Name: Daniele Callegari conducts Bizet and Čajkovskij
Start: 2026-09-27T17:00:00
Location: Teatro Malibran

Daniele Callegari

Teatro La Fenice

L’elisir d’amore (The Love Potion) premiered at Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, on May 12, 1832. Its score, abounding in charming melodies, is arguably the most pleasing that Donizetti ever wrote in the comic genre. In the first act, the self-introductory tirade for the quack Doctor Dulcamara and his duet with the poor lad Nemorino, who is hopelessly in love with the fickle village belle Adina, are remarkable for animation. Highlights in the second act are the chorus, “Cantiamo, facciam brindisi”; the barcarole “Io son ricco e tu sei bella”; the quartet “Dell’elisir mirabile”; the duet between Adina and Dulcamara “Quanto amore”; and finally the delicate ballad for Nemorino “Una furtiva lagrima”, a stalwart in the tenor repertoire.

L'elisir d'amore

Teatro Malibran

Ettore Pagano e Massimo Spada

Performed for the first time at Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, Pagliacci is a manifesto of the Giovane Scuola. However, the grim story narrated by Leoncavallo develops through a musical dramaturgy with characters that were remarkably innovative for that period, so much so that they can be considered an anticipation of aspects that will be found in a reworked form in early twentieth century theatre. The fall of the so-called ‘fourth wall’ – with the appearance outside the curtain of the Prologue, which disqualifies the theatrical conception of the author –, the tragic reality that bursts onto the scene of the comedy, when Canio’s jealousy results in the double murder of Nedda and her lover, are all precursors of Pirandello’s ‘metateatro’ or theatre within theatre. In the same way, the crime of passion, physical deformity as a sign of inner perversion, and the squalid life of comedians are all themes that are present in this single act, all of which will be found in various authors of early twentieth century Expressionism: from Berg to Hindemith, and the pair Brecht and Weill. As for the Commedia dell ‘Arte stock characters evoked by Leoncavallo’s tale, they in particular will go on to be a source of inspiration for composers such as Malipiero, Strauss, Busoni, and Casella. All of this shows that, his immediate melodic appeal aside (a mention of ‘Vesti la giubba’ suffices, which is so popular with the general public), the masterpiece of the Neapolitan composer deserves a more careful evaluation.

Pagliacci

Quartetto Rilke

Alessandro Carbonare, Francesca Dego and Alessandro Taverna

Daniele Callegari conducts Bizet and Čajkovskij

Neil Thomson conducts Rimsky-Korsakov, Rodrigo and Elgar

The musicians are classically-trained performers deeply interested in the process of creative expression… of looking INSIDE and OUT… with intensity at things, searching for echoes, resonance – insights. They have been playing together since 2008 and have not, in that time, lost their love of experimentation. Rich and colourful compositions from both musicians can be heard, inspired improvisation and intuitive musicality unite to become a harmonious entity while unimaginable sounds are coaxed from the instruments

Stockhausen - Weber - Heral - INSIDE OUT

Particularly intriguing is the diptych, presented at the Teatro Goldoni, composed of The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti and – staged for the very first time now in Venice – Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein: two single acts, which satirise certain recurring quirks in American society around the middle of the twentieth century. The hilarious The Telephone ridicules one of the small vices of the time: telephonic prolixity. The absolute protagonist is Lucy who communicates, over the phone, with Margaret – singing neoclassical arias à la Stravinsky – or with Pamela – singing to the rhythm of a polytonal waltz – or with Ben – accompanied by a ‘romantic’ clarinet. Lucy’s melodic élan is accompanied by an extensively lively orchestra in a largely tonal context. In Trouble in Tahiti, his ‘operatic debut’, a young Bernstein offers a gloomy and disturbing picture of society and, at the same time, of his family, with hints of almost self-punishing sarcasm. Through the marital crisis of a well-to-do bourgeois couple, Dinah and Sam – who represent the musician’s parents – Bernstein not only publicly shames the post-war, consumerist and elitist American society, but the American Dream itself. In this short but rather ‘dark’ musical – where a vocal jazz trio comments on the vicissitudes of the two protagonists – the great Lenny stands out with the refined eclecticism of his language – which sees the Tahiti rumba side-by-side with American swing – foreshadowing masterpieces, such as Candide and West Side Story.

The telephone & Trouble in Tahiti

Teatro Goldoni

The Kammerballett Hamburger debuts in Venice. Founded in 2022 by Edvin Revazov, with the valuable support of Isabelle Rohlfs and John Neumeier, to react to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and welcome displaced Ukrainian dancers with the language of art, the ensemble aims to connect its repertoire of classical and contemporary dance to socially relevant themes. Eight dancers will be performing at the Malibran Theatre, – accompanied on piano by Michal Bialk – in two choreographies by John Neumeier, a master at combining classical tradition and modern forms in his creations and expressing himself with a highly personal language. The first is Hamlet Connotations, to the music of Aaron Copland, testimony to Neumeier’s interest in the famous Shakespearean tragedy which was a source of inspiration to him for various dance performances over the years: starting with Hamlet Connotations (1976) up to the most recent Hamlet 21 in 2021. The second is Petruška Variations, a ballet, also from 1976, modelled on Igor Stravinsky’s Trois mouvements de Petrouchka.

Hamburger Kammerballett

In 2024 and 2025 the Marcin Wasilewski Trio is celebrating their 30th of their extraordinary music journey. Established in 1990 by 15 years old students of music high school: pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, who were joined in 1994 by drummer Michal Miskiewicz (17 years old at the time), has been playing in this unchanged line-up ever since. The trio has achieved international recognition for their exceptional talent and ability to captivate audiences, leaving a lasting impression with their powerful and emotionally charged performance with depth and sheer musicality.

Marcin Wasilewski trio

Choreographers and dancers Simone Repele and Sasha Riva bring their moving production Dear Son to the stage of Teatro Malibran. At the heart of this poignant work lies a story of memory and hope — the portrait of a family devastated by the loss of a son who has gone to war. Past dreams and future aspirations are shattered, suspended in a present marked by stillness and sorrow.