Marco Angius

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«Although the term sinopia (the preparatory drawing in red earth for a fresco) comes from the city of Sinope, where that red earth was found — the composer Alessandro Solbiati explains — I have always liked to think that it also contains a reference to the Greek word synopsis, an overall view, because that is the double fascination of sinopie: on the one hand a rapid sketch that often reveals the painter’s personality more than the finished result, and on the other a total, synthetic vision of the fresco to come». Sinopia was first performed in Bologna in 2019, striking listeners with its dramatic, almost violent opening, its plunge into emptiness and desolation, its laborious setting out again towards a distant goal where, at the third attempt, a thread of light is found.

Haydn’s penultimate symphony, nicknamed «the Drumroll» for the quiet rolled E flat of indeterminate length that frames the first movement, was presented in London in 1795 by the composer himself, seated at the harpsichord. A critic of the time reported: «Another new overture by the fertile and enchanting Haydn was performed, and as usual he produced continual strokes of genius in both melody and harmony. The Introduction commanded the deepest attention, the Allegro charmed, the Andante was encored, the Minuets (especially the Trio) were sweet and playful, and the last movement was equal, if not superior, to those before it».

The dress rehearsal for his hard-won First Symphony, brooded over by Brahms for almost twenty years for fear of not standing comparison with Beethoven’s models, lies entirely in the Variations on a Theme by Haydn, a masterly essay in compositional technique that anticipates some of the solutions of his maturity, such as the passacaglia we meet again in the Fourth Symphony. The journey of this theme runs through eight stages, plus the finale, and is one of the absolute masterpieces of the variation form, a distillation of imagination and contrapuntal science.

One of the most renowned choral ensembles on the international scene, the Chorus of Teatro Comunale di Bologna has been directed by Gaetano Riccitelli, Leone Magiera, Fulvio Fogliazza, Fulvio Angius, Piero Monti, Marcel Seminara, Paolo Vero, Lorenzo Fratini, Andrea Faidutti and Alberto Malazzi. Since September 2021 it has been led by Gea Garatti Ansini.
The chorus has taken part in various recordings, including anthology projects with Luciano Pavarotti and June Anderson. It has appeared abroad many times: at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam and the Internationale Maifestspiele in Wiesbaden, at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in London (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Daniele Gatti), at the IV Mstislav Rostropovich International Festival in Moscow, on several tours of Japan, at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and at the Festival Internacional de Santander. In Italy the Chorus has worked with the Ravenna Festival under Riccardo Muti; it took part in a performance of Berlioz’s Te Deum at the PalaDozza in Bologna with Claudio Abbado on the podium; with Michele Mariotti it opened the Lingotto Musica season in Turin. Notable too are its appearances at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and at the Festival Verdi in Parma, in particular for Stiffelio, a production awarded the special «Franco Abbiati» Prize.