The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra of the UK, under the baton of maestro José Serebrier, recently recorded for Naxos Giuseppe Verdi’s complete ballet music from the Italian master’s operas.
Maestro Serebrier, a composer in his own right, had long dreamed of this achievement, having rummaged opera house basements to locate the scores of several pieces, some which have rarely been performed.
Giuseppe Verdi started including ballets in his operas upon the request of the Paris Opera, but often omitted them from his published scores. The double CD of Verdi’s complete ballet music scores, produced by Naxos, is scheduled for worldwide release in March 2012.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.
