Guitar at the Opera

Programme:
Pietro Mascagni - Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
Giuseppe Verdi - The Sicilian Vespers
Gioachino Rossini - The Barber of Seville
Giuseppe Verdi - La Traviata
Gioachino Rossini - La Cenerentola (Cinderella); La Donna del Lago (The Lady of the Lake); Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy); Zelmira; Ricciardo e Zoraide

90 minutes including interval.

Performers:
Federico Quercia - guitar

"A refined moment of classical guitar in which the strings of the instrument, played by the very sensitive hands of maestro Federico Quercia, have replaced the entire complexity of an orchestra designed for Italian opera" - Rete Abruzzo.com news

The concert is introduced by the beautifully romantic Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, in the mandolin – style tremolo.

The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I of Naples, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. It was the beginning of the eponymous War of the Sicilian Vespers.

The Sevilla Barber was one of the earliest Italian operas to be performed in America and premiered at the Park Theatre in New York City on 29 November 1825. Rossini's Barber has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all opere buffe; even after two hundred years, its popularity on the modern opera stage attests to that greatness.

La Traviata is an Italian opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after Alexandre Dumas, fils's novel La dame aux camélias, published in 1848. The title La traviata means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more figuratively, The Fallen One. Although a failure at its premiere, the opera soon established itself and became one of the best-loved and most frequently performed, recorded and filmed of all operas.

More about Federico Quercia:

Great-grandson of Federico Quercia, maximum exponent of the Neapolitan Risorgimento (the unification of Italy), journalist of the expedition of the thousand captained by Giuseppe Garibaldi and nephew of Federico Quercia, historian and philosopher awarded with the gold medal for culture by the Italian Premier Saragat, Mr. Quercia was born in a family of writers and musicians.

In 2004 Federico, inspired by an ethno-musicology class taken at UCSD of San Diego CA during 1991, moved to New Zealand where he aimed to teach classical guitar to Maori, Samoan and Fijian people, musically extremely gifted.

He has performed extensively in New Zealand including James Hay Theatre in the Christchurch Town Hall, Aurora Centre of Performing Arts, Great Hall in The Arts Centre of Christchurch, Canterbury University, two-hour concert broadcast live for Radio Wammo (Lincoln University), Auckland’s Raye Freedman Arts Centre, King’s College, Dunedin’s St. Paul’s, Nelson School of Music, Burnside high school, Auckland’s St. George’s and broadcast for Radio NZ.

In 2005 Mr. Quercia became professor of classical guitar at The University of Auckland and subsequently guitar tutor at Otahuhu College, Penrose High school, Tangaroa College, attended by Maori, Fijians, Samoans and also Waikato University and King’s College.

Federico gave recitals, made recording and appeared in several TV programs in EU, UK, South America, New Zealand including Cilea Theatre of Naples, Perugia’s Notaries Hall in the Priori Palace, Florence’s Vallombrosa Abbey, Museum of Sperelliana Municipal Library in Gubbio, Camerata Musicale Sulmonese in the Sulmona’s Sardi Palace, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Universidad Catolica, Universidad de las Americas, the Italian Institute of Culture, located in Santiago of Chile, London’s St. James’s (Westminster) among others.

Recently he has recorded a second album focused on the Italian Opera entitled Live in London featuring masterworks by Verdi and Rossini.

Federico Quercia performs The Barber of Seville, Tancredi, Cinderella, La Gazza Ladra by Gioachino Rossini. Rossiniana N.5 op.123 by Mauro Giuliani - Federico Quercia live concert

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