Mantra

Ramificazioni, the section of the Festival that weaves Verdi’s legacy together with the creativity of other composers, takes us, across four concerts, to four different settings evoked by the late nineteenth century: from Wagner, who in Parsifal (1877–1882) draws on Buddhism, to Debussy’s impressionism (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, 1891–1894; String Quartet in G minor, 1893; La Mer, 1903–1905), through to Dvořák’s Native American folk music (String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 ‘American’, 1893), Stockhausen’s Indian philosophy in the historical avant-garde of the 1970s (Mantra, 1970), Henze’s fascination with Japan (Appassionatamente plus, 2003), right through to Lucia Ronchetti’s musical theatre (Zenobia Regina, 2024), which evokes the migration of people and works, both today and in the past.

The programme features the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, making its debut at the Verdi Festival (Niccolò Paganini Auditorium, 4 October), the Luigi Magnani Quartet (Ridotto del Teatro Regio, 7 October); the Ensemble Filarmonica Toscanini conducted by Susanne Blumenthal (Teatro Farnese, 15 October, in collaboration with the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta), and the pianists Ciro Longobardi and Andrea Rebaudengo (Auditorium del Carmine, 22 October).