ORT: Marcano_Candotti Concert

On Wednesday, November 5 at 9:00 pm, Chopin, Fauré and Stravinsky come to Florence’s Teatro Verdi, interpreted by the Orchestra della Toscana (ORT), conducted by Glass Marcano and with the piano talents of Michelle Candotti. A concert that promises delights and surprises.

On the podium, the brilliant young Glass Marcano—a Venezuelan conductor trained in the Abreu system and winner of the La Maestra competition in Paris—leads the orchestra through 3 works that tell the story of the orchestral form between different eras and styles. 

The focus of the program is Fryderyk Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 11, written when he was just 20 years old, being intensely cantabile music of melancholy yet rich in vitality. Performing is Michelle Candotti, a gifted Italian pianist who has won awards in numerous competitions and is appreciated for her precision and natural expressiveness. 

The evening opens with Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane, Op. 50, a short orchestral elegy created for dance and transformed into a piece with a twilight-like mood with a light and unmistakably French character. To close theatrically and ironically is the suite from Igor Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, built on real and fake Pergolesi—a play of 20ᵗʰ-century and baroque timbres, from cultured to amusing, where Glass Marcano’s communicative energy finds ideal ground. 

A concert that explores 3 European voices, 3 eras and 3 styles, alternating lyricism, dance and theater, with intelligence and measure for a comprehensive and engaging orchestral experience.