“Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” is an educational project aimed at young conductors and repetiteurs, through which Riccardo Muti transfers his experience on Italian opera to the new generations.
The 2023 edition, dedicated to Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, took place from 18 to 29 November at Fondazione Prada.
Riccardo Muti’s focus on music education has always been a constant element of his artistic activity. Every year with “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” he intends to share with young musicians what he learnt from his great masters and to accompany them in the process of interpreting and performing an opera at the helm of the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini.
The 2023 edition of the Academy was inaugurated by a lesson concert by Riccardo Muti dedicated to the opera Norma. From 19 to 25 November, it continues with a series of open rehearsals held by the Maestro at the piano or with the orchestra, the singers and the choir addressed to the young musicians. The project concludes with two events: on Sunday 26 November, the final rehearsal of the young conductors presented by Riccardo Muti and on Wednesday 29 November a concert conducted by the Maestro.
The 2023 selected young conductors are: Clancy Ellis (United States), Remi Geniet (France), Massimiliano Iezzi (Italy) and Izabela Kociolek (Poland). The selected young répétiteurs are: Michelangelo D’Adamo (Italy), Nadia Kisseleva (Russia), Giovanni Alberto Manerba (Italy) and Manuel Navarro Bracho (Spain).
As stated by Miuccia Prada, “the collaboration with Riccardo Muti and his Academy affirms the centrality of teaching and transferring knowledge between different generations. This project is an important educational opportunity, both for the young students who will have the opportunity to work closely with Riccardo Muti and for the public who will be engaged by the Maestro’s passion and his commitment to spreading musical culture.”
As Riccardo Muti explained “I chose Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma to highlight the composer’s bel canto, which the work perfectly embodies. It is an extremely challenging opera that requires great attention to phrasing and the orchestral texture, which are apparently simple but extraordinarily effective in supporting and interweaving with the vocal line. Norma’s sublime and infinite melody, which also fascinated Richard Wagner, demands purity and nobility of execution. The conductor’s job is to sublimate the singing without neglecting the orchestral texture. It should not be reduced to a mere accompaniment but must intertwine with the voices, which should be given color and warmth”.
Riccardo Muti Music (RMMUSIC) conceived and created “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” in 2015.
Since then, it has managed its organization in Italy and Japan, where the project has been presented since 2019 in collaboration with the Spring Festival in Tokyo.