Postcards from Italy at City Recital Hall Tickets

Join us as we travel to Italy, a destination rich with art, music and life that has cultivated and inspired generations of composers and musicians.

Bach’s popular Italian Concerto reveals his lasting fascination with the country’s musical innovations, while the great Tuscan cello virtuoso and composer Luigi Boccherini embodies its elegance and grace.

Tchaikovsky wrote his only string sextet, the Souvenir de Florence, during a summer visit to the country. Infused with sunlight and warmth, it basks in the pleasure of being alive.

Here in the present day, another Italian cellist and composer, Giovanni Sollima, invokes a dazzling, infectious energy with his Viaggio in Italia, a musical embodiment of the great luminaries in Italian art, music and literature.

An ACO chamber ensemble brings this music to life with the players in an intricate and ever-changing conversation with one another. Energy is palpably transferred from musician to musician and from the ensemble to you.

“The ACO is small in number, but big in impact.” – The Daily Telegraph

“The gang every string player wants to be in.” – The Guardian

Violin: Helena Rathbone

Violin: Ike See

Viola: Stefanie Farrands

Viola: Elizabeth Woolnough

Cello: Timo-Veikko Valve

Cello: Julian Thompson

PROGRAM

Thomas Adés - Arcadiana: I. Venezia Notturna

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. string sextet) - Italian Concerto, BWV971

Giovanni Sollima - Viaggio in Italia: Selections

Luigi Boccherini - String Quintet in C minor, Op.45, No.1

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence, Op.70