Italian Nights

Of Note

• Felix Mendelssohn did not publish the “Italian” symphony during his lifetime. He made substantial revisions to the work after its 1833 premiere, and the original version was published in 1851, four years after his death. Although the revised score has been published and performed, the first version is the one generally performed by symphony orchestras.
• Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage by Lord Byron describes the travels of a young man who is disillusioned with his aimless life and looks for satisfaction by visiting foreign lands. It made Byron’s reputation: “I awoke one morning and found myself famous,” he wrote. Although Berlioz said the poem influenced Harold in Italy, one critic of the time said, “No definite elements of Byron’s poem have penetrated the impregnable fortress of Berlioz’s encyclopaedic inattention … there is no trace in Berlioz’s music of any of the famous passages of Childe Harold.”
• L’italiana in Algeri was an enormous hit for Rossini, which is perhaps why he partially recycled it for the following year’s Il Turco in Italia. “The titles of the two operas make it  sound like Rossini took the first opera and simply reversed its premise to come up with a new one—and that’s basically what he did,” said NPR in a “World of Opera” broadcast. The report concedes, however, that they are different musically, with L’italiana featuring blockbuster arias and Il Turco focusing more on ensemble singing.

Guillermo Figueroa, Music Director

One of the most versatile and respected musical artists of his generation—renowned as conductor, violinist, violist, and concertmaster—Guillermo Figueroa is the Principal Conductor of The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. He also serves as the Music Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado, Music Director of the Lynn Philharmonia in Florida, and is the founder of the highly acclaimed Figueroa Music and Arts Project in Albuquerque.

Kim Fredenburgh, Principal Viola

Violist Kimberly Fredenburgh, originally from New York, is Professor of Viola and serves as Head of the String area at the University of New Mexico. She has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy and Monaco.