Orchestra della Toscana – James Conlon

About the Event

Experience classical music like never before in this astonishing performance of masterworks by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven at Florence's remarkable Teatro Verdi.

IA programme made especially for the ORT by a Maestro who found a home in this orchestra a few seasons as he was appointed an honorary director. James Conlon is a star of the podium – American by birth, with origins in the Basilicata region of Italy – used to working all over the world with great ensembles in terms of fame and size: formerly conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Paris Opéra, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor at the Metropolitan in New York (where he conducted almost 300 performances), he is currently head of the Los Angeles Opera and the Baltimore Symphony. Yet despite such an impressive career, he always tends to shy away from star poses and the spotlight. With the ORT, he has put together a concert that is reminiscent of the 18th century.
Because, if the opera Lucio Silla was commissioned to an adolescent Mozart by the Teatro Regio Ducale of Milan ruled by the Habsburgs, Beethoven’s and Schubert’s symphonies date back instead to the early nineteenth century, and yet both still recall the previous century.

Teatro Verdi

Teatro Verdi is a theatre established in Florence in 1854, in the street 'Via Giuseppe Verdi'. Originally known as Teatro Pagliano, the theatre became one of the most popular theatres in Tuscany, welcoming all kinds of shows, as well as classical performances with the arrival of the Orchestra della Toscana. The largest Italian‐style theatre in the region, the building was inaugurated with a performance of Verdi´s masterpiece, 'Rigoletto', and was renamed in 1901 to honour the composer. Home to the Orchestra della Toscana, the theatre now combines a vivid classical program with theatre seasons, as well as rock and pop performances..