Inauguration of the Accademia

The 35th edition of the Accademia Rossiniana "Alberto Zedda", a study seminar on Rossinian interpretation directed by the Superintendent Ernesto Palacio, inaugurates on, Monday, July 3rd, at the Teatro Sperimentale the Festival Giovane 2023, a section of the Rossini Opera Festival dedicated to the young talents of the future.

For a fortnight the Accademia offers students and auditors lessons in vocal interpretation, musicology and stage art, themed lectures and masterclasses.

Alongside the lessons held by Ernesto Palacio with the musical coordination of Rubén Sánchez-Vieco and the collaboration of Luca Canonici as vocal coach, this year's programme includes talks by directors Stefano Poda and Rosetta Cucchi, musicologists Federico Agostinelli and Marco Beghelli (in collaboration with the Rossini Foundation), physiatrist Frank Musarra and phoniatrist Franco Fussi. Three masterclasses are scheduled, two held by Artistic Director Juan Diego Flórez and one by Conductor Michele Mariotti.

At the end of the courses, on Monday July 17th  at 8 p.m. at the Teatro Sperimentale, there will be the usual Final Concert, during which the students, accompanied on the piano by Rubén Sánchez-Vieco, will perform pages from the Rossini opera repertoire.

Alongside the courses of the Accademia Rossiniana "Alberto Zedda", the Festival Giovane will also propose a series of other events featuring the Academy's students.

The Salons Rossini are back, a cycle of concerts in some of the most evocative historic villages of the hinterland inspired by the musical evenings Rossini loved to organise in his villa in Passy: July 19th in the Courtyard of Honour of the Rocca di Gradara; July 22nd in the Church of S. Francesco in Cagli; July 27th in the Franciscan Cloister in Mondavio; July 30th in the Throne Room of the Palazzo dei Principi di Carpegna; August 1st in the Courtyard of Honour of the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino. The concerts, all scheduled at 9 p.m., will be introduced by a listening guide by Andrea Parissi of the Rossini Foundation, and followed by a toast.

Also returning are the Concerti al Museo, voice and piano recitals that will be held at the Rossini National Museum on August 5th, 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th at 11 a.m.

The Festival Giovane will close on August 16th and 18th at 11 a.m. at the Teatro Sperimentale with Il viaggio a Reims, a historic production by Emilio Sagi that, since 2001, has revealed a new generation of Rossini interpreters now established in theatres throughout the world. Andrea Foti will conduct the Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini and the students of the Accademia Rossiniana.

The President of the Rossini Opera Festival Daniele Vimini said: "Our welcome goes to the students of the Accademia, young people from all over the world who have come to Pesaro, as they do every year, to learn the techniques of the Bel Canto. Now the Festival Giovane has taken on truly remarkable dimensions: in recent years the activity has expanded to include the Concerts at the Rossini National Museum and the Rossini Salons, for a total of ten appointments in addition to the final concert of the Accademia and the two performances of the Il viaggio a Reims. During the year, the students of the Accademia perform in other concerts in Italy and abroad (recently in Copenhagen and just yesterday in Gorizia), to promote knowledge of Rossini and Pesaro Italian Capital of Culture 2024 around the world'.

Intendent Ernesto Palacio, Director of the Accademia, said: 'This is the 35th edition of the Accademia, and the seventh directed by me after the Alberto Zedda passing. Once again this year, we received a large number of applications (around 300) and therefore had to make a strict selection in order to arrive at the usual 18 students. For years, we have had a collaboration first with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and now with the Wexford Festival Opera, with whom we have an educational exchange (one of their students will attend the Accademia and one of our students will attend their Youth Programme). This year, given the quality of the singers, we will offer two more scholarships, so there will be 21 students'.