PROGRAM:

R. Molinelli – ITALIAN OPERA PROMENADE
R. Molinelli / N. Paganini – PAGANINIANA
Suite for violin and orchestra based on the 24 Caprices by Niccolò Paganini

ITALIAN OPERA PROMENADE
Italian Opera Promenade by Roberto Molinelli is a true musical journey through Italy, melody, and opera — featuring the characters and traditions that have carried Italian musical identity across the world. A captivating and evocative promenade through the art of bel canto, exploring the timeless melodies of the great masters of Italian opera, including Verdi, Puccini, Rossini, Donizetti, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo.
Arias from La Traviata, Il Trovatore, L’Elisir d’amore, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Bohème, Gianni Schicchi, Turandot, and Pagliacci are reimagined in virtuosic form through original and imaginative variations, while preserving the lyrical dimension and symphonic breadth that have made these works immortal.

PAGANINIANA
The Caprices of Paganini as you have never heard them before!
“When the brilliant and ‘diabolical’ Niccolò Paganini published his Caprices in 1820, they were divided into three volumes: the first six, followed by another six, and finally the remaining twelve. The idea behind Paganiniana is to create a large-scale suite selecting material from all 24 Caprices, generating a dialogue between the virtuosity of the soloist and that of the orchestra.
At its core lies the challenge posed by the Caprices to the performer: preserving Paganini’s original writing while daring to expand it, giving the orchestra an active co-protagonist role alongside the soloist. Purely orchestral bridges connect the sections, shaping the work into an extended concert suite for violin and orchestra.”
— Roberto Molinelli

Video trailer: www.youtube.com

ORCHESTRA BRUNO MADERNA
With over thirty years of activity, the Orchestra Bruno Maderna has been conducted by, among others, Maxime Pascal, Maurizio Benini, Lu Jia, Julian Kovacev, Massimiliano Stefanelli, David Coleman, Diego Dini-Ciacci, Donato Renzetti, Stefano Nanni, Danilo Rossi, Alessandro Bonato, Franco Rossi, Stefan Malzew, Walter Attanasi, Daniele Giorgi, Mario Brunello, Jonathan Brandani, Massimo Quarta, Stefan Milenkovich, Diego Fasolis, and Filippo Maria Bressan.
The orchestra actively promotes contemporary composers by commissioning new works each season, collaborating with artists such as Fabio Massimo Capogrosso, Carlo Crivelli, Stefano Nanni, Roberto Molinelli, and Fabio Vacchi.
In 2017, the orchestra won two European projects: the Eu.Terpe Creative Europe project focused on musical production through cultural integration, and the Muse Erasmus+ project dedicated to music education. In 2018, it received the Hesperia Award for its commitment to promoting musical culture, and in July 2019 won the SIAE PerChiCrea call with the orchestral residency project “Orcreiamo.”
Highlights include participation in Vinicio Capossela’s Italian tour (Ravenna Festival, Circo Massimo, and Vittoriale degli Italiani), the production Paradiso – Dalle tenebre alla luce by Simone Cristicchi (Forlì and Faenza, in collaboration with Accademia Perduta), and the opening of the 2021 Ravenna Musica season at Teatro Alighieri with a tribute to Angelo Mariani. The orchestra’s string quartet, together with Alessio Boni, inaugurated the Festival di Caterina under the artistic direction of Davide Rondoni. In 2022, the Orchestra Bruno Maderna opened the concert season of Fondazione La Società dei Concerti at the prestigious Sala Verdi of the Milan Conservatory. Major successes followed at the Ravenna Festival and at Teatro Galli in Rimini for the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana with the concert dedicated to Messa Arcaica and the mystical songs of Franco Battiato, featuring Alice, Simone Cristicchi, Juri Camisasca, and Carlo Guaitoli.

ROBERTO MOLINELLI
A versatile and eclectic musician, Roberto Molinelli has built an international career over more than twenty years through his ability to create, compose, and develop projects across multiple musical genres — from classical to jazz, pop, and rock — seeking to build dialogue between diverse styles.
As conductor, composer, and arranger, he has collaborated with numerous artists including José Carreras, Andrea Bocelli, Celine Byrne, Gastón Rivero, Erwin Schrott, Gustav Kuhn, Cecilia Gasdia, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Nicola Alaimo, Anna Maria Chiuri, Desirée Rancatore, Valeria Esposito, Giovanni Sollima, Andrea Griminelli, Valeria Moriconi, Federico Mondelci, Enrico Dindo, Domenico Nordio, Anna Serova, Lorenzo Bavaj, Corrado Giuffredi, and Danilo Rossi.
Many of his compositions have expanded the repertoire for their respective instruments and are regularly performed worldwide. He has also collaborated extensively with artists from cinema, theatre, and popular music, including Tony Hadley, Amii Stewart, Mahamood, Enrico Montesano, Lady Blackbird, Luca Barbarossa, Chiara Civello, Antonella Ruggiero, Lucio Dalla, Enrico Ruggeri, Alexia, Mario Lavezzi, Extraliscio, Giò Di Tonno, Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, Fabrizio Bosso, Paolo Fresu, and Eddie Daniels, and has composed music for film and television.
He has conducted and arranged for the orchestra of the Sanremo Music Festival across several editions, receiving the Quality Jury Award for Best Arrangement for Biancaneve (Mogol–Lavezzi), performed by Alexia and Mario Lavezzi, and achieving third place at Sanremo 2021 for the arrangements Bianca Luce Nera and Medley Rosamunda, written for and conducted with Extraliscio. Since 2009 he has been Director of Innovation for the G. Rossini Symphony Orchestra, since 2019 Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, and since 2021 Director for Special Projects at the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese.