of ever-present charm combined with jewels to be rediscovered.
The protagonist of the whole event is theOrchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como directed by Alessandro Calcagnilewith exceptional soloists and guest ensembles such asZephyrus Flute Orchestra (Marco Zonisoloist and director) and the winners of the Cosima Wagner International Competition for Concert Performers.
THE RICH CALENDAR
We start on June 20th therefore in the splendid setting of the Royal Hall of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio with a selection from the opera La traviata by Giuseppe Verdi on the bicentenary of the birth of Alexandre Dumas Figlio, author of the novel The Lady of the Camellias which inspired Verdi and Piave. Soloists with the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra will be the soprano Monika Lukacs, the tenor Alessandro Mundula and the baritone Giorgio Valerio, with the participation of the Ensemble Vocale in Allegria of Milan.
The June 21st, at the Pinacoteca Civica di Como, for the European Music Festival, a concert-lesson on the anthems of the European nations, on the bicentenary of the first performance of Beethoven’s ninth symphony, with the famous Ode to Joy chosen years later as the official anthem of the Union European. The speaker will be the musicologist Stefano Lamon, the music will be performed by the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra.
The June 23 in the park of Villa Ceriani in Lomazzo, the orchestra pays homage to Gioachino Rossini, with a performance of the Sonatas for four for strings, composed in the summer of 1804 by the swan of Pesaro.
The June 24thin Bellagio, on the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the film “Farinelli, Voice Queen”, a concert with the repertoire of the famous Italian castrato, known and acclaimed throughout the world, entrusted to the solo and duo performance of the soprano Ilaria Torciani and the countertenor Emanuele Bianchi, accompanied by the orchestra in residence.
The June 28on the occasion of the patronal feast of Dervio, a tribute to Gabriel Fauré (on the centenary of his death) and to flute music with soloist Romano Pucci, former first flute of the Teatro alla Scala, together with the Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como.
The June 29th afternoon, in the park of Palazzo Belgiojoso in Lecco, a concert with pages by Giovanni Battista Viotti on the bicentenary of his death and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The first parts of the team, the violinists Sara Sternieri and Michelangelo Cagnetta, will perform as soloists with the orchestra.
The June 29th evening, at the Rockefeller Foundation Auditorium in Bellagio, the orchestra gives way to the Vagues Saxophone Quartet, winner of the 2022 edition of the Cosima Wagner Competition for the Chamber Music section. The program includes music by JS Bach, B. Bartók, M. Mussorgskij, G. Rossini, G. Puccini.
The June 30th, in the spaces of the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum, an event to remember Massimo Troisi and Marcello Mastroianni (on the thirtieth anniversary of his death and on the centenary of his birth), with the most beautiful soundtracks by Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone and Luis Bacalov. The event will alternate the music performed by the orchestra with readings interpreted by the actress Marta Lucini.
The 4th Julyat the Basilica of San Giacomo in Bellagio, on the day of the Independence of the United States, a concert with music by American classical composers entrusted to the Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como, works for strings from Samuel Barber to Gershwin, passing through avant-garde Charles Ives, up to contemporary John Williams.
The July 5th, in the Church of San Giovanni in Bellagio, a tribute to the Baroque and the Neapolitan musical school through pages by Pergolesi, Scarlatti and Jommelli, on the 250th anniversary of the death of the composer from Aversa. Soloist with the orchestra is the flutist Massimo Orlando.
The July 6in Rezzago at the suggestive Romanesque Church of Saints Cosma and Damiano, on the day of Ennio Morricone’s death, a concert by the Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como with the most famous soundtracks of the beloved maestro.
The July 12th, in the Church of Visgnola, a hamlet of Bellagio, a program with music by romantic authors, Mendelssohn and Liszt, with a tribute to Anton Bruckner on the bicentenary of his birth. Soloists with the orchestra are the clarinetists Paolo De Gaspari and Beatrice Cattaneo.
The July 13thfor the White Night of Lecco, a concert by the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra on the lakeside of Lecco, inside the courtyard of the Società Canottieri, with serenades and nocturnal music by Luigi Boccherini and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Also on July 13thin the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, the concert of the winners of the 2024 edition of the Cosima Wagner International Concert Competition, with the performance of the first place winner for the soloists section and for the chamber music section.
The July 17, in the park of the exclusive Villa Lario in Mandello, a tribute to Antonio Vivaldi with the famous concerts The Four Seasons and The Pleasure, three hundred years after the publication of the collection “The Trial of Harmony and Invention”. Violinist Luca Torciani is the soloist, accompanied by the Orchestra.
The July 19that the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Gustav Holst, the Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como presents a concert dedicated to the composers from across the Channel of the last century.
The July 20th in Lezzeno, a program with music by the eighteen-year-old Mozart, compositions dating back to 1774, together with the famous Symphony K. 550. The Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como, directed by Alessandro Calcagnile, is also on stage.
The July 26, in the Church of Santo Stefano in Menaggio, the sacred pages of Giacomo Puccini together with vocal and organ compositions by his ancestors, active in eighteenth-century Lucca. Soloist is the baritone Giordano Rossini, with the collaboration of the organist Enrico Barbagli together with the first parts of the Orchestra of Bellagio and Lake Como.
The July 27, in Oliveto Lario at the Church of San Pietro Martire, a tribute to the music of Johann Strauss fils, from the waltz to the operetta, on the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Die Fledermaus (The Bat). Brilliant arias and famous dances performed by the Orchestra together with the soprano Alessandra Torrani.
Always the July 27but at the Cappuccini Auditorium of the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio, the duo formed by Sebastian Nowak (violin) and Victoria Sarasvathi (piano), winner of the 2023 edition of the Cosima Wagner International Concert Competition, chamber music section.
The July 28, in the Church of San Paolo Converso in Zelbio, in collaboration with Zelbio Cult, a tribute to Czech music, with vocal pages by Antonin Dvorak and instrumental music by Josef Suk, on the sesquicentennial of his birth. Soloist with the orchestra directed by Alessandro Calcagnile is the soprano Maria Chiara Forte.
The August 2, in the Basilica of San Giacomo in Bellagio, a concert in memory of the victims of the Bologna massacre. The orchestra will perform Mozart’s Requiem in the version for strings only by P. Lichtenthal and will present a new composition for string orchestra by the composer Rossella Spinosa.
The August 4th, in the afternoonin the park of Palazzo Belgiojoso in Lecco, another tribute to Giacomo Puccini for the celebrations of the centenary of his death, with a selection of the most famous opera arias presented by the tenor Aldo Sartori, accompanied by the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra .
The August 4th eveningat the Church of Santi Materni e Ambrogio in the Civenna hamlet of Bellagio, the performance of Alessandro Mauriello, winning cellist of the 2022 edition of the Cosima Wagner International Concert Competition.
The August 7 in Piazza Mazzini on the Bellagio lakefront, the Zephyrus Flute Orchestra will perform with its founder Marco Zoni (first flute of the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan), in the role of director and soloist. The program includes music by Puccini and his contemporaries, Leoncavallo and Mascagni.
The billboard ends on August 9th, again at the Royal Hall of the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni in Bellagio, with an original production of music and cinema. On the centenary of the premiere of Entr’acte by René Clair, the film with the original music by Erik Satie will be screened; the program will also feature short films by Charlie Chaplin with music composed and performed by Rossella Spinosa, on the piano, together with the Bellagio and Lake Como Orchestra.
