Festival of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino: Saturday, May 7 2022, at 7 pm, the maestro Theodor Guschlbauer,
at the helm of the Choir and the Maggio Orchestra, on the podium of the Teatro della Pergola for the first performance of
Le nozze di Figaro, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The direction, in the staging by Jonathan Miller, is taken up by Georg Rootering.
A tribute to the great director, thirty years after the “historic” installation of 1992.

Florence, May 4, 2022 – Third operatic appointment for the 84th Festival of the Maggio Fiorentino: Saturday, May 7 at 7 pm, maestro Theodor Guschlbauer, at the helm of the Choir and Orchestra del Maggio, on the podium of the Teatro della Pergola for the first recitation of The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart one of the most famous, loved and performed operas in the world. The direction, in the historic staging by Jonathan Miller staged under the direction of Zubin Mehta right at the Pergola for the 55th Festival, in June 1992 – then re-proposed at the Teatro Comunale in 2010 again with Mehta on the podium – is resumed today by Georg Rootering . The essential and figurative scenes are by Peter J. Davison, the period-style costumes by Sue Blane and the lights are curated by Emanuele Agliati. Furthermore, the first performance of the opera in Italy after its debut at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1786 took place precisely at the Teatro della Pergola on 12 June 1788. At Maggio, starting from 1937, in different productions until 2019, this is the ninth time that Mozart’s opera has been put on the bill. On the poster an important singing company with Alessandro Luongo in the role of the Count of Almaviva, Kirsten MacKinnon as The Countess of Almaviva, Luca Micheletti in the role of Figaro, Benedetta Torre in that of Susanna and Serena Malfi in that of Cherubino; Fabio Capitanucci is Don Bartolo, Paolo Antognetti is Basilio. The cast is completed by Carmen Buendìa who is Marcellina, Antonio Garés who is Don Curzio, Rosalia Cìd is Barbarina, Davide Piva is Antonio. Sarina Rausa and Nadia Pirazzini are the two farmers. The Maggio Choir is directed by Lorenzo Fratini.
Three other performances are scheduled: May 11 at 7 pm, replacing the performance originally scheduled for May 19, May 14 at 3:30 pm and May 15, again at 3:30 pm.

For the “Beyond the curtain” culture meetings and lectures on the works and operas of the 84th Maggio Festival organized in collaboration with Publiacqua, on Friday 6 May at 6 pm, the musicologist Maurizio Biondi will speak about the opera. The meeting will take place in the gallery foyer of the Teatro del Maggio with the participation of the singers and pianists of the Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Thanks to the CR Firenze Foundation, the performance of May 11 is on sale with a 50% discount on tickets for each sector.

Maestro Theodor Guschlbauer, who returns a few weeks after his concert at the Mehta Hall on April 6, made his debut in May in 1971, as he himself says: “In fact, long before I conducted an opera completely entrusted to me, which took place in September 2000 when I conducted Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Comunale, directed by Julie Taymor, I made my debut on the podium in place of Claudio Abbado to direct the last performance of Rossini’s Cenerentola, with Teresa Berganza. I was Abbado’s assistant for rehearsals and I was on the harpsichord; he was unable to direct because he had a commitment and so I replaced him. Fifty years have passed since then and I always have wonderful memories “. Born in Vienna in 1939, he took piano and cello lessons before studying conducting with Hans Swarowsky, sharing Swarowsky with two other famous students: Claudio Abbado and Zubin Mehta. He then continues his he studies with Lovro von Matačić and Herbert von Karajan. His first writing gives him the opportunity to conduct the Wiener Volksoper and the Landestheater in Salzburg. He soon became Music Director of the Opéra de Lyon and in 1975 he was appointed “Generalmusikdirektor” in Linz. He reached the position of musical and artistic director of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra between 1983 and 1998 and, from 1997 to 2001, he became artistic and musical director of the Orchester Philharmonique Rhénanie-Palatinat. He conducts many of the most important orchestras including the Wiener Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchester de Paris, the Orchester de la Suisse Romande, the Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, the Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchester of Santa Cecilia in Rome, the RAI Orchestra of Turin, the NHK Orchestra of Tokyo and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He periodically conducts at many festivals, including those in Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Prague, Lucerne and Montreux. He is also guest conductor in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Vienna, Geneva, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris. He has made over sixty recordings, some of which have been awarded by the Grand Prix du Disque. The Goethe Foundation of Basel awarded him with the prestigious “Mozart Prize”, and the Alsace Foundation with its “Honor Prize”. He is also a “Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honor”, the highest honor awarded by the French Republic. “I am very happy to conduct again in Maggio – continues maestro Guschlbauer – because I consider this Orchestra to be truly wonderful. On this occasion then I “discovered” a fantastic choir. This historical installation by Miller is very clean, very beautiful and allows a very clear reading of the plot of the work that works like a perfect mechanism and that we, I wish to underline, execute in its entirety, therefore without any cuts. The whole singing company is extraordinary, both vocally and as a stage presence; they are in fact also very good actors, very, very credible and very well balanced with each other. I am, yes, very satisfied! Speaking of the opera itself, which I have directed many times, I remain very attached to the Viennese tradition in its performance: however, compared to two masters such as Karl Böhm or Bruno Walter, I approach it with a more rapid and modern attitude. ”

Miller’s direction, capable of precisely moving the complex mechanism of games and misunderstandings, was immediately greeted with great success and after being brought to the Teatro Comunale in 2010 with equally great success, it is now taken up by Georg Rootering: “I am very honored to be able to work on this particular production ”said Rootering in the course of one of his analyzes“ to which I am particularly attached because it was my first commitment as an assistant to Jonathan Miller in Vienna. The staging is characterized by the typical english humor and the typical intelligence that distinguish Miller, and on stage we will see a setting based on the time in which the work itself was written: there will be warm colors and magnificent costumes, also to try to understand how the work could ‘appear’ at the time it made its debut on the Viennese stage. I am very happy to be able to do this recovery and after the long period of stoppages imposed by Covid to be able to offer the public, together with the fantastic cast and the Chorus and the Orchestra, this great comedy “.

Alessandro Luongo plays the Count of Almaviva: among the protagonists of the Madama Butterfly staged in December 2021 conducted by Francesco Ivan Ciampa under the direction of Chiara Muti and of the recent symphonic concert on April 10 directed by Sir Mark Philip Elder, he is one of the baritones most promising of his generation and has already had the opportunity to tread some of the most important stages in the world, including Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro alla Scala, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées de Paris and La Fenice in Venice. He has collaborated with directors such as Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, Seiji Ozawa and Bruno Campanella. Dwelling on the characteristics of the character, absolutely the role that Luongo has played several times in his career, the baritone underlined how incredible it is to find, every time, new aspects about it: “I am fascinated every time I play this character and always for different reasons: also on this occasion, thanks to the work done with the master Guschlbauer, I was able to find and enhance lines and aspects that had escaped me. The Mozartian ‘miracle’ that repeats itself, in a nutshell. Also for me it will be the first ever performance on the Pergola stage, a real dream come true.”
Kirsten MacKinnon, making her debut in May, is the Countess of Almaviva, a role played several times by the young Canadian soprano: she studied singing at the “Curtis Institute of Music” in Philadelphia, at the Philadelphia Opera she interpreted the roles of Micaëla in Carmen Bizet and Countess Madeleine in Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. She was Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte for the Toronto Opera and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with the Garsington Opera. Her roles also include Electra in Mozart’s Idomeneo, the homonymous character in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème and Bystrouska in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen. Speaking of her presence in this historic production and the character of the Countess, Kirsten MacKinnon did not hide her emotions: “It is a real pleasure to be part of a wonderful production like this. The set, the costumes and of course the music – it all feels so moving. Mozart is undoubtedly one of my all time favorite composers; he is always declined in so many details and in a lot of fun. I also love when the Countess gets a little ‘bad’. Her social class was extremely strict when it came to behavior, but Mozart was such a cheat that he still gave her slices of delightfully unexpected things. She knows what she wants and is willing to be wildly creative and daring to get it. It’s nice to play such a character ”.

Luca Micheletti, who returns to Maggio after Rigoletto in November 2019 conducted by Renato Palumbo and directed by Francesco Micheli, plays Figaro, one of the most congenial roles for the baritone and in fact says: “For me it is a great joy to return to Florence, this once during the Festival, in a work of the “heart” like The Marriage of Figaro in which I play the title role. I had the opportunity to debut in this wonderful opera with Maestro Muti, in the role of the Count of Almaviva (in the form of a concert in Ravenna), and then I debuted the role of Figaro last summer at the Teatro alla Scala. The two characters are a bit like two sides of the same coin and I think that for an interpreter it is a unique opportunity to be able to enter a work, so fundamental and multifaceted, from two different perspectives. In this staging, historic for the Maggio, the direction of Miller elegantly allows you to enter the characters under the skin and therefore this is also very nice: to bring this show back to life with the absolutely classic and clear vision that the master Guschlbauer is also asking of us. to the management. There is a beautiful cast of magnificent professionals and all young people with whom it is a pleasure to sing: it is truly a joy ”. Micheletti, active as a talented prose interpreter and director, after years of private study with maestro Mario Malagnini, in 2018 made his debut in the opera field as a baritone: he was first Escamillo in Carmen in Cagliari and then Jago in Otello staged at Ravenna Festival by Cristina Mazzavillani Muti; for the same Festival he signed his first opera direction, a new Carmen in 2019. He then get, both as a director and as a singer, in other international theaters directed several times by Riccardo Muti. During his career he has faced, among others, the roles of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Macbeth at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan; Don Giovanni at the Sydney Opera House; the Count of Luna in Il Trovatore at the Fenice in Venice; Enrico in Il Campanello at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari and Marcello in La Bohème at the Opera in Rome. In 2021 he is also the director and protagonist of the diptych La serva padrona di Pergolesi / Trouble in Tahiti by Bernstein for the Carlo Felice in Genoa, where he returns in the following season as interpreter and director of La vedova allegra di Lehàr.

Benedetta Torre, who made her debut in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutti at Maggio, first conducted by Zubin Mehta in March 2021 and then reprized between August and September 2021 under the conduction of Ádám Fischer under the direction of Sven-Eric Bechtolf, interprets Susanna: after winning the youth award at the “V Francesco Paolo Tosti International Singing Competition” she supports three concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. You participate in the “6th Renata Tebaldi International Singing Competition”, winning the 2nd prize and, despite her young age, she has already collaborated with some important conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti and Ádám Fischer. Recently, at Maggio , she was among the protagonists of Lo sposo di tre, e marito di nessuna which was staged in February 2022 conducted by Diego Fasolis and directed by Cesare Lievi: “I am thrilled to find Susanna, especially because Le nozze di Figaro was the work of my baptism with Mozart, the author of whom I have always loved the genius in his divine “simplicity” which, combined with the compelling theatricality of the libretto by Da Ponte, creates a perfect combination of singing and acting in which as an artist I absolutely prefer to find myself. I am truly honored to be able to take part in this production, in a historical staging by Jonathan Miller, especially in being able to stage it here at the Teatro della Pergola where ‘Le nozze di Figaro’ was staged for the first time in Italy. I really hope that the public can literally enter, thanks also to the historic direction of Jonathan Miller, into this beautiful eighteenth-century world of Mozart’s masterpiece ”.

The character of Cherubino is played by Serena Malfi, returning to Maggio more than ten years after her last performance, which took place right at the Pergola in June 2011 in L’incoronazione di Poppea conducted by Alan Curtis and directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi. She studied at the Conservatory and the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome and then graduated with full marks and honors at the “Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella” in Naples. About her role in the opera she says: “Cherubino is one of my favorite roles in Mozart and in opera in general. I love the adolescent boldness and romanticism that accompany him throughout the work. Miller’s historical production with its majestic scenes manages to get me even more into the eighteenth-century mood and I imagine the little Mozart-Cherubino hiding and wandering dreamily through the many rooms of the building always looking for new eyes to conquer “. Serena Malfi’s debut dates back to 2009 with Antonio Salieri’s La Grotta di Trofonio in a production by the Zurich Opera House. Since then she has performed in stages of absolute international importance such as the Rome Opera House, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan in New York. During her career she has had the opportunity to work with directors of the caliber of Daniel Barenboim, Sir Mark Elder, Marc Minkowski, Fabio Luisi and Riccardo Chailly.

Fabio Capitanucci gives voice to the character of Don Bartolo: he too among the protagonists of the recent production of Lo sposo di tre, e marito di nessuna of February 2022, the baritone has long been a stable presence in the billboards of the most important theaters in the world such as the Metropolitan of New York, the Teatro alla Scala and the Royal Opera House of London. In addition to the recent performances of Lo sposo di tre, e marito di nessuna, he was also among the protagonists of the Il Barbiere di Siviglia staged in May in October 2020, as well as having recently interpreted the role of the Marquis of Boisfleury in Gaetano Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix wave staged between September and October 2021 conducted by Michele Gamba under the direction of Cesare Lievi. “All of Seville knows Bartolo … your rascal Figaro will be yours” says Capitanucci: “this is the ending of the famous aria by Don Bartolo, an initial sortie with which the Doctor of Seville explains very well that revenge against Figaro is something to be do not forget! A wise man would not do it because “forgetting the count and the outrages” is a baseness typical of cowards; surely he will find some quirks in the codes to fit them Figaro! Here is the Bartolo of this historic staging by Jonathan Miller, cynical, cold and surgical who, however, knows how to bend to adverse events with great aplomb, and perhaps this very characteristic makes Bartolo’s character interesting! It will be a great pleasure to play this role on the program of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival in a splendid theater like the Pergola! “.

Basilio is instead interpreted by Paolo Antognetti: “Don Basilio, always portrayed as the ambiguous prelate who takes the side of power, is a classic of this character – says Antognetti – but in addition to this, with the master Georg Rootering, we tried to emerge the provocative soul of those who find profound pleasure in setting discord. From the very first bars with Susanna to make the always hungry Don Bartolo languish with hunger. It is a passage that becomes the victim of well-established schemes, of a society that in order to survive can only wear such a mask. It is a fun role to play precisely because of the enormous interpretative possibilities that the recitations allow and, given that this time the aria is expected to be performed, also for the melodic richness that a genius like Mozart knows how to render in music. ” Graduated in trumpet with full marks at the “G. Puccini “, Paolo Antognetti, alongside the activity of orchestra professor that of a soloist in a repertoire that ranges from opera to musical, from sacred music to chamber music. He began his singing studies with Giovanna Canetti, later perfecting himself with Giuliano Ciannella and William Matteuzzi. In May, after his debut in March 2015 in Dido and Æneas, he took part in numerous productions including Goyescas by Enrique Granados, staged in January 2016, Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco, staged in December of the same year and the recent Adriana Lecouvreur in April 2021, the inaugural title of the last Maggio Festival and more recently in Madama Butterfly under the conduction of Francesco Ivan Ciampa and directed by Chiara Muti, when he interpreted the character of Goro in December 2021.

In addition, in the ensemble on the stage of the Pergola, no less than four artists and alumni of the Accademia del Maggio: Rosalia Cíd plays Barbarina, Davide Piva plays Antonio; Carmen Buendìa and Antonio Garés are respectively Marcellina and Don Curzio. The cast, in the role of Two peasant women, is completed by the artists of the Maggio Choir Sarina Rausa and Nadia Pirazzini.

The Teatro del Maggio Foundation thanks the founding members by right and all the private members and thanks the sponsors of the Season and the Festival, Caffè Borbone and Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica Santa Maria Novella, and the sponsor of the 84th edition of the Festival, Enel.