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News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Ben Hires at (781) 224-1117 or send an email.
NEW ENGLAND STRING ENSEMBLE CELEBRATES ITALIAN NATIONAL DAY WITH SPECIAL “CONCERTO PER LA REPUBBLICA.”
(Boston, Mass. – May 12, 2009) The New England String Ensemble (NESE) presents a special event, entitled “Concerto per la Repubblica” to be presented on Wednesday, June 3 at 7:30pm at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Boston. This concert celebrates Italian National Day (Anniversary of the birth of the Republic, June 2nd, 1946) and is sponsored by the Consulate General of Italy in Boston. The Honorable Thomas M. Menino and Angela Menino are the concert’s honorary co-chairs.
Consul General of Italy, Liborio Stellino states that, “Throughout the centuries, Italian composers have always provided the musical scene with a special contribution, enriched by our strong identity and our ancient cultural traditions. This is why I am very honored to celebrate Italy in Boston, on the solemn occasion of the anniversary of the Republic, with the talented soloists of the New England String Ensemble under the baton of a great director like Federico Cortese, in the magic framework of an entirely Italian musical program.”
Music Director Federico Cortese will conduct music from a few of Italy’s best known composers. The concert will open with Respighi’s Antiche danze ed arie (Ancient Air and Dances) Suite III. An Italian concert must include a work by Giacomo Puccini. Next the orchestra will perform I crisantemi (chrysanthemums) which is a single movement in memory of the death of Duke Amedeo di Savoia, a much-admired north Italian nobleman who had been--quite briefly--King of Spain. Puccini reused the two main themes of the work in the last act of his opera Manon Lescaut. An Italian concert would also not be complete without an excerpt from an opera. The Ensemble will perform the Intermezzo sinfonico from Pietro Mascagni’s opera in one act called “Cavalleria rusticana” (Rustic Chivalry). It is considered one of the classic Italian verismo operas. Finally the concert ends with the full ensemble performing the only surviving chamber music work of Giuseppe Verdi: String Quartet in E minor arranged for string orchestra.
Adding to the celebration is the special performance of NESE’s youth concerto competition winners for 2009 in the first half. Cellist Joinatsuru Yanai and violist Jacob Shack are co-winners of this year’s competition. Ms. Yanai is a senior at Walnut Hill and a student of Laurence Lesser. She will perform a movement from Luigi Boccherini’s famous Cello Concerto No. 9 in B-flat Major. Mr. Shack is a senior at Phillips Academy and a student of Michael Zaretsky. He will perform a movement from Alessandro Rolla’s Viola Concerto in E-flat Major.
The NESE String Competition, sponsored in part by the Susan A. and Donald P. Babson Charitable Foundation and the George and Alice Rich Charitable Foundation, is available each year to students throughout the New England region and is designed to inspire more advanced string students to prepare, audition and compete for a solo appearance with a professional orchestra.
A pre-performance discussion by Music Director Federico Cortese and Consul General Liborio Stellino will precede the concert by 45 minutes. Tickets for “Concerto per la Repubblica” range from $47, $37, and $27 (Audience members with Italian passports receive 25% discount and students receive $10 discount), and are available online at www.newenglandstringensemble.org or by calling 781-224-1117.
Sponsors for the concert are Consulate General of Italy in Boston, Rollo Capital, and Daniele Food, Inc. of Rhode Island.
Concert Committee for the Concerto per la Repubblica
Honorary Concert Co-Chair: The Honorable Thomas M. Menino and Angela Menino
Virgil and Candace Aiello
Susan Angelastro, board member, Save Venice, Boston
Simona Arcidiaco, Chief Operating Officer, The Italian Home for Children
Sibylle Barrasso
Richard Baiano, board member, Save Venice, Boston
Emilio Bizzi, MIT Institute Professor, President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Magda and Sergio Brosio
Dr. Ferdinando S. Buonanno, MD, Neurology, Partners Healthcare
Rosario Cascio, President, Pirandello Lyceum
Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
J. Robert Connor, board member, Save Venice, Boston
Gennaro and Isa Chierchia, Harvard University and Emmanuel College
Kathleen Connor, General Manager, Loro Piana Boston
Erica Corsano, Editorial Director, Stuff Magazine, Boston
Mark DeVoto, Emeritus Professor of Music, Emeritus, Tufts University
Spencer Di Scala, President, Dante Alighieri Society; and Professor of History, UMass Boston
Pamela Donnaruma, Publisher and Editor Post-Gazette
Sergio Fantini, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University
Dennis Fiori, President, Massachusetts Historical Society
Professors Ivan and E. Joyce Galantic
Fabio Ghironi, Professor of International Economics, Boston College, and Katrina Ghironi
Ronald Lee Fleming, Founder and President, Townscape Institute; board member, Save Venice, Boston
Larry Lucchino, President/CEO, Boston Red Sox
Frederick Ilchman, Mrs. Russell W. Baker Assistant Curator of Paintings, Art of Europe,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Alberto Mustone, President, Federation of the Italian American Association in New England
Maurizio Pasquale, President, COMITES (Committee of the Italians Abroad) Boston
Lino Rullo, President Emeritus Italian American Heritage Month Committee
Janice M. Saragoni, Founder and CEO, Saragoni & Company
Serenella Sferza, Co-director, Italy Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fabio Schiantarelli, Professor of Economics, Boston College and Lisa Lynch, Dean of
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Nina Zannieri, Executive Director, Paul Revere Memorial Association
About the New England String Ensemble
The New England String Ensemble (NESE) was founded in 1994 to champion strings in
performance and education. The mission of NESE is to engage, educate, and inspire with passionate string orchestra performances and innovative community programs.
Music Director Federico Cortese leads this world-class string orchestra, which performs rich and intellectually engaging new and known works, and its educational programs focuses on creating lasting relationships with young composers and performers who promise to be tomorrow's concert artists, audiences and composers.
About Music Director Federico Cortese
Federico Cortese assumed the post of Music Director of the New England String Ensemble in March 2006. He has conducted throughout the United States, Australia, China, and Europe. From 1998-2002, he served as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. In addition to his annual scheduled concerts, Mr. Cortese led the Boston Symphony several times in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood, most notably performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Puccini’s Madam Butterfly. Mr. Cortese is also the Music Director at the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and has conducted several prominent symphony orchestras, including Atlanta, Dallas, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic. Opera engagements have included Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Spoleto Festival in Italy and the United States, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Saint Louis Opera, the Finnish National Opera, Opera Australia, and the Washington Opera. Mr. Cortese has been music coordinator and associate conductor of the Spoleto Festival in Italy. He also served as Assistant Conductor to Robert Spano at the Brooklyn Philharmonic and to Daniele Gatti at the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Mr. Cortese studied composition and conducting at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome and subsequently studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. In addition, he has been a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Mr. Cortese also studied literature and humanities and holds a law degree from La Sapienza University in Rome.
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