Leading Italian ensemble for Baroque music at the Megaron
The Capella della Pieta de’ Turchini orchestra, one of Italy’s leading ensembles for Baroque music, is set to perform one concert at the Athens Concert Hall, or Megaron Mousikis, on Friday as part of the venue’s «From Renaissance to Baroque» series. The performance, titled «Mozart Affinities,» includes works by Italian composers written in the second half of the 18th century. The Capella della Pieta de’ Turchini will be conducted by Antonio Florio, the orchestra’s founder who established the ensemble in 1987 after recruiting mostly young musicians and vocalists who live and work in Naples. The orchestra’s overall activity is focused on the period spanning the 16th to the 18th centuries, which include works by the likes of Provencalle, Trabacci, Venetziano, Nolla, Netti, Paiziello, Piccini and others. The orchestra’s upcoming Athens Concert Hall performance will be directly related and dedicated to Mozart. All the Italian composers behind the evening’s selected works had the great Austrian composer during their time, mostly in Vienna. Selections for the orchestra’s Athens performance include works by Gian Francesco Di Mayo, Niccolo Piccini, Domenico Cimarosa and Niccolo Jommelli. The performance will also feature soprano Patrizia Ciofi. The following night, Saturday, the Camerata of the Friends of Music, conducted by Alexandros Myrat, will perform works by Rossini, Mozart, Turina, de Falla, Pierne, and Ibert. The concert will feature acclaimed pianist Danae Kara, renowned for her pioneering performances in promoting Greek composers in world premieres. Trained at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, Kara has performed with a number of other orchestras, including the Athens State Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, as well as the Vienna Kammerorchester.
