Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna

Led by Sergiu Celibidache, Zoltán Peskó, Vladimir Delman, Riccardo Chailly and Daniele Gatti, the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna has a rich tradition. After having been Principal Conductor since 2008, Michele Mariotti assumed the role of Music Director in January 2015. The orchestra has also worked with conductors such as Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Pinchas Steinberg, Valery Gergiev, Eliahu Inbal, Vladimir Jurovski, Daniel Oren, Peter Maag, Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Georg Solti, Christian Thielemann, Charles Dutoit and Georges Prêtre. The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale is frequently invited abroad (in Holland, Romania, Spain, France, Switzerland and Oman) and has participated in prestigious festivals (Amsterdam, Parma, Wiesbaden, Santander, Aix en Provence, Savonlinna, Macao). Over the years it has maintained a privileged relationship with Japan, where several tours have been made. The Orchestra del Teatro Comunale has taken part in many significant recording productions, including Gaetano Donizetti’s La Favorita conducted by Richard Bonynge, Giuseppe Verdi’s Oberto Conte of San Bonifacio under the baton of Zoltan Peskó, Gioachino Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia led by Giuseppe Patané, Donizetti’s La fille du regiment conducted by Bruno Campanella, Pietro Mascagni’s Le Maschere and Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème with Gianluigi Gelmetti conducting, Rossini’s La scala di seta led by Gabriele Ferro, and Rossini’s Armida conducted by Daniele Gatti. Under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, the orchestra has recorded Verdi’s Macbeth, Manon Lescaut by Puccini, Rigoletto by Verdi, La cenerentola and the Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, and video productions of I vespri siciliani and Giovanna d’Arco by Verdi and Werther by Jules Massenet. Under the guidance of Michele Mariotti, the orchestra recorded Simon Boccanegra by Verdi and Guillaume Tell by Rossini, an album with sacred arias as well as one with French arias with Juan Diego Flórez, and an album of Romantic arias with Nino Machaidze. The Orchestra has also recorded Le Comte Ory with Juan Diego Flórez, La Nuit de Mai, opera arias and songs by Ruggero Leoncavallo with Placido Domingo, as well as some anthologies with Luciano Pavarotti and June Anderson. In 2013 the members of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and conductor Michele Mariotti starred in the inaugural concert of the fourth International Mstislav Rostropovich Festival in Moscow performing Verdi’s Requiem. In October 2015, again with the same Music Director, they inaugurated the Lingotto Musica exhibition at the Giovanni Agnelli Hall in Turin, where they performed the Stabat Mater and the Overture and Divertissement from Rossini’s Guillaume Tell. The same program was presented in Pesaro and Bergamo. After a thirty-year participation with the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, 2017 marked a new collaboration between the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Verdi Festival in Parma, which saw the Orchestra also participating in the performance of Stiffelio, awarded with the Premio Speciale of the 37th Premio Abbiati” by the Associazione Critici Musicali Italiani. In June 2018 the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale, led by Michele Mariotti, had a guest residence at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

photo: from booklet Rossini – Overtures