MIDSUMMER MOZARTIADE
Familiar with our recitals?
These “solo” performances aim to enrich our festival program in terms of musical diversity while showcasing exceptional artists and developing further the chosen theme of each edition. During this 5th Mozartiade, Shadi Torbey, Gianna Cañete Gallo and Lucas Blondeel (all three familiar to our regular festival-goers) will transport us to ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of great 18th century composers. As for the genre? There is nothing at all old-fashioned about recitals. Their great strength is precisely the unique relationship they allow artists to create with the audience. The intimacy of this concert form leads not only to privileged moments of encounter and exchange, but also to an entirely different way of experiencing opera.
friday 25.6
ROMANI!
An evening with four emperors, two soldiers and a philospher. Bass Shadi Torbey (Publio in 2021, Osmin in 2019, Don Alfonso in 2018, Leporello in 2017, Figaro in 2016) will delight us with his interpretations of arias by Caldara, Gluck, Handel, Heinichen, Monteverdi and Vivaldi. He will be accompanied on baroque instruments by Aymeric de Villoutreys (violin), Blanca Pietro (violin), Marina Eichberg (viola) and Eugénie Lalonde (cello). They will present such forgotten operatic treasures as La clemenza di Tito (in versions by Caldara and Gluck), Flavio Crispo, Tito Manlio or Ezio. You won’t want to miss this unique rendezvous with this remarkable Belgian singer!
“By entrusting the role of Osmin to Shadi Torbey, the directors have struck a double blow: not only does the Belgian bass (3rd laureate of Queen Elisabeth 2004, not to forget) perform at the pinnacle of his vocal form and provide the ensembles with a precious foundation, but his sense of the stage and, it has to be said, his darkly seductive allure create a symmetry between the two couples formed, on the one hand, by Blondchen and himself and, on the other, by Konstanze and Pacha Selim”.
(“Vertigineuse lecture de L’Enlèvement au Sérail”, La Libre Belgique, 4.7.2019)
saturday 26.6
DONNE ROMANE E BARBARE REGINE
An evening with Poppea, Cleopatra, Celia, Ilia and other heroines from the works of Handel and Mozart. Soprano Gianna Cañete Gallo (Konstanze in 2019, Barbarina in 2016) and pianist Lucas Blondeel (artist in residence in 2019) will bring to life some of the most ravishing pages from masterpieces including Agrippina, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Mitridate re di Ponto, Lucio Silla and Idomeneo. An intimate encounter with two exceptional Belgian artists!
"And, at the summit of the sextet, we salute the two sopranos, Gianna Cañete Gallo (Konstanze) with her ravishing and "colourful" high notes and Dorine Mortelemans (Blondchen) with her long and luminous voice, both ideal in highly exposed roles, which they assume with confounding mastery and freedom, stage sense notwithstanding." (“Vertigineuse lecture de L’Enlèvement au Sérail”, La Libre Belgique, 4.7.2019)
“Lucas Blondeel is the brilliant soloist, injecting the keyboard part with just the right amount of expressive freedom. He provides his own cadenzas, and even manages at one point to quote Mozart’s D minor Fantasy, K397.” (“Haydn symphonies with bags of character and wit”, BBC Music Magazine, 12.12.2019)
These “solo” performances aim to enrich our festival program in terms of musical diversity while showcasing exceptional artists and developing further the chosen theme of each edition. During this 5th Mozartiade, Shadi Torbey, Gianna Cañete Gallo and Lucas Blondeel (all three familiar to our regular festival-goers) will transport us to ancient Rome, as seen through the eyes of great 18th century composers. As for the genre? There is nothing at all old-fashioned about recitals. Their great strength is precisely the unique relationship they allow artists to create with the audience. The intimacy of this concert form leads not only to privileged moments of encounter and exchange, but also to an entirely different way of experiencing opera.
friday 25.6
ROMANI!
An evening with four emperors, two soldiers and a philospher. Bass Shadi Torbey (Publio in 2021, Osmin in 2019, Don Alfonso in 2018, Leporello in 2017, Figaro in 2016) will delight us with his interpretations of arias by Caldara, Gluck, Handel, Heinichen, Monteverdi and Vivaldi. He will be accompanied on baroque instruments by Aymeric de Villoutreys (violin), Blanca Pietro (violin), Marina Eichberg (viola) and Eugénie Lalonde (cello). They will present such forgotten operatic treasures as La clemenza di Tito (in versions by Caldara and Gluck), Flavio Crispo, Tito Manlio or Ezio. You won’t want to miss this unique rendezvous with this remarkable Belgian singer!
“By entrusting the role of Osmin to Shadi Torbey, the directors have struck a double blow: not only does the Belgian bass (3rd laureate of Queen Elisabeth 2004, not to forget) perform at the pinnacle of his vocal form and provide the ensembles with a precious foundation, but his sense of the stage and, it has to be said, his darkly seductive allure create a symmetry between the two couples formed, on the one hand, by Blondchen and himself and, on the other, by Konstanze and Pacha Selim”.
(“Vertigineuse lecture de L’Enlèvement au Sérail”, La Libre Belgique, 4.7.2019)
saturday 26.6
DONNE ROMANE E BARBARE REGINE
An evening with Poppea, Cleopatra, Celia, Ilia and other heroines from the works of Handel and Mozart. Soprano Gianna Cañete Gallo (Konstanze in 2019, Barbarina in 2016) and pianist Lucas Blondeel (artist in residence in 2019) will bring to life some of the most ravishing pages from masterpieces including Agrippina, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Mitridate re di Ponto, Lucio Silla and Idomeneo. An intimate encounter with two exceptional Belgian artists!
"And, at the summit of the sextet, we salute the two sopranos, Gianna Cañete Gallo (Konstanze) with her ravishing and "colourful" high notes and Dorine Mortelemans (Blondchen) with her long and luminous voice, both ideal in highly exposed roles, which they assume with confounding mastery and freedom, stage sense notwithstanding." (“Vertigineuse lecture de L’Enlèvement au Sérail”, La Libre Belgique, 4.7.2019)
“Lucas Blondeel is the brilliant soloist, injecting the keyboard part with just the right amount of expressive freedom. He provides his own cadenzas, and even manages at one point to quote Mozart’s D minor Fantasy, K397.” (“Haydn symphonies with bags of character and wit”, BBC Music Magazine, 12.12.2019)