The seventh edition of “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” has been organized for the first time in collaboration with Fondazione Prada.
The public was invited to attend the whole rehearsals and concerts process that was focused on Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi: from the introduction of the opera with Riccardo Muti on 4 December, to the rehearsals from 5 to 11 December and the final concerts on 14 and 15 December, the first one directed by Riccardo Muti and the second one conducted by young conductors.
The wide and adaptable spaces of Deposito within Fondazione Prada’s venue welcomed Riccardo Muti, who conducted the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and undertook a training project addressed to young conductors and répétiteurs from all over the world.
The focus on the musical education of young generations has always been a key aspect in Muti’s artistic activity. Through the Italian Opera Academy established in 2015, he intends to transfer to young musicians what he learned from great masters, along an ideal line that connects him to Giuseppe Verdi through Arturo Toscanini and his teacher Antonino Votto.
Among hundreds of applications arrived through an open call, participants have been selected by an examining board chaired by Maestro Muti. Candidates are required to have an age between 18 and 35 years and to be graduated in Conducting or Piano, in Italy or abroad. The project consists of rehearsals with singers, readings, orchestra rehearsals and the final performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco as a concert.
The young conductors who took turns in conducting the final concert are: Giuseppe Famularo (Italy), Henry Kennedy (Great Britain), Elinor Rufeizen (Israel), Cristian Spătaru (Romania) and CJ Wu (Taiwan).
The young répétiteurs who participated in the rehearsal process are: Raffaella Angelastri, Giacomo Anglani, Filippo Bittasi, Linda Piana and Cecilia Pronzato. The performers of the opera Nabucco include: Serban Vasile (Nebuchadnezzar), Azer Zada (Ismaele), Riccardo Zanellato (Zaccaria), Gabrielle Mouhlen (Abigaille), Francesca Di Sauro (Fenena), Andrea Vittorio De Campo (Il Gran Prierdote Di Belo), Giacomo Leone (Abdallo) and Vittoria Magnarello (Anna)
Riccardo Muti Music (RMMUSIC) conceived and created the “Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy” in 2015. Since then, it has followed the organization in Italy and Japan, where the project has been presented from 2019 in collaboration with the Spring Festival of Tokyo. As in the previous years, RMMUSIC will be engaged in making the experience available to an even wider audience, through the media.