It’s off to green meadows with a touch of madness in this concert, with the aria “Verdi prati” from Handel’s opera Alcina forming the basis for the first piece. In the aria, the knight Ruggiero realises that the sorceress Alcina’s verdant isle is actually a desert populated by monsters and that for this reason he must leave, even though he admits that both she and her island’s beauty will haunt him for the rest of his life. The Spanish term “La Folía” (or madness) meanwhile, refers to one of the oldest documented European musical themes on record, and many composers have made use of it, not least Vivaldi in his opus 1 no. 12, written in 1705. As for Salieri’s variations on the original theme, it’s worthy of note that the work is one of very few sets of successful orchestral variations written before the late Romantic period.
G. Fr. HANDEL: Largo (orch.: Α. Baltas)
Concerto for oboe d’ amore “Verdi prati”
A. VIVALDI: La Folia
A. SALIERI: La Folia di Spagna
Soloist: Christina Pantelidou (oboe d’amore)
Conductor: Alkis Baltas
Booking & Event Information
Lemesos: Thursday 1 December
Rialto Theatre, 20:30
Lefkosia: Friday 2 December
Pallas Theatre, Pafos Gate, 20:30
Ticket prices:
€12, €7 (young people 18-26 yrs, pensioners), €5 (young people 12-18 yrs), €3 (children under 12)
Ticket presales:
Rialto Theatre (Andrea Drousioti 19, Lemesos 3040, Tel.: 77777745)
- Online at www.rialto.com.cy
- At the theatre Box Office 4 weeks prior the concert day (Mo-Fr 10:00-13:00 and 17:00-19:00, Sa 10:00-13:00) and on the concert day from 19:00-20:30
Pallas Theatre (Regenis and Arsinoes corner, Lefkosia 1010, Tel. 22 410181)
- Online at the CySO Foundation website: www.cyso.org.cy
- At the Theatre box office every Wednesday, 16:00-19:00 and on the concert day, 18:30-20:30
Information: 22 463144, www.cyso.org.cy
