<<  -- 5 --  Bill Newman    CELEBRATORY PARADE

I had lunch with the Sonus team and invited them to add their names to my autograph Festival notebook. In order of seating around one large table were Claudio Venturelli, Carlo Marchiori, Max Gulinelli, Gian Luca Cavalini, Paulo Cillerai, Fillippo Stanfani, Miguel Lourtie, Andrea Taliga, Emanuele Carlucci. The youngest member, Tommaso Marchiori, described himself as a Poke'mon (ice cream) engineer, with the stipulation that he always sleeps during performances! On the musical staff were Alessandra Cartocci, pianist, musicologist and therapist, while the piano tuner is Alberto Amendola, otherwise employed by Fabbrini Pianos. Jimmy Lock was Master of Ceremonies.

The final concert in the Piazza, attractive on paper, unfortunately had little to commend it. The programme was a strangely planned affair. Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances, and Tchaikovsky's Capriccio Italiano.

The Mendelssohn is seldom performed, worthy of inclusion mostly for its choral writing rather than solos, sounding a cross between A Midsummer Night's Dream and Elijah. Here the Choral Arts Society of Washington paired successfully with the Spoleto Festival Choir. Despite adequate rehearsals neither the Borodin nor Tchaikovsky impressed. The conductor was a newcomer, Francesco Maria Colombo.

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