SPECIAL GALA PROJECTS
International Gala Projects have represented a significant component of my artistic activity, leading to long-term collaborations with internationally renowned singers, orchestras and festivals throughout Europe and beyond. They also became an important laboratory for the development of my experience in vocal and theatrical repertoire.
Over several decades, the “Gala” format has evolved from programmes centred primarily on star singers and individual arias towards increasingly substantial forms of music theatre, while also opening a space for the exploration of repertoire rarely encountered in complete staged productions. This progression can be traced from the traditional gala format – often built around star singers performing a succession of demanding arias and popular songs to programmes conceived around complete dramatic scenes and extended sequences.
In my own work, this has come to include excerpts such as the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the Willow Song and Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello, Tu che le vanità from Don Carlo, and the Sombre forêt scene from Rossini’s Guillaume Tell; extended sequences such as the Saint-Sulpice scene from Massenet’s Manon and the Finale of Puccini’s La Rondine; as well as numerous excerpts from works such as Massenet’s Le Mage, Le Cid and Sapho, Gounod’s Sapho and Polyeucte, alongside other rarely performed operatic works.
This work also extended beyond the established operatic canon towards less familiar areas of musical theatre and concert repertoire: American musical theatre of the early twentieth century, from Victor Herbert to Gershwin and Bernstein; exceptionally rare works such as Licinio Refice’s Ombra di nube for soprano and strings, dedicated to her dear friend, the soprano Claudia Muzio; and programmes marking major anniversaries and centenaries, offering opportunities to bring both famous and neglected composers back into the concert repertoire.
In my own conducting experience, this repertoire ultimately extended from Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans to Bernstein’s West Side Story.
- Antonacci – Griminelli / Orchestra da Camera di Bologna
- BBC Radio 2 LIVE / BBC Concert Orchestra / The Lowry, Salford – Radio Broadcast
- Sarasate International Violin Competition / Finals / Pamplona
- Opera Gala / Philharmonie de Nice / Opéra de Nice
- Maria Bayo / Philharmonie de Lorraine / Arsenal, Metz
- Opera Gala / Philharmonie de Nice / Opéra de Nice
- Gala de la Croix Rouge Française / Philharmonie de Nice / Opéra de Nice
- Annick Massis / Orchestre Pasdeloup / Salle Gaveau, Paris / Belcanto Recital
- Sumi Jo / Philharmonie de Lorraine / Arsenal, Metz / Belcanto Recital
- Rolando Villazón / Orchestre de l’ORW / Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris
- Sumi Jo / Fest der schönen Stimmen / Gürzenich-Orchester / Köln Opera
- Olga Guryakova / Philharmonie de Nice / Festival d’Antibes
- Rolando Villazón / Phil. Staats. Halle / Gewandhaus, Leipzig
- Rolando Villazón / SWD Phil. Konstanz / Philharmonie, Berlin
- Rolando Villazón / SWD Phil. Konstanz / Alte Oper, Frankfurt
- Rolando Villazón / Prague Philharmonia / Smetana Hall, Prague – TV Broadcast
- Rolando Villazón / Prague Philharmonia / Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich
- Jennifer Larmore / Philharmonie de Nice / Festival d’Antibes
- Rolando Villazón / Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz / Regensburg
- Rolando Villazón / Tivolis Symfoniorchester / Tivoli Koncertsalen / Copenhagen
- Gala Pasteur-Weissmann / Paris Versailles
- Rolando Villazón / Orchestre de l’ORW / Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège
- Rolando Villazón – Nathalie Manfrino / TSO / Trondheim
- Nathalie Manfrino / Prague Philharmonia / Smetana Hall, Prague
- Rolando Villazón / Prague Philharmonia / Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich
- Rolando Villazón / Prague Philharmonia / Philharmonie Hall, Köln
- Rolando Villazón / Tivolis Symfoniorchester / Tivoli Koncertsalen / Copenhagen
- Rolando Villazón – Erika Miklósa / Hungarian Radio Orchestra / Budapest Opera
- Leo Nucci / Voci per un Grande Teatro / Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova
- Nino Machaidze – Guido Loconsolo / Prague Philharmonia / Smetana Hall, Prague
- Rolando Villazón / Tivolis Symfoniorchester / Tivoli Koncertsalen / Copenhagen
- Gala for the G-20 meeting / Korea Opera Group / Seoul Art Center
- Nino Machaidze / Prague Symphony Orchestra / Smetana Hall, Prague
- Céline Byrne / RTÉ Symphony Orchestra / A Christmas Gala / NCH, Dublin – Radio Broadcast
- Ermonela Jaho / State Symphony Orchestra “Novaya Rossiya” / Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow
- Gala pour les 150 ans de l’Unité d’Italie / Philharmonie de Nice / Opéra de Nice
- New Year Concert 2012 / RTÉ Symphony Orchestra / NCH, Dublin – – Radio Broadcast
- Marina Poplavskaya / Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre / Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow
- Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice / Opera Gala / Teatro Grande, Brescia
- Leo Nucci – Patrizia Ciofi / Orchestre de Chambre de Paris / Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris
- Sumi Jo & Friends / A Night with Verdi / Seoul Art Center
- Jennifer Larmore – Andrea Carè / Czech Radio Orchestra / Smetana Hall, Prague
- New Year Concert 2015 / Sinfonie Orchestre Biel Solothurn / TOBS, Solothurn & Biel
- Ermonela Jaho – Charles Castronovo / ONDIF / Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris – TV Broadcast
- Ermonela Jaho – Salle Gaveau, Paris
GALA: OTHER REPERTOIRE
This section gathers repertoire primarily associated with Gala performances and festive concert programmes that is not otherwise represented elsewhere in this portfolio. Additional operatic, symphonic and sacred works performed within Gala projects are intentionally documented in their respective sections in order to avoid duplication.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Sleeping Beauty: Waltz No. 5
George Gershwin
- Selected Songs
Cole Porter
- Selected Songs
Hans Christian Lumbye
- Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop
Johann & Josef Strauss
- Pizzicato-Polka
Johann Strauss I
- Radetzky-Marsch
Johann Strauss II
- Kaiser-Walzer
- An der schönen blauen Donau
- Die Fledermaus: Overture
- Wein, Weib und Gesang
Josef Strauss
- Moulinet-Polka
- Die Libelle
- Auf Ferienreisen
Leroy Anderson
- A Christmas Festival