We are very excited to announce our participation in “Ombre romite, taciti orrori”, an international study conference organised by our friends and partners at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia in collaboration with Teatro La Fenice and the Fondazione Levi.

Ombre romite, taciti orrori

The conference is centred on the opera Engelberta (Teatro San Cassiano, 1708 m.v.), written under the rather complex authorship of libretto by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati with music by Francesco Gasparini and Tomaso Albinoni. No doubt the conference will shed great light into its compositional and performance history. A highlight will certainly be the first performance in modern times of the opera itself at the Teatro Malibran by the students and maestri of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello. Tickets and further details are still available here:

Teatro La Fenice: "Engelberta"

For our part, Engelberta is of particular interest given it was staged at our theatre during Carnival in 1709 (i.e., 1708 more veneto) and therein for the inherent questions that therefore arise as to the impact and role of the theatre through each of the phases of composition, performance and reception of this remarkable opera. Our own Paul Atkin will speak briefly on this subject and join the panel on Sunday for the session on “The recovery of the musical theatre of the early eighteenth century in Venice: questions of staging and performance practice”.

A huge thank you to the organising Scientific Committee for the invite, but also for the vision to stage such a valuable conference, which being so directly linked to both study and performance of the opera is so intrinsic to the cores founding values of our project.

Congratulations and thanks go to Roberto Calabretto, Francesco Erle, Paolo Fabbri, Franco Rossi (consigliere of the Teatro San Cassiano), Francesco Bellotto (segreteria scientifica). A thank you also to our consiglieri Giovanni Giol and Cristiano Contadin.