Filarmonica della Scala

The Programme:

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Roman Carnival Overture, Op. 9

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
Symphony No. 4 “Italian” in A major, Op. 90

***

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

Set up by conductor Claudio Abbado in 1982, its objective was to add an international dimension to the work of the orchestra of Milan’s La Scala. Made up of the musicians who played in the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, it enjoys artistic and organizational autonomy and performs only symphonic repertoire, thus supplementing the theatre’s great operatic tradition. It is a leading promoter of Italian culture around the world.

As one of its first conductors, Carlo Maria Giulini conducted the orchestra in more than 90 concerts and took it on its first international tours. Riccardo Muti was the Principal Conductor in 1987–2005. The orchestra has worked with some of the world’s greatest conductors  including Georges Pretre, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Bernstein, Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Peter Eotvos, Christoph Eschenbach, John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Gennadij Rozdestvenskij, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Giuseppe Sinopoli. From 2006 it has intensified its relations with Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti and Valery Gergiev.

The orchestra has undertaken numerous foreign tours, performing more than 450 concerts. It has also made numerous recordings for the Sony, Decca and EMI labels. The concerts of the Filarmonica season are often shown on RAI Italian television and, since 2012, broadcast live at cinemas worldwide. The orchestra is not subsidized by public funds, receiving support from UniCredit, its main institutional partner.