Celebrate Italian Night at Carnegie Hall with InterHarmony’s Misha Quint, Italian Chamber Orchestra l’Appassionata, & Tommaso Benciolini on Nov 3

For Immediate Release                                                                                               New York, NY

Celebrate Italian Night at Carnegie Hall with InterHarmony’s Misha Quint, Italian Chamber Orchestra l’Appassionata, & Tommaso Benciolini on Nov 3

An exceptional evening of Italian classical music will transport audiences to the heart of Italy at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with L’Appassionata, cellist Misha Quint, and flutist Tommaso Benciolini. For the first time ever, the InterHarmony Concert Series, presented by InterHarmony^® International Music Festival and Gaspari Foundation, will feature a chamber orchestra arriving directly from Verona, led by Concertmaster Lorenzo Gugole. Italian Night promises an unforgettable journey through the enchanting melodies through the ages of Italian composers Boccherini, Respighi, Rota, and Sollima, and can be experienced by purchasing tickets online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by calling Carnegie Charge 212-247-7800. More information can be found at www.interharmony.com.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The evening’s transcendent journey opens with the evocative sounds of Luigi Boccherini's La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid, a musical exploration of the captivating streets of Madrid that will transport the audience to the bustling nightlife of Spain’s capital. Boccherini, an Italian cello virtuoso, wrote this piece while employed by the Spanish royal family. Listeners will hear musical representations of tolling church bells, the chatter of city residents as their day comes to an end, and the rhythmic coming and going of the Military Night Watch, preparing listeners to enter a musical trance for the remaining program. 

Following this, audience members will be spellbound as Misha Quint, the acclaimed virtuoso cellist, takes center stage to perform Boccherini's lyrical and virtuosic Cello Concerto in B-flat Major. Written in the 1770’s, Concerto is considered to be one of the most virtuosic concertos for cello. The unique writing of Boccherini is noticeably developed especially in composing for cello since he himself was a greatest cellist of his generation. His melodic gift that could be compared with the sincerest revelations of Mozart and Haydn is masterfully displaced in the second movement. Two cadenzas at the end of the first and 3^rd movement create a monumental exhibition of technical abilities of the cello as an instrument and soloist.

Ottorino Respighi’s rarely performed Suite pour Instruments d’archet et Flute, P57 will immerse the audience in lush and colorful sounds. Inspired by Bach’s Suite No. 2 BWV 1067 and written in 1905, Suite employs the French ouverture style, Respighi even gave this piece a French title. Suite begins with the whimsical movement Badinage, meaning an entertaining or witty conversation, in reference to the most famous movement in Bach’s Suite, Badinerie. The flute soloist will be l’Appassionata’s Tommaso Benciolini.

The evening continues with Nino Rota's 1964 modern masterpiece Concerto for String Orchestra, that blends classical elegance with contemporary allure.

To close, listeners will experience the captivating fusion of classical and modern styles in Giovanni Sollima's Contrafactus, a mesmerizing dialogue between flute (performed by Tommaso Benciolini) and strings, written in 2000 and built on the Variation No.25 of Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Sollima himself defined the pieces as a “pseudo-baroque delirium”. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

L'APPASSIONATA

L'Appassionata was founded in 2019 around the activities of the Gaspari Foundation as a group of young excellent music professionals. Its members include some of the best young musicians in Italy, who have perfected their skills in the most important musical institutions throughout the world and have already gained concert experience in the most important Italian orchestras including the Orchestra Sinfonia Nazionale della RAI, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Torino, the Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, and the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna. L'Appassionata already has to its credit concerts and tours in Germany, Switzerland, France, and South Korea, and in some of Italy's major venues including the Sala Verdi in Milan, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua, the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza for important festivals including Serate Musicali in Milan, Emilia-Romagna Festival, Società dei Concerti in Parma, Festival Galuppi in Venice, MantovaMusica collaborating with internationally renowned personalities and soloists including Gil Shaham, Emmanuel Pahud, Leonora Armellini, Patrick Gallois, Kirill Rodin, Elio, Andrea Battistoni. L'Appassionata is also the protagonist of two recording projects released in 2021-a monograph on Antonio Vivaldi edited by SONY Classical with flutist Tommaso Benciolini and a monograph on Johann Sebastian Bach with violinist Jaroslaw Nadrzycki edited by Hänssler Classics-both received with great success by audiences and critics and broadcast by broadcasters such as Rai Radio 3, BBC Radio, Radio Classica, Radio24, Venice Classic Radio, and Sky Classica HD.

TOMMASO BENCIOLINI

Winner of the 2017 New York Respighi Prize, he made his debut on the stage of Carnegie Hall in New York in 2018 and is now the protagonist of an intense and passionate career.

His concert activity has led him to perform as a soloist in many of the most prestigious venues including the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Seoul Arts Center in Korea, the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice and many other. He has performed as a guest soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of New York, Berliner Symphoniker, Nürnberg Symphoniker, Munchener Kammerphilharmonie, North Czech Philarmonic, State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Eurosinfonietta Wien, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Thueringen Philharmonie Gotha -Eisenach, La Habana Chamber Orchestra, Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, Artisee Orchestra Seoul and many others.

Tommaso is also the dedicatee of many contemporary works including the flute concerto "The Garden of Delights. A Flute Concerto after Bosch" by Andrea Battistoni, which he premiered in 2020 on the occasion of his debut at the Großer Saal of the Philharmonie of Berlin.

In 2021 his debut CD was released for the SONY Classical label: a world premiere monograph dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi together with the chamber orchestra L'Appassionata which he founded and which was unanimously acclaimed by journalists, critics and radio. His recordings have been broadcast by RAI, Swiss National Radio, Japanese National Radio NHK, Radio Classica, Venice Classic Radio and many others.

In 2012 he became the youngest teacher of the Music Conservatory “E. F. Dall'Abaco” of Verona, and he is currently professor at the Conservatory of Music "F. A. Bonporti“ in Trento. He has also been invited to hold masterclasses as a teacher in Cuba (International Festival of Contemporary Music), Finland (Tampere Music Academy and Suomitaly Music Festival), Estonia (Tartu Eller Music Academy), and Malta (Malta Music University).

Very active as a researcher, Tommaso is the author of the first absolute recording of Mendelssohn's Trio in D minor Op. 49 in the version for flute, cello and piano by the composer himself; and he also rediscovered a trio for flute, cello and piano by Nino Rota giving its first performance in modern times at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 2015. Tommaso also brought to light some pages by Antonio Vivaldi for flute, recording them for the first time, and edited some world premieres by the same author on modern instruments.

Tommaso Benciolini was born in Bologna in 1991. He graduated at the age of 18 from the “E. F. Dall’Abaco "in Verona, obtaining full marks, honors and a scholarship. He also studied at the Ecole Normale de Musique "Alfred Cortot" in Paris in the class of Pierre-Yves Artaud, and then obtained the "Master of Advanced Studies in Music Interpretation” at the CSI of Lugano under the guidance of Mario Caroli.

MISHA QUINT

Russian-born cellist MISHA QUINT captivates his audiences with his lyricism, passion and dazzling technique. Described by Bordighera TV as a “a musician of virtuosic genius ability and by Harris Goldsmith as a "brilliantly accomplished virtuoso - an embodiment of interpretive and executive music-making at its rarefied best", his repertoire ranges from Bach to premieres of the most outstanding composers of today, including Alfred Schnittke, Sophie Goubadalina, Robert Sirota, Shulamit Ran, Steven Gerber, Nathan Davis, SEzra Laderman, and Stepan Lucky. Quint is Founder and Music Director of the InterHarmony® International Music Festival that take place in Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy, InterHarmony® Concert Series at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and InterHarmony International School of Music. Quint’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Valse Sentimentale is featured in the 2022 Italian Netflix production of Fedeltà. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances at Carnegie Hall and Verona, Italy with l’Appassionata, and at Carnegie Hall with Antonio Di Cristofano.

A graduate of the Leningrad Special School for the Gifted and the Leningrad State Conservatory, Misha Quint made his orchestral debut at the age of 13 after winning first prize at the Boccherini Competition in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad). He gained international recognition after capturing top prizes in the 1975 International Competition in Prague and the Russian National Competition. Quint immigrated to the US and made his critically acclaimed New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y and his orchestral debut in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in 1992. He has given numerous solo recitals and master classes in the leading halls of England, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Belorussia, Romania, Italy, and the US. “[Quint] provides a fresh voice…The Russian school of string playing has taken on a different light with Quint” said Daniel Webster of the Philadelphia Inquirer and “a master of probing sentiment, shaded phrasing, and flawless technique” from MetroWest.

Misha Quint has appeared with such celebrated orchestras as the New York Chamber Symphony, Metropolitan Symphony, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Leningrad State Orchestra, Orchestra of Classical and Contemporary Music, National Irish Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional do Brasilia and with the Symphony Orchestras of Latvia and Georgia among others. He has worked with an equally illustrious group of conductors including Maxim Shostakovich, Paul Lustig Dunkel, Colman Pearce, Sidney Harth, Ravil Martinov, Yakov Bergman, and Ira Levin. Quint is an active chamber musician and has performed with such artists as Nikolai Znaider, Vadim Repin, Shlomo Mintz, Bela Davidovich, Bruno Canino, Julian Rachlin, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Sherban Lupu, Boris Kushnir, and Mikhail Kopelman.

As a special guest artist, Misha Quint was broadcast in live television performances in Westchester, NY; "The Jewish Entertainment Hour"; German Television, Italian Television, RTN/WMNB; and live radio broadcast recitals on WQXR's "The Listening Room", WGBH (Boston), WMNB (NJ), WNYC (NY). Quint captured first prize of the CRS National competition in 2009, was a featured performer at The Festival of the Musical Citadel in Brasov, Romania in August 2013 and 2014, and is the Founder of the InterHarmony Concert Series at Carnegie Hall in New York and the former InterHarmony Concert Series at the Modern Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas. Quint’s discography includes Live Cello Recitals and Valse Sentimentale on the Volshebnik Productions Label, and the 2014 release of Tempo Trapezio and 2016 release of Matryoshka Blues on the Blue Griffin Label. Quint captured the gold medal in the March 2016 Global Music Awards for his recording, Matryoshka Blues, on the Blue Griffin label in three categories: instrumentalist, album, and new release, and was featured in the top five spring albums in Global Music Awards.

Misha Quint is strongly committed to teaching and is on the faculty of InterHarmony International School of Music. He has been on the faculty of the International Institute of Music in Marktoberdorf, Germany, and was Music Director and Founder of the Soesterberg International Music Festival in Holland from 1998 – 2007, the Intensive Cello Studies Abroad in Blonay, Chalet de lacroix at the Hindemith Foundation in 1997, Interharmony Music Festival in Geneva, Switzerland in 2000, The Berkshires, Massachusetts from 2007 – 2008, San Francisco, California in 2009, Hinterzarten, Schwarzwald, Germany from 2008 – 2011, in Tuscany, Italy from 2012 – 2016, presently in Acqui Terme, Italy since 2017, and from 2005-2019 in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria, Germany. Quint studied with Emmanuel Fishman, Natalia Gutman, Boris Pergamenshikov, and Daniel Shafran.
www.mishaquintcello.com   www.interharmony.com  www.interharmonymusicschool.com

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