CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Venice Baroque Orchestra
The Swedish Nightingale
Part of: Baroque Unlimited
Performers
Venice Baroque Orchestra
Gianpiero Zanocco, Concertmaster and Leader
Ann Hallenberg, Mezzo-Soprano
Program
VIVALDI Sinfonia in B Minor for Strings and Continuo, RV 168
HANDEL "Dopo l'orrore" from Ottone
TORRI "Quando il flebile usignolo" from L'Ippolito
VIVALDI Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins, Strings, and Continuo, RV 514
VIVALDI "Gelido in ogni vena" from Farnace
VIVALDI "Armatae face" from Juditha Triumphans, RV 644
VIVALDI Concerto in D Major for Strings and Continuo, RV 121
HANDEL "Crude furie" from Serse
HANDEL "Vieni, o figlio" from Ottone
VIVALDI Concerto in C Major for Strings and Continuo, RV 114
HANDEL "Scherza infida" from Ariodante
BROSCHI "Son qual nave" from Artaserse
Encores:
PORPORA “In braccio a mille furie” from Semiramide riconosciuta
HANDEL "Lascia ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.This concert is supported, in part, by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
In honor of the centenary of his birth, Carnegie Hall’s 2019–2020 season is dedicated to the memory of Isaac Stern in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to Carnegie Hall, arts advocacy, and the field of music.
At a Glance
Tonight’s concert pays homage to the legendary Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, who beguiled audiences on both sides of the Atlantic with her virtuosity, sweetness of tone, and grace of character. In 1850, the “Swedish nightingale” embarked on a marathon tour of the US, initially under the auspices of P. T. Barnum, that jolted Americans’ sluggish love affair with opera into high gear. Although Lind’s repertoire centered on 19th-century bel canto opera and extended back no earlier than Mozart, her phenomenal celebrity recalled that of the legendary 18th-century castrati and divas for whom Vivaldi, Handel, and their contemporaries wrote some of their greatest music.
In the spirit of Lind’s popular potpourri programs—which typically mixed opera arias and folksongs with miscellaneous instrumental pieces—Ann Hallenberg and the Venice Baroque Orchestra intersperse selections from various Baroque operas and oratorios with four of Vivaldi’s instrumental concertos. Many of the latter were written for the talented female pupils of Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage and conservatory for girls where the composer served, on and off, as violin master. Whether vocal or instrumental, Baroque music is characterized by richly embellished melodies, clear-cut rhythms, and expressive, often intensely dramatic harmonies.
Bios
Gianpiero Zanocco
A member of the Venice Baroque Orchestra (VBO) since 2003, violinist Gianpiero Zanocco has performed as concertmaster with the orchestra throughout Europe, Asia, and the US. Not only a frequent soloist with VBO, he also performs with Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca, L’Arte dell’Arco, and Il Pomo d’Oro. Mr. Zanocco has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics, Amadeus Records, Brilliant Classics, and ORT.
A native of Castelfranco Veneto, where he studied violin with Michele Lot and graduated with honors from the Conservatorio Agostino Steffani, Mr. Zanocco won several competitions, including first prize at the Mario Benvenuti Violin Competition in Vittorio Veneto, first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition Pinerolo e Torino Città Metropolitana, and first prize at the Carlo Soliva International Music Contest.
He performs Classical repertoire for violin and fortepiano with multi-instrumentalist Anna Fusek, with whom he recently recorded an album devoted to Mozart’s sonatas.
Ann Hallenberg
Swedish mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg regularly appears in opera houses such as Teatro alla Scala, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Real, Theater an der Wien, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra National de Paris, Opéra National de Lyon, Théâtre de La Monnaie, Dutch National Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, and Royal Swedish Opera. She also performs regularly at the Salzburg, Verbier, and Edinburgh festivals.
Ms. Hallenberg’s operatic repertoire includes a large number of roles by Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, and Massenet. Equally at home on the concert stage, she frequently appears in concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and North America. She has built an unusually vast repertoire that spans music from 17th-century works by Monteverdi and Cavalli to contemporary works by Franz Waxman and Daniel Börtz, via works by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Mahler, and Chausson.
Ms. Hallenberg has worked with such legendary conductors as Fabio Biondi, William Christie, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Emmanuelle Haïm, Philippe Herreweghe, Andrea Marcon, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Muti, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Antonio Pappano, Christophe Rousset, and Alberto Zedda. She has recorded more than 40 CDs and DVDs that feature music by Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn, Gluck, Rossini, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Bruckner, among others. At the International Opera Awards in 2016, her solo disc Agrippina won the award for Best Operatic Recital—her second win in the category.
Venice Baroque Orchestra
Founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the Venice Baroque Orchestra (VBO) is recognized as one of the finest period instrument ensembles. The orchestra has received critical acclaim for its concert and opera performances throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, and has appeared in more cities across the US than any other Baroque orchestra in history.
Committed to rediscovering 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces under Mr. Marcon’s leadership, the VBO has given the modern premieres of Cavalli’s Orione; Vivaldi’s L’Atenaide and Andromeda liberata; Benedetto Marcello’s La morte d’Adone and Il trionfo della poesia, e della musica; and Boccherini’s La Clementina. With Teatro La Fenice, the orchestra has staged Cimarosa’s L’olimpiade, Handel’s Siroe (which was reprised at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), and Galuppi’s L’olimpiade. The orchestra is the subject of three recent video recordings, and its performances were also featured on Swiss TV in the documentary film by Richard Dindo, Vivaldi in Venice.
In 2018, VBO embarked on two tours with countertenor Franco Fagioli, with concerts in the UK, Slovenia, France, Japan, and China. Its annual US tour featured multi-instrumentalist Anna Fusek on recorders. VBO has performed at the George Enescu Festival with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, the Grafenegg Festival with harpist Xavier de Maistre, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival with mandolinist Avi Avital.
In recent seasons, VBO has performed Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican Centre, and the Palais des Beaux-Arts, marking the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the oratorio’s premiere in Venice. It also has given performances with violinist Viktoria Mullova in Vienna and Budapest. On recent tours, the group visited 18 US cities with violinist Nicola Benedetti, and Japan with mandolinist Avi Avital. The orchestra has collaborated on tours to Europe, the US, and Asia with renowned artists, including countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, soprano Karina Gauvin, violinist Robert McDuffie, Ms. Kožená, and Mr. Avital.