Shakespeare Inspires (Nicosia)

Soloists
Stella Georgiou (soprano)
David Johnson (tenor)
Constantinos Yiannoudis (baritone)
Dakis Troullos (bassoon)

Artistic director & conductor: Ayis Ioannides

Programme
F. MENDELSSOHN: Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61, No 9

G. VERDI:
from the opera Macbeth:
Aria Macduff: Ah, la paterna mano
Aria Macbeth: Pietà, respetto, amore

from the opera Otello:
Duet Otello-Desdemona
Già nella notte
Aria Jago: Credo in un Dio crudel
Desdemona Scene: Salce, salce and Ave Maria

C. M.WEBER Allegro ma non troppo from Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra in F major, Op. 75

P.I. TCHAIKOVSKY: Overture – Fantasy Romeo and Juliet

The list of composers and works inspired by Shakespeare’s dramas is very lengthy. Chronologically it covers four centuries and the works span a wide spectrum of musical genres, from the Masques of Purcell (a kind of English musical theatre of the 17th century), incidental music for dramatic performances, operas and symphonic works of Berlioz, Verdi, Gounod, Tchaikovsky and other composers of the romantic era, Bernstein’s famous musical West side story to the late 20th century opera King Lear by Reimann.

The programme presented by the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra is centred around romantic works of three genres.

Mendelssohn’s Wedding March is part of his incidental music to A midsummer night’s dream and is one of the two solemn marches most often played at wedding ceremonies (the other comes from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin).

Verdi, the leading composer of Italian opera, was a passionate admirer of Shakespeare. He wrote Macbeth early in his career, but such was his conviction in the quality of the work that he revised it several years later and produced the version which is normally played today. Otello on the other hand is a product of his mature years and was destined to be his penultimate work, followed Falstaff, not a tragedy, but based on Shakespeare’s comedy The merry wives of Windsor.

Tchaikovsky’s boundless talent to express tragedy worked wonders in the creation of his Fantasy-Overture Romeo and Juliet to produce one of the most dramatically shattering works of the repertoire, set in an admirable, tightly wrought symphonic form.

The Soloists:
Stella Georgiou was born in Limassol and studied in Thessaloniki and in Italy. She also attended master classes given by distinguished teachers such as Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballé and Maria Chiara. She is now refining further her repertory under the guidance of Cheryl Studer in Germany and Susanna Rigacci in Italy. She won prizes as several Italian opera competitions and has appeared in such venues and events as the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow and the Rossini Festival in Stuttgart. On tour in Latin America she sang leading roles in operas by Mozart and Donizetti. In Cyprus she appeared with the Mariinsky Theatre in the role of Oscar in Verdi’s opera Un Ballo in Maschera at the Pafos Aphrodite festival, as well as in concerts of the Cyprus State Orchestra.

David Johnson was born in the Netherlands. After living for a few years in Paris he moved with his family to the U.S. He is currently studying at the famous Music School at Indiana University under the tutelage of former Metropolitan Opera tenor Carlos Montane. David has performed in concerts in, Bloomington, Seattle, Las Vegas, Mendocino as well as in Weimar and Bremen in Germany. In summer 2009 he will appear as Paris in Offenbach’s "LA BELLE HELENE" in south France and in concerts in Vianden, Luxembourg and Trier, Germany. David belongs to the new generation of highly promising opera artists

Born in Limassol, Constantinos Yiannoudis received his first singing lessons from Ioli Mousteri before continuing his training in the U.S., culminating in a doctorate in Musical Arts from the New York City University. He has interpreted with great success major roles in more than 400 performances of opera and in concerts in the U.S. in venues such as the Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall of the Lincoln Center in New York, Bruno Walter Auditorium, San Francisco Opera etc. The young baritone has been universally praised by the critics for «a fascinating combination of charm and menace», «a creamy and noble sound», «remarkable sparkle». In Cyprus he performed as Don Pasquale at the side of his first teacher Ioli Mousteri and in a recital with the distinguished pianist Marios Papadopoulos.

Dakis Troullos, was born in Cyprus 1992 into a musical family and from the age of 5 he started receiving his first musical training from his parents. He is now studying bassoon with Giovanni Galetti, on scholarship at the Music Workshop of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra. His contact the distinguished Finnish conductor, Kalervo Kulmala, and the oboist Kostadin Iotzov gave him additional important artistic impulses. From 2004, he is the principal bassoonist of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra and participates every year in the Orchestra’s International Summer Music Academy. He was also a member of the Jena Youth Symphony Orchestra (summer of 2007). Dakis’ performances have been praised for both character and genuineness.

The event is part of the Kypria International Festival 2009.