Professor of the Giuseppe Verdi Milan Conservatory and chief conductor of the Gioachino Rossini Symphony Orchestra in Pesaro, the classical composer’s hometown, Daniele Agiman will lead the Kharkiv master class, to run for six days and end with a gala concert. By the way, the maestro is now performing successfully at the AVE VERDI festival, having conducted operas Rigoletto and Masquerade at the National Opera of Ukraine, and Requiem at the Donbass Opera on October 22. Let us recall that Agiman is already well-known among Donetsk music fans who remember his part in the joint Ukrainian-Italian project to perform Little Solemn Mass by Rossini. The Italian conductor will take the stand at the Kharkiv Opera on October 26 to direct Rigoletto, while on November 2 the maestro will supervise 10 conductors from around the world taking turns to direct the Youth Academic Symphony Orchestra “Virtuosos of Sloboda Ukraine.”
“It is the first ever such project not only for Ukraine, but for the entire world as well,” the project’s superintendent and director of the “Virtuosos of Sloboda Ukraine” Taras KUTSENKO maintained.
“It is great to see international support for the master class,” director of the Kharkiv Oblast Administration’s Department of Culture Dmytro KUZNETSOV stressed, “as it will allow the Youth Symphony Orchestra to compare its creative potential with competitors’ and to have foreign experts evaluate its performance. By the way, quite a few foreign orchestras will never allow an outside conductor to experiment with them! However, our young musicians will get this opportunity. The maestros who will come here differ in style and conducting technique, they are highly individual in their ways. To adapt to ten different souls will be a unique experience for the orchestra.”
Let us recall that the music world celebrates anniversaries of three great Italian composers this year, marking 200 years since Verdi’s birth, 155th birth anniversary of Giacomo Puccini and 150th birth anniversary of Pietro Mascagni.
“The master class to be held in Ukraine is the first ‘seed’ of significant projects that are born in Kharkiv to be implemented by the Youth Symphony Orchestra. I am sure this project will succeed,” the project’s art director, general producer of opera seasons in Lecce (Italy) Carlo Antonio de Lucia remarked.
A concert dedicated to another significant date, the 175th birth anniversary of the French composer Georges Bizet, became another preparatory event for the master class. Chief conductor of the Dnipropetrovsk Opera Volodymyr Harkusha directed the “Virtuosos of Sloboda Ukraine” during the concert. Harkusha will take part in the international master class and gala concert as well.
The musical evening “Italian Opera Conductors” will be held on November 2, on the stage of the Theater and Concert Center, Small Hall of the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet. The project’s sponsors are the Kharkiv Oblast State Administration’s Department of Culture and Tourism, the Italian Institute of Culture at the Embassy of Italy in Ukraine, Accademia Operistica Internazionale Association, and the Chief Conductors’ Association.
