Opera Night

By the Prague Quattro Chamber Orchestra.

W. A. MOZART: THE IMPRESARIO
Der Schauspieldirektor “The Impresario” K. 486, is a comic Singspiel written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian Schauspieldirektor. Mozart wrote the opera as his entry in a musical competition sponsored on February 7, 1786 by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. The competition was to pit a German singspiel against an Italian opera. The competing Italian entry was the opera buffa “Prima la musica, poi le parole” (“First the music, and then the words”), by Antonio Salieri. It has been noted that the character and scale of the overture are similar to those of the overture to “Le nozze di Figaro”, which was written at the same time and premiered later the same year.

There are only four vocal numbers in the score, and the musical content is surrounded by much spoken dialogue, topical in its day. The scuffle and the humorous tone of the narrator in conjunction with a real mess of the roles in opera Impresario is one of the main characteristic elements of Mozart, which attaches to the opera Buffa leaving always impressed the audience.

A. SALIERI: PRIMA LA MUSICA E POI LE PAROLE
“Prima la musica e poi le parole” (First the music and then the words), also called “Prima la musica, poi le parole” is an opera in one act by Antonio Salieri. It was first performed on February 7, 1786 in Vienna, following a commission by the Emperor Joseph II. The opera (more specifically a divertimento teatrale), was first performed at one end of the orangery of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna by an Italian troupe: simultaneously, Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor was staged at the other end. The libretto was written by Giovanni Battista Casti. The title of the opera is the theme of Richard Strauss’s opera “Capriccio”, which debates the relative importance of music and drama in opera.

Count Opizio contracts a new opera to be written to be ready in four days. The composer has already created the score, but the poet is suffering from writers block and resorts to trying to adapt previous verses he has written to the existing music. The composer and poet are interrupted when Eleonora, the primadonna hired by the Count, enters and delivers a sample of her vocal artistry. Together with the Poet and the Maestro, she acts out a scene from Giuseppe Sarti’s Giulio Sabino that devolves into a grotesque parody. Eleonora exits, and the librettist and the composer again wrestle with the problems of the libretto for the new opera in which a lengthy dispute between the two men ensues.

Tonina (whose character is a parody of opera buffa), enters and demands a role in the new opera. The composer and the librettist quickly concoct a vocal number for her. A quarrel then erupts between Eleonora and Tonina over which of them should sing the opera’s opening aria. The scene culminates in having both sing their arias simultaneously. The composer and the librettist are able to pacify the two ladies by agreeing to a juxtaposition of the seria and buffa styles, thereby putting a conciliatory end to their quarrel.

PROGRAMME:
Two comical operas
W. A. MOZART: The Impresario
A. SALIERI: Prima la musica e poi le parole

The Prague Quattro Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Valentina Shuklina
Soloists: Margarita Elia (Soprano), Lucie Prokopova (Soprano), Zuzana Sejtkova (Soprano), Andrej Benes (Tenore), Lucas Sladek (Bariton), Photos Photiades (The Impresario)

Surtitles in Greek and English.

THE PRAGUE QUATTRO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Chamber Orchestra Quattro Prague takes its name from the Quattro group of eminent composers (Lubos Fiser, Sylvie Bodorova, Otmar Macha, Zdenek Lukas) who, having seen and heard the young orchestra at work, decided to lend it their prestigious group name. Early in 2005 it was chosen for the position of “Orchestra in Residence” at the Gustav Mahler birthplace at Kaliste. During its brief existence it has already performed at such festivals as The Young Podium, The Unconventional Zizkov autumn, the Trebic Mozart Celebrations, the Prague Melodrama Festival and others. The orchestra has performed the complete works of Mozart for flute and orchestra with the flautist Hansgeorg Schmeiser (Head of the Department for wind instruments at the Vienna Hochschule fur Musik and principal of the Vienna Philharmonic), the foremost Czech flautist Jan Ostry and the harpist Jana Bouskova. It has also performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Jan Pospichal and its viola principal Vera Reigersberg.

The Orchestra’s leader and soloist has been Pavla Francu, who has been taking gala performances with Josef Suk, Prague Philharmonia, CNSO, FBM Zlin, Slovak and Czech chamber orchestra, State philharmonic orchestra “Kosice” a also she participated few violin recitals in France, Germany, Italy and Austria.

VALENTINA SHUKLINA
Conductor, composer, pianist and performer, comes from the Ukrainian city Nikolajev, where in 2001 she graduated the High Music College as a pianist. In 2001 Valentina moved to Czech Republic, where she graduated the Prague State Conservatory as a Composer and a conductor (prof. H.Farka, M.Namcova, M. Kosler). In 2006 she studied in the conducting department in the Academy of Music Art in Prague under the direction of H. Farka, T. Koutnik, L. Svarovsky, Ν. Baxa, J. Strunec, L. Matl, J. Chvala. During her studies she conducted a lot of Czech orchestras such as: Chamber Prague Symphonic Orchestra, Chamber Philharmonic orchestra Pardubice, Plzen Philharmonic orchestra, Philharmonic orchestra Hradec Kralove. In cooperation with the Opera Studio TON (Academy of Music Art) she worked up the Donizetti operas: “La Serva Padrona”, and “Livieti di Traccolo”. In 2008 she attended the International opera Master class laded by N.Baxa in Usti nad Labem. Valentina regularly cooperate with chamber orchestra Quatro, Prague Royal Orchestra and Symphonic orchestra of Jindrichuv Hradec. Since 2009 she cooperated with dramatically theatres s Artistic Director and supervisor.
2009 - Theatre Comedy the piece “Left Right Letft”. 2010 Theatre Celetna the drama “Devils” by F. Dostojevsky. In 2009 Valentina founded the Independent Opera Studio, the ensemble that applies to making classic opera in unconventional stage set. With that ensemble Valentina got up operas written by Mozart “Der Schauldspieldirektor”, by A. Salieri “Prima la musica poi le parole”, by J. Bizzet “Carmen”, ‘The children’s opera’ by B. Britten, “The little sweep” and the opera Buffa by J. Puccini “Gianni Schicchi”.

Box Office Bookings

Nicosia:
Pallas Cinema - Theatre
Tel.: 22410181

Larnaca:
Larnaca Municipal Theatre
Tel.: 24665795

Limassol:
Rialto Theatre
Tel.: 77777745

Municipal Garden Theatre
Tel.: 25582268, 25344341

Paphos:
Citizen’s Information & Service Centre
of the Municipality of Paphos
Tel.: 80008181

Within the framework of Kypria Festival 2011