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LUISA MILLER: FROM SCHILLER TO VERDI TO CHICAGO

LUISA MILLER: FROM SCHILLER TO VERDI TO CHICAGO

Thursday, October 24th at 6pm
Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago – 500 N Michigan Ave, Suite 1450

Presented on the occasion of the 19th edition of the Italian Language Week in the World, presented under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy. This year’s edition will take place from October 21 to 27th and will have as its theme, “Italian on the Stage.”

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This event is also presented on the occasion of the production of “Luisa Miller,” which is being performed October 12-31 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Coinciding with the production of Verdi’s early opera Luisa Miller at the Lyric Opera of Chicago (October 12-31), this presentation will feature musicologist Jesse Rosenberg, who will discuss the background and significance of the work, and Enrique Mazzola, conductor of the Luisa Miller ​performances and Music Director-designate of the company (he assumes full-time duties as Music Director beginning with the 2021-22 season), who will offer his insights into this neglected Verdian masterpiece.

Professor Jesse Rosenberg received his PhD from New York University, and has been on the musicology faculty of Northwestern University since 1998. Both as a scholar and teacher he specializes in 19th-century Italian opera, and has published his researches on Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, and Mascagni, as well as studies on opera and religion.

Eminent Italian conductor Enrique Mazzola has been named as Lyric’s music director designate, effective immediately, and will become Lyric’s music director beginning with the 2021/22 season. Lyric audiences first experienced Mazzola’s artistry when he conducted Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor here in 2016/17, and when he returned for Bellini’s I puritani in 2017/18. In Lyric’s 2019/20 season he leads Verdi’s Luisa Miller to launch the company’s early Verdi series.

Widely recognized as one of today’s foremost interpreters and champions of bel canto opera and a leading specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi, the eminent Italian maestro is in high demand worldwide as both an operatic and symphonic conductor. He is principal guest conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and until recently served as artistic and music director of the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France (ONDIF) in Paris. In recognition of his significant contribution to musical life in France, Mazzola was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in October 2018.

In 2019 he returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Donizetti’s La fille du regiment (featured in its 2018/2019 cinema season), followed by back-to-back summer engagements – both critically-acclaimed new productions — in Austria. First was Mazzola’s return to the Bregenz Festival for Rigoletto, followed by his Salzburg Festival debut in August, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Barrie Kosky’s new staging of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.

Lyric audiences first experienced Mazzola’s artistry when he conducted Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor here in 2016/17, and when he returned for Bellini’s I puritani in 2017/18. In Lyric’s 2019/20 season he leads Verdi’s Luisa Miller to launch the company’s early Verdi series.

Mazzola’s 2019/20 season also includes his return to the Zurich Opera House (Don Pasquale, new production), Vienna Symphony Orchestra for concerts at the Musikverein and Bregenz Festival, Deutsche Oper Berlin (Meyerbeer’s Le prophète and Dinorah), Orchestre Symphonique de Quebéc, Glyndebourne Festival Opera (L’elisir d’amore), Taiwan Philharmonic, and symphonic concerts in Germany. Future plans include his return to London Philharmonic, both in London and on tour in Europe.

Recent seasons have included engagements with the Vienna State Opera (Don Pasquale), Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Oslo Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, New Japan Philharmonic, Taipei Symphony, Brussels Philharmonic, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mazzola’s return engagements have included the Zurich Opera House (Turco in Italia, Maria Stuarda, Il barbiere di Siviglia, I puritani), Bregenz Festival (Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto), Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Oper Berlin (most recently for a new production of Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann), Norske Opera (Don Giovanni), the Vienna Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, São Paulo State Symphony, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (The Barber of Seville).

Mazzola’s final season with Orchestre National d’Île de France included recordings, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Cédric Tiberghien, and works by Respighi, of whose compositions he is an acclaimed interpreter. Highlights of previous seasons with ONDIF included a concert version of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, recordings and concerts in Paris, including their sold-out Philharmonie de Paris series.

Past opera engagements have also included the Rossini Opera Festival (La gazzetta), Theatre des Champs-Elysées (Tancredi, Don Pasquale, La scala di seta, L’occasione fa il ladro, Il signor Bruschino), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Dinorah in concert, The Barber of Seville, The Flying Dutchman, Falstaff, Vasco da Gama), and the Bolshoi Theatre (La sonnambula). Mazzola has led earlier performances at Glyndebourne Festival Opera of Don Pasquale, Poliuto, L’elisir d’amore, and The Barber of Seville. Additional opera credits include Florence’s Teatro del Maggio Musicale (L’italiana in Algeri), New National Theatre Tokyo (Don Giovanni), Opera du Rhin (Macbeth, La Cenerentola), and Milan’s La Scala (Don Pasquale).

Major European festival appearances have included Falstaff at the Aix-en-Provence Festival; Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Enescu Festival and Haydn Festival with Orchestre National d’Île de France; BBC Proms, Munich’s Opernfestspiele, Rossini Opera Festival, Biennale of Venice, Wexford Opera Festival, Festival de Granada, and Les Chorégies d’Orange.

An accomplished interpreter of contemporary music, Mazzola has commissioned and conducted several premieres with ONDIF and has founded Île de Créations, a competition for young composers. He conducted the world premieres of Alberto Colla’s Il processo at La Scala, Il re nudo by Luca Lombardi at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Medusa by Arnaldo de Felice at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Isabella by Azio Corghi at the Rossini Opera Festival, and many other symphonic premieres with major European orchestras.

Mazzola was born in Barcelona, Spain, into a musical family. Growing up in Milan, he studied violin and piano, completing his studies at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, earning diplomas in composition and orchestral conducting. As a child he was a member of the Teatro alla Scala children’s chorus, during which time he also served as a soloist. He cherished the opportunity to work with prominent conductors and directors (including Abbado, Kleiber, Osawa, Strehler), ultimately confirming his interest in pursuing a conducting career and his wish to become a creative member of the opera world.

Friends of the Institute are eligible to receive 20% off the price of tickets for this production at Lyric Opera by using promo code ITALIANO20. For tickets to Lyric Opera, please visit https://www.lyricopera.org

Free and open to the public
RSVP at https://luisamiller.eventbrite.com