Italian pianists Bellini and Vitelli at CCP
The works of the four most famous Italian composers of the 19th century Ñ Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini Ñ will be showcased in Four Hands at the Opera on July 13, 7:30 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Little Theater.
The program will feature four fantasies taken from the most popular and famous works of this famous quartet of composers which spectacularly showcase sparkling music and high melodrama, to be performed by conductor, pianist and composer Luciano Bellini with concert pianist and recording artist Antonellia Vitelli.
Bellini's works have been executed in nearly all Western countries, in the Middle and Far East and in South America, and have also been recorded by several national broadcasting stations and networks. He is the permanent conductor of Nova Philarmonia as well as guest conductor or soloist for many European, Asian and Latin-American Orchestras. He and Vitelli co-founded the Italian Pianistic Duo.
As an added bonus, the year being the bicentenary of Giuseppe VerdiÕs birth, the program has been further enriched with the overture taken from Forza del Destino and with his only two piano solos found so far. They are Romance sans Paroles, which is rarely performed and is a short and inspired page of an intimate nature and in an unequivocally Verdi style; and Waltz in F Major, used and orchestrated a century later by Nino Rota for the famous scene of the Grand Ball in the movie The Leopard, directed by Luchino Visconti.
The aim of this chamber music concert is to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of the great master from Busseto and at the same time add the prestigious figure of Luchino Visconti in a performance dedicated to the excellence of Italian art and culture.
Luciano Bellini has realized all the musical arrangements and four-hands piano transcriptions, dedicating them to 'Duo Pianistico Italiano and to anyone who wishes to explore the kaleidoscopic world of the 19th century Italian Opera.
A co- production of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), Philippine Italian Association (PIA), Rustan's, the Embassy of Italy, in cooperation with The Peninsula Manila as the hotel sponsor, and Ralph's Wines & Spirits, the event is being staged for the beneÞt of the PIA Endowment Fund.
Tickets are priced at P1,000 (center and left) and P800.00 (right) and are available at CCP Box Office (832-3706), Ticketworld (891-9999), Secretariat c/o Lulu Casas (895-2109/2404) and the PIA office c/ o Marisa Ronquillo (815-1310).