Izmir Festival > Program > Magical Sounds of Cinema THE MUSIC OF ENNIO MORRICONE ENSEMBLE LE MUSE

Andrea Albertini, conductor

Daniela Placci, soprano

Susanna Rigacci, soprano (special guest singer)

ENNIO MORRICONE

The composer of most legendary soundtracks “Ennio Morricone is considered one of the best known and most influential composers in the history of film. The versatile composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpet player died in July 2020, aged 91 years and having contributed music to more than 500 films.”

The renowned composer Ennio Morricone composed many of the world’s most famous

soundtracks. Beginning in the early 1960s Morricone has composed for more than 500 films. His filmography includes Sergio Leone ‘s famous Italian western “Dollar Trilogy” of the 1960s (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, & The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time Trilogy(Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in… the Revolution/A Fistful of Dynamite, & Once Upon a Time in America) as well as several soundtracks to films of Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, The Legend of 1900, & Malena). He also worked for directors such as Sergio Corbucci, Duccio Tessari, Sergio Sollima, John Carpenter, Bernardo Bertolucci, Mauro Bolognini, Giuliano Montaldo, Roland Joffé, Roman Polanski and Henri Verneuil. In 2007, Morricone received the Academy Honorary Award “for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.”

In 2016, Morricone received his first Academy Award for his score to Quentin Tarantino’s film “The Hateful Eight”. His other achievements include three Grammy Awards, three Golden Globes, six BAFTAs, ten David di Donatellos, eleven Nastro d’Argentos, two European Film Awards, the Golden Lion Honorary Award and the Polar Music Prize in 2010.

 

The ensemble ‘Le Muse’ conducted by Master Andrea Albertini presents a “Homage to Ennio Morricone” with a fine selection of some of the best known soundtracks of this famous composer. Each song is presented by Master Albertini and is enriched with anecdotes, curiosities, historical and biographical notes. The wonderful and unique music is supported by film clips and photos shown during the concert which help to create a magical and unforgettable atmosphere.

 

ENSEMBLE LE MUSE

The ensemble ‘Le Muse’ presents a concert in which you will find the most famous

compositions of the international story of cinematography written by this important musician. ‘Le Muse’ are an instrumental female Ensemble of musicians who have developed their career from within the famous group Rondò Veneziano. In the project “Musiche da Oscar” the ensemble comprises classical musicians due to the sonority of the original themes, along with vocalist Angelica Depaoli. The conductor is Master Andrea Albertini, and the repertoire has been selected from the Master’s the rich showcase of best known soundtracks from the ’60s until today, - including the one that won the Academy Award in 2016.

 

SUSANNA RIGACCI, soprano

Susanna Rigacci, born in Stockholm, Sweden, into a family of musicians, began her musical and vocal studies at the conservatory Luigi Cherubini of Florence. There, she was a student of Renata Ongaro and graduated with honours. She continued her studies in Milan with Gina Cigna and in Padoa with Iris Adami Corradetti.

After winning a singing competition in Rieti, she made her operatic debut as Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Seville. She was awarded a prize in the Maria Callas competition, which was broadcast by Italian television, and won first prize in the “Sängerförderungspreis”, Mozarteum International Competition in Salzburg.

Since then she has embarked on an international career and sung in world-class opera houses both in Italy and abroad (La Scala, Milan; Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; La Fenice, Venice; Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Teatro Filarmonico, Verona; Teatro Massimo, Palermo; Teatro Regio, Parma; Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania; Teatro Comunale, Bologna; Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia; Carnegie Hall, New York; Opéra Comique and Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris; Salle Molière, Lyon; Prague Philharmonia; Barbican Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Royal Albert Hall, London; Teatro Romano, Mérida; Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège; Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa; Wexford Festival Opera; Teatro Municipal de Mallorca; and Stadttheater, Bern).

Susanna Rigacci sings in six languages and has a wide operatic repertoire embracing

baroque opera (Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Cimarosa, Stradella, Scarlatti, Händel), Mozart coloratura roles (Die Zauberflöte; Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Il Re Pastore), bel canto roles such as Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi (Lucia di Lammermoor; L’elisir d’amore; Don Pasquale; Betly, or the Swiss Chalet; Rita; I pazzi per progetto; La sonnambula; I puritani; Rigoletto; Falstaff; Un ballo in maschera), Rossini (Barber of Seville; Signor Bruschino; L’italiana in Algeri; La cambiale di matrimonio; L’inganno felice; La scala di seta), a French repertoire (Les contes d’Hoffmann; Lakmé; Mignon; Hamlet; Dinorah-Le Pardon de Ploërmel), and a German repertoire (Der Freischütz and Ariadne auf Naxos). Since the early years of her career, Susanna Rigacci has developed an interest in contemporary music and received invitations from, among others,  La Biennale, Venice; the London Sinfonietta, Barbican Center, London; Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival; Festival di Gibellina; RAI Rome; RAI Turin; RAI Milan; Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali, Milan; Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana; ORT-Orchestra della Toscana; Rome Sinfonietta; Recherche Ensemble; Ensemble Nuovo Contrappunto; and Contemporart-Ensemble.

Her contemporary repertoire includes works of Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Berio, Nono, Morricone, Piovani, Togni, Castiglioni, D’Amico, Sciarrino, Clementi, Sinopoli, Pennisi, Gaslini, Ferrero, Arcà, and Corghi.

She has given first performances of works by Francesco Pennisi, Matteo D’Amico, Carlo Galante, Alessandro Sbordoni, and Filippo Del Corno. In 2009, she sang the soprano lead in the world premiere of the opera Padre Cicogna by Nicola Piovani

at the Teatro S. Carlo, Naples, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, and Teatro Greco, Taormina.

She also played the lead for the first performances in Italy of The English Cat by Hans

Werner Henze at the Teatro Comunale, Bologna, and of The man who mistook his wife for a hat, by Michael Nyman.

Since 2001, she has been the soloist for Ennio Morricone’s concerts in Italy and all

around the world (Arena di Verona, Teatro alla Scala, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Florence, Bologna, Pesaro, Turin, Palermo, and Taormina), during tours in Europe (London: Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Apollo Theatre; Athens: Odeon of Herodes Atticus; Moscow: Kremlin; Paris: Palais des Congrès; Munich: Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and also in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Belfast, Bilbao, Santander, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Toulouse, Lille, Luxembourg, Auxerre, Budapest, Prague, Bratislava, Warsaw, Vienna, Krakow, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Györ), tours in Asia (Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Taiwan), tours in North and South America (New York, Rio De Janeiro, São Paulo, Mexico City, Santiago de Chile), and Australia (Perth, Adelaide).

In 2015, she joined “Vox Nova Italia”, a contemporary music Ensemble of Italian soloists, performing at the 56th Venice Biennale in the world premiere of In the midst of things, by Gene Coleman.

She is a much appreciated chamber music performer and her concert programmes vary from traditional, formal compositions to musicals, from modern pieces to film music. Thanks to her versatile vocal style, she is able to offer a beautiful, eclectic blend of musical genres.

She has sung under such renowned conductors as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Luciano Berio, Lü Jia, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Bruno Bartoletti, Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Marcello Panni, Gustav Kuhn, George Fisher, Arnold Östman, Carlo Franci, Bruno Rigacci, Herbert Handt, Alberto Zedda, Gabriele Ferro, and Bruno Campanella.

Susanna has recorded for Erato, Philips, Bongiovanni, Ricordi, and Dynamic. She is also a vocal coach and teaches in five languages. She regularly holds international master classes and has been invited by universities and academies in Japan, Taiwan, Sweden, and Italy.