Giuseppe Pietraroia, Associate Conductor

Music by Rossini, Respighi and Mascagni comes next, under the direction of Associate Conductor Giuseppe Pietraroia. Joey’s roots are Italian, so perhaps he comes by his love of the operatic repertoire naturally! He begins with the Overture to “La scala di seta,” one of Rossini’s earliest successes, written when he was just 20. Another madcap farce involving romantic entanglements, The “Silken Ladder” of the title is used by the tenor, Dorvil, to rejoin his wife, Giulia, the soprano, to whom he is secretly wed and who is living at the home of her tutor! The opera itself went out of style, but the Overture has never lost its charm. Respighi came on the scene in the early 20^th century and wrote 12 operas – none of them terribly successful. But he conjured colourful scenes with his vivid and varied instrumental music depicting scenes of nature and the Italian landscape. His adaptations of music from the 17^th century contributed to one of his greatest hits, Gli uccelli (The Birds) which combines birdsong with historic dances. Pietro Mascagni was road-blocked, half way through writing a one act opera. When inspiration failed him, he threw the manuscript in the dustbin. Fortunately, his wife found it and encouraged him to continue. The result is one of the most hauntingly beautiful and emotionally wrenching works you are ever likely to experience. The Intermezzo from “Cavalleria rusticana” (Rustic Chivalry) is played to the scene of an empty town square in Sicily, just before the villagers emerge from Easter celebrations at the church. Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola lifted it for the conclusion of The Godfather Part III, when the Corleone family emerges from a triumphant night at the opera house, only to find their Sicilian ‘Code of Honour’ result in a truly tragic ending.