Winterreise

Friday, February 1, at 9:00 p.m. in the Grand Salon of Villa Medici, baritone Bruno Taddia and pianist Andrea Corazziari will present one of the most complex, yet fascinating, works in Western music: Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise.

Composed between 1827 and 1828, this work embodies a musical universe of infinite nuances and a message of impossibility and existential angst that transcends the ages, a message that could be represented by the solitary traveler, the protagonist of the 24 pieces. It is raw and direct music, in which every accent and every breath can be a seismic shift, a universe whose polarity is constantly shifting. An invitation to a journey that inevitably leads from a frozen landscape to a merciless introspection into the anxieties of the human spirit.

The generous lyricism of Schubert’s art unfolds against a mysterious tapestry of sound, woven with the most exquisite motifs and subtleties; like a magical fountain from which flows a continuous stream of emotions that remain as rich and profound as ever. The magic lies in successfully reflecting our innermost selves within it—with its flow of lived experiences, emotions, and feelings of every kind; it is to make our soul shimmer in a state of aesthetic bliss, in its truest transparency.

Andrea Corazziari

Born in Rome in 1975 and a graduate in piano and chamber music from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, Andrea Corazziari went on to further his studies at the Incontri col Maestro International Academy in Imola. He has devoted himself particularly to the modern and contemporary solo repertoire, he has received numerous international accolades in this field and regularly gives concerts in Italy and abroad (he has performed, notably, at the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival, Settembre Musica, Romaeuropa, and Unerhörte Musik, in venues such as the Salle Cortot in Paris, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Auditorium in Milan, the Maastricht Theater, the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici, and with the G. Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan.)

He is passionately dedicated to promoting music and teaching, and regularly holds master classes and seminars, particularly on contemporary piano music. He has recorded an album dedicated to Mussorgsky for the Kha label and is preparing a recording project featuring piano études from Ligeti to the present day. He has lived in Paris since 2004, where he teaches piano and chamber music at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatory.

Bruno Taddia

Bruno Taddia, a baritone born in Pavia, began his musical training by studying violin with Professor Giulio Franzetti and graduated from the N. Paganini Conservatory in Genoa. He then took a course in experimental composition at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan under the guidance of Maestro Bruno Zanolini and studied voice with Paolo Montarsolo. In 2001, he launched his career as a baritone, performing the role of Don Alvaro in Rossini’s “Il viaggio a Reims”, a production of the Rossini Opera Festival, after attending the Accademia Rossiniana. This was followed by collaborations with numerous theaters in Italy and abroad: the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, where he played the role of Dulcamara in Donizetti’s*L’elisir d’amore*; the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, where he played the role of Don Pomponio in Rossini’s *La Gazzetta*, directed by Dario Fo, the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, where he played Don Bartolo in Rossini’s *The Barber of Seville* and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s *Così fan tutte*, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. In 2006, he took on the role of Malatesta in Donizetti’s *Don Pasquale* at the Teatro D. Alighieri in Ravenna under the baton of Riccardo Muti. He then performed the role of Taddeo in Rossini’s *The Italian Girl in Algiers* at the Palm Beach Opera (USA). Returning to the Rossini Opera Festival for the 2007 edition, he performed the role of Prosdocimo in Rossini’s *The Turk in Italy *. He then portrayed the role of Okçuoglu in Vacchi’s *Teneke* at La Scala in Milan, in a world premiere conducted by Roberto Abbado and directed by Ermanno Olmi. Finally, it is worth noting his extensive concert activity in the field of vocal music as a soloist in the symphonic and chamber music repertoires.