Fabio Scoto

In the course of his illustrious career, Fabio Biondi has nurtured a remarkable empathy with Italian music from across many centuries, but strikingly so with the early Baroque violin sonata repertory, the development of which was dramatically propelled into the future by Arcangelo Corelli with his Op 5 collection. It is this empathy possessed by Biondi which has inspired the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (from its bowed instrument collection) to make him a loan of the precious 1690 “Tuscan” violin made by Antonio Stradivari, for this Glossa recording.

At Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, maestro Fabio Luisi gives “a superb performance” (Operawire) of Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), the forerunner of grand Wagnerian dramas. His Italian Richard Wagner debut is infused with energy and drive, under his direction the orchestra and chorus of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, together with Coro Ars Lyrica, sparkle “in what was a five star performance” (Operawire). Thomas Gazheli stars as the Dutchman, who has been condemned to endlessly wander the seas until the day of Judgement. Marjorie Owens shines as his saviour Senta.

Attorno alla metà del '700 Baldassare Galuppi (1706-1785) era il compositore più completo, di maggiore successo, e il più significativo dell'Italia settentrionale. La fama della sua attività come compositore di opere serie giunse a Londra, dove fu chiamato nel 1741, e a S. Pietroburgo dove Caterina di Russia lo volle nel 1765.Nel 1749 Galuppi iniziò la collaborazione, assai fruttifera, con Carlo Goldoni, dalla quale trasse materia per una dozzina di opere buffe, genere al quale il "Buranello" attese nella parte finale della propria carriera.

Padre Fábio de Melo, banda e convidados gravaram no Credicard Hall, em SP, os novos DVD, BLU-RAY e CD com o título “Iluminar ao Vivo”. No repertório, canções que fizeram parte do CD gravado em estúdio, como “Iluminar”, de sua autoria, “Sim à vida”, em parceria com Lu Cardoso, “Novo tempo”, sucesso de Ivan Lins e Vitor Martins, além de “Incendeia minha alma” e “Viver pra mim é Cristo”, faixas mais executadas do álbum.

There is no complete surviving score for Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte, but there is enough existing material that modern scholars have been able to reconstruct it primarily by making new settings of the lost recitatives. The first production of the opera since Vivaldi's time was at Spoleto in 2006 in a version by Alessandro Ciccolini, which was released as a DVD. Conductor Fabio Biondi made a version introduced in Venice in 2007, which is recorded on this 2010 Virgin CD. Biondi's recording has the advantage of two international superstars in the leading roles, tenor Rolando Villazón and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, and soprano Diana Damrau is nearly in their league. Villazón's earthy voice is usually associated with 19th century and verismo Italian repertoire, but he has an acute sensitivity to Baroque vocal style, and his robust, almost baritonal tenor is entirely appropriate for a larger-than-life character like Hercules.

The Teatro Comunale di Bologna mounted this handsome production of Vincenzo Bellini's seminal 1831 opera Norma in April 2008. As directed by Federico Tiezzi, it stars Fabio Armiliato as Pollione, Rafal Siwek as Oroveso and Daniela Dessì in the title role. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna provide symphonic accompaniment, with Paolo Vero serving as choral master and Evelino Pido conducting.

Here from the iconic Verona arena is Charles Gounod’s masterpiece Roméo & Juliette, performed there for the first time since 1977. This new production was entrusted to Italian director Francesco Micheli, making his arena debut, who opted for a personal, highly original version: “An arena within the Arena, like a blood-red Elizabethan theatre. A senescent world that will not let its own children live.”