Mozart in Verona: the Festival returns with new proposals and the bicentenary of Salieri.

The Mozart Festival returns to Verona: now in its sixth edition, it involves twenty-eight partner entities, including for the first time also non-Veronese entities which, under the artistic direction of Michele Magnabosco, will present a festival from January 5th to February 2nd consisting of forty-three events hosted in nineteen locations in Verona. The artistic offering is enriched with the proposal of cinema, dance and cultural events such as readings and guided tours.

Born thanks to the promoters Municipality of Verona, Cariverona Foundation, Philharmonic Academy of Verona and Arena di Verona Foundation, the event is increasingly confirmed as a fixed, eagerly awaited and characterizing event at the start of the artistic and cultural year in Verona, aimed at families, young people and adults. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the death (Legnago, 18 August 1750 – Vienna, 7 May 1825) this year at the celebrations of the genius of Salzburg Mozart in Verona reserves a place of honour for Antonio Salieri from Legnago, a colleague (never a rival!) composer of Mozart in Vienna at the end of the eighteenth century.

"The Mozart Festival - Explains the councilor for culture Marta Ugolini - represents an example of excellence in how to build a cultural event with the involvement of the territory, ensuring a high quality of the proposal and, at the same time, managing to address different audiences by finding languages ​​that can reach everyone. Our thanks to the promoting bodies that have joined the Municipality of Verona to organize an initiative of this magnitude and to the 28 partner bodies, a number that is constantly growing, which add value to the sense of collaboration and shared participation that is the basis of this Festival".

"Mozart in Verona once again - highlights the president of the 4th council commission Pietro Giovanni Trincanato - confirms itself as a winning format, which is increasingly able to involve entities ready to collaborate together and to make available to the public a program that is richer and of higher quality every year. An appreciated event, whose appointments are often sold out. The Festival is the proof that when the city puts its best talents to work together the result is extraordinary".

THE INAUGURATION

On January 5th, at 20:30 pm, in the Sala Maffeiana of the Teatro Filarmonico, as per tradition (it was right there, on this date, that Mozart's first concert in Verona, when he was little more than a boy, in 1770), The Accademia Filarmonica di Verona will open the festival with Rosso Verona Baroque Ensemble: Un soffio di Mozart.

Chamber music for wind instruments and strings, with music by Mozart and Girolamo Salieri. Genius loci also, born in Legnago like his uncle, he established himself as a clarinetist and composer. His Symphony for Clarinet and Orchestra, which remained unpublished and no longer performed by musicians for a long time, leaves the rooms of the library of the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona, where it has been preserved, to be added to this chamber feast of wind and string instruments. The Rosso Verona ensemble, which performs on historical instruments, offers a chamber music program that sees the clarinet and oboe voices shine alongside a more traditional group of string instruments. The Oboe Quartet and the Clarinet Quintet are undoubtedly two of the most brilliant gems of Mozart's chamber music repertoire.

The festival kicks off with the concert promoted by Cariverona, Tuesday 7 January at 20,30 pm in San Tomaso Cantuariense: “Young Mozart. The inspirations of a genius”, with Magdalena Malec, an internationally recognized concert pianist and teacher, on the famous organ played by the Salzburg composer himself on his trip to Verona. Admission to both events is free upon reservation.

INTERNATIONAL GUESTS

On January 13th and 30th at the Philharmonic, Marc Minkowski, leading his Les Musiciens du Louvre, will perform Mozart's last three symphonies. in the second concert promoted by the Accademia Filarmonica, while at the Teatro Ristori the Russian violinist Sergej Krilov will play the first two violin concertos together with I Virtuosi Italiani on January 17th.

MOZART AND SALIERI

The sixth edition of Mozart in Verona reconciles the two composers, Mozart and Salieri, who legend has it were in conflict with each other: precisely on the occasion of the bicentenary of the death of the composer from Legnago, in this new edition of the festival a place of honour is reserved for Antonio Salieri, a leading figure in the European musical panorama in the second half of the eighteenth century and in the early nineteenth century.

The musician will be remembered both by valorising his musical mastery, still unfortunately underestimated by many, and through a reflection on his relationship with Mozart that highlights the links between the two both from a more anecdotal, imaginative and romanticised perspective (although historically unfounded). initiated by Pushkin and explored in depth in the last century by Schaffer and Forman, both in a more accurate and correct historiographical and scientific perspective, which presents Salieri in the right consideration he deserves.

Two conferences at the University of Verona in the Biblioteca Capitolare, a concert (Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto and the wind ensemble of the Fondazione Arena di Verona) and a concert-lesson conceived by Elena Biggi Parodi, one of the world's leading experts on Salieri, with the participation of the Orchestra and Choir of the University of Verona and two works are dedicated to him: from 19 to 26 January, Falstaff in the new production by Fondazione Arena directed by Paolo Valerio and conducted by Francesco Ommassini, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Teatro Filarmonio (1975) and Mozart and Salieri by Rimskij Korsakov at the Ristori with I Virtuosi Italiani, which, starting from Pushkin's drama, creates a bridge with Shaffer's play. Finally, to seal the homage to the composer from Legnago, Fondazione Arena di Verona proposes the screening of a film at the Teatro Filarmonico, on Saturday 18 January.

THE NEWS

It increases the contribution of cultural events, such as readings in the Academy of Agriculture, Science and Letters and the Civic Library (for children), concert-lessons, two thematic guided tours on the musical heritage of the Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare, among the new partners of the festival, and one in the jewel of Veronese Baroque art, San Domenico al Corso.

This edition also attests to the desire of the four promoting and organizing institutions to increasingly expand the offer. Cinema and dance enter, with the participatory dance appointment at the Museo degli Affreschi and the screening of a film on the life of the genius from Salzburg at the Teatro Filarmonico: two new forms of art and creative expressions are added to the prose and musical theatre shows, events for children and young people, concert-lessons, exhibitions, conferences, conventions and book presentations, made possible thanks to the institutions involved.

Among the new partners, in addition to the already mentioned Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare, the Circo Unificato dell'Esercito, Arte3 APS and Verona Piano Festival, there are also non-Veronese entities: the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Ensemble Musagète (among the most interesting chamber music groups in the national panorama) and the Italian Society of Contemporary Music, which will offer a concert in which eight compositions specially commissioned for Mozart in Verona will be presented for the first time ever.

The festival's offering is enriched by concerts by L'Appassionata, Piazza Brass Quintet, Friends of Music and Steinway Society, Literary Society, the “Montanari” Music High School, Bettedavis Duo with an incursion into light music inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnets (a tribute to another genius inextricably linked to Verona) and the now unmissable double appointment with the Scuola Campanaria Verona.

There is also news on the Festival venues, nineteen in total, six more than last year: these are the Biblioteca Capitolare, the Museo degli Affreschi “GB Cavalcaselle”, Aula Magna of the Polo Zanotto of the University of Verona, Halls of the Verona Philharmonic Academy, San Giorgio in Braida, Civic Hall of the Municipality of Zevio.

A GREEN CHOICE

Given the increasingly crowded events in the festival calendar, which is wider, even going beyond the month of February, The promoters have chosen to print the programs in a reduced edition to limit paper consumption: the details of all the events, constantly updated, will be available with QR Code.

YOUNGER (AND SOCIAL)

The festival aims to embrace all age groups, with an increasingly varied and captivating offer. In addition to the eagerly awaited event dedicated to children of Fondazione Arena and Fucina Culturale Machiavelli Baby Mozart k1, k2, k3… stella!, young people are increasingly at the center. This year too they are an integral part of the event, with IUSVE students involved in the organization.

Mozart goes social: the festival has opened a Facebook page and an Instagram channel (@mozartaverona), with which everyone can interact by tagging the page and using the hashtag #mozartaverona.

Information and details on all Mozart events in Verona on www.mozartaverona.it

STATEMENTS

Cecilia Gasdia, Superintendent of the Arena di Verona Foundation: "Also this year we are happy to be part of the Mozart Festival in Verona, an event that, from edition to edition, is enriched with events and partners - declares Cecilia Gasdia, Superintendent of the Arena Foundation–. In January, Fondazione Arena will propose initiatives aimed at all ages for 16 curtain raisers in just three weeks. Chamber music will resume with the professors of the Arena Orchestra, as well as the lyrical and symphonic proposals to which will be added the Arena Young events for children. The original imprint that we wanted to give to the 2025 edition is given by the comparison, undoubtedly compelling, between the genius of Mozart and his contemporary Antonio Salieri, from Verona, 200 years after his death. An unmissable opportunity for rediscovery for everyone".

Filippo Manfredi, General Director of the Cariverona Foundation: "We are convinced that this edition of the festival can mark a further turning point in the path taken so far. Our goal is to make culture, including music, a tool for growth available to everyone, regardless of age or level of education. The involvement of young people, the introduction of new events - ranging from cinema to dance - and social communication are strategies capable of intercepting and enthralling an increasingly wider audience, which goes beyond industry experts. From Mozart's journey to the birth of Salieri, our territory boasts a rich heritage, which however requires innovative and transversal proposals in order to be known and appreciated by everyone. We are therefore happy that Mozart in Verona is going in this direction".

Luigi Tuppini, President of the Philharmonic Academy of Verona: "The Accademia Filarmonica, a direct protagonist of the first meeting between the Salzburg area and the city of Verona in 1770 and co-organizer of Mozart in Verona since the first edition, joyfully and consciously proudly renews its participation in the festival, together with the other three promoting institutions and the many partner organizations, increasingly numerous. This year the contribution of our association is enriched, adding to the traditional concert of January 5th in memory of Mozart's first Italian concert with Rosso Verona Baroque Ensemble the appointment with Marc Minkowski and his Musiciens du Louvre, one of the major international baroque orchestras, a concert of light music inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnets by the Bettedavis Duo, a tribute to another of the great geniuses of humanity linked to our city, and the collaborations with the Ensemble Musagète and the Liceo Musicale “Montanari” of Verona, in support of young and future generations of musicians.. "

Michele Magnabosco, Artistic Director of Mozart in Verona: "With each edition, Mozart a Verona renews itself and grows. Over the years, the offer has become increasingly varied and articulated, crossing the boundary of musical events alone to touch different areas of the proposal of performing arts and the diffusion of culture. This year, two new art forms enrich the festival's parterre, expanding the potential audience: dance and cinema. This is the joint result of the great organizational effort put in place by the four promoting institutions and the spirit of generous participation of the partner entities, confirming the validity of the formula of participatory sharing that has become a "trademark" of the festival.
In this sixth edition, great attention has been paid to a musician linked to Verona and Mozart, a victim of “bad press” since the nineteenth century: Antonio Salieri. In the bicentenary of his death, in fact, Mozart in Verona wants to contribute to “rehabilitating” the composer from Legnago from the image of an envious mediocre man to which he was relegated by Pushkin, handed down to our days in the collective imagination by Miloš Forman with the cinematic masterpiece Amadeus. Concerts, conferences, operas, the lecture-concert Processo a Salieri at the University are sure to succeed in putting in the right light the man who in life was considered one of the most important composers in Europe".