CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES

Friday, May 17, 2013, 8pm (1858–1924) the first Italian performance of and the Zellerbach Hall Capriccio Sinfonico world premiere of ), had agreed to conduct the concert, and the rehearsals went well, despite Composed in 1883. Premiered on July 14, 1883, in the difficulty of the unfamiliar music for the San Francisco Orchestra , conducted by . student players. The performance was a success, and the Capriccio Sinfonico created a sensation. , conductor Giacomo Puccini’s father, Michele, the organist Ponchielli was disabused of his earlier estimate with at Lucca Cathedral, died when the lad was five, of the piece, and he wrote to Albina Puccini that Giuseppe Albanese, piano and Mama Albina struggled for years thereafter very evening to report on the enthusiastic recep- to raise her brood of eight. When Giacomo’s ex- tion of the work and to predict a brilliant career ceptional talent and ambition for composition for her son: “Those who deserve honors sooner soared beyond the means of the family’s budget or later receive them. In time, your son will PROGRAM to provide training, Albina successfully impor- achieve his just reward. Remember, with faith tuned an old acquaintance, a Lady-in-Waiting and courage, the Way of the Cross becomes the to Queen Margherita, to intercede with her mis- Way of the Resurrection.” The morning after the Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) Capriccio Sinfonico (1883) tress for a government grant to allow Giacomo premiere, the influential critic Filippo Filippi to enter the Milan Conservatory. Albina then praised the young composer in the newspaper cajoled the remainder of the needed funds from La Perseveranza: “Puccini has won the favor of Nino Rota (1911–1979) Piano Concerto in C major (1959–1962) her uncle, a physician named Niccolo Cerù, and the general public. He unquestionably possesses Allegro cantabile Puccini entered the school in 1880, receiving the rare essentials of a symphonic composer. I Arietta con variazione the highest possible scores on his entrance ex- am certain he would be equally successful in the Allegro ams. When the Queen’s stipend expired after a vocal field and in dramatic expression, but his year, sufficient additional money was pried from orchestral composition contains so much unity Giuseppe Albanese, piano Uncle Niccolo to enable Puccini to complete the of style, personality, character, and brilliant course of study by the summer of 1883, a year technique as is rarely found among the most earlier than the rigorous curriculum usually mature composers.” (Filippi was right about INTERMISSION allowed. For the required graduation exercise, Puccini’s theatrical potential, wrong about his Puccini determined to produce not the usual ac- symphonic inclination. Capriccio Sinfonico is ademic fugues and arias, but a grand orchestral one of just a handful of non-operatic works by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1882–1883) work, a Symphonic Caprice, which would both Puccini, which otherwise include an early Mass, Allegro con brio justify the family’s faith in him and establish a small setting of the Requiem text, a motet for Andante his name in the world of music. “I felt inspired,” , a cantata, three brief orchestral scores, Poco allegretto he later told his biographer Arnaldo Fraccaroli. seven songs, and a few pieces for string quartet Allegro “I composed at home, in the street, in class, at and for piano.) On July 16th, Puccini received the Osteria Aida or at the Excelsior of good old the Conservatory’s little bronze medal recog- Signor Gigi, where one ate without the silly pre- nizing his graduation. Though Faccio’s plan to Nicola Luisotti’s appearance is made possible by Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem, tence of being able to pay for it; I wrote on odd give the Capriccio Sinfonico its first professional Chairs, Amici di Nicola of Camerata. sheets, bits of paper, and the margins of news- performance at never materialized, he papers.” Puccini showed this jumble of jottings did conduct it twice to considerable acclaim at to his teacher, the respected Amilcare Ponchielli, an exhibition in Turin in 1884. A piano-duet who lamented, “I can’t make anything of it. It’s version of the score was published in Milan just a mess.” Plans to perform the work at the by Giovannina Lucca that same year, but then David Gockley, General Director student concert of July 14th proceeded, however, the work dropped from sight, and was appar- Nicola Luisotti, Music Director and Puccini managed to produce a legible score ently not performed again during Puccini’s and set of parts by the submission deadline. lifetime, though he did mine two of its themes The celebrated Franco Faccio, a graduate of for inclusion in and La Bohème. (He later the Milan Conservatory and music director of La “borrowed” the score from the Conservatory Cal Performances’ 2012–2013 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. Scala since 1871 (Verdi chose him to lead both library and refused to return it for years in an

24 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 25 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES apparent attempt to conceal this musical shuf- Giovanni Rinaldi. Nino was composing by age which became a leading studio following World perfectly suited to a Keystone Kops car chase. fling.) Puccini persevered through the next de- eight, and by twelve he had completed an orato- War II by nurturing such gifted filmmakers as (Rota had scored more than a hundred movies cade, composing two ( and Edgar) rio titled L’infanzia [Childhood] di San Giovanni Carlo Ponti, Dino De Laurentiis, Michelangelo before he wrote this Concerto.) A third theme, which earned only modest success and even less Battista, whose performance established him Antonioni, and a young screenwriter with am- built from short, wide-ranging phrases in snap- money, but he was taken on by the powerful as a child prodigy; he was admitted to the bitions to direct: Federico Fellini. Lux gave ping, dotted rhythms reminiscent of the flute’s publisher , and finally achieved Milan Conservatory later that year to study Fellini his chance in 1952, when he wrote and earlier descending transition motive, is initi- the acclaim that Ponchielli had prophesied for privately with the school’s director, Ildebrando directed Lo Sciecco Bianco (“The White Sheik”) ated by the piano. The development takes as its him with the premiere of in 1893. Pizzetti. In 1926 Rota entered the Accademia di and recruited Rota to supply the score. Fellini material the repeated-note main theme, in both The passion and richness of sonority that Santa Cecilia in Rome as a student of Alfredo and Rota went on to create one of cinema’s most a fanfare-like transformation and its original mark the Capriccio Sinfonico (and the rest of Casella, and when he graduated in 1930 Arturo enduring and productive collaborations with La form, and the snapping-rhythm motive. Main Puccini’s work, for that matter) are evident in Toscanini, recently appointed music direc- Strada, La Dolce Vita, Boccaccio, 8½, Juliet of the and second themes return intact in the recapitu- the opening measures, a dramatic proclama- tor of the , helped ar- Spirits, Satyricon, The Orchestra Rehearsal, and lation before the movement is rounded out by an tion for full wind choir. The quieter moments range a scholarship for him to study composi- nine other movies, which the director’s biog- extended solo cadenza and a brilliant coda based that ensue contain several fine melodic ideas tion with Rosario Scalero and conducting with rapher Tullio Kezich said was characterized by on a quick-tempo version of the main theme. indicating that Puccini’s lyrical gifts were al- Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in “empathy, irrationality, and magic.” Rota scored The second movement is set of variations on ready highly developed during his student Philadelphia. Rota profited greatly during his nearly 150 other films, working with such prom- a wistful Ariette whose melodic eccentricities years. (One of these themes was borrowed for two years in America, not just from the formal inent directors as Renato Castellani, Luchino are actually ingenious aural markers that help the choral Requiem in Act III of Edgar of 1889.) curriculum at Curtis but also from his newly Visconti, Franco Zeffirelli, Mario Monicelli, to orient the listener as the theme evolves. The The Capriccio’s fast-tempo central section is forged friendships with Aaron Copland, Samuel King Vidor, and René Clément, but he enjoyed mood and material of the finale are established launched by the vigorous motive that Puccini Barber, and other leading American musicians, his greatest success with Francis Ford Coppola by a mercurial theme of opera buffa jocular- reused extensively in La Bohème a dozen years his immersion in this country’s popular music in the first two Godfather movies—the score for ity announced at the outset by the piano. The later; the episode is filled out with lilting waltz and, perhaps most influentially, his first experi- Part I was nominated for an Academy Award, only significant interruptions of the movement’s music sprung from the principal theme. The ence with talking pictures. He began to estab- but had to be withdrawn when it was learned headlong progress are a meditative version of the mood and music of the introduction return to lish a reputation as a composer with a number of that Rota had borrowed from his music for the theme given by the piano and a virtuosic caden- round out this attractive and highly skilled cre- chamber and orchestral works soon after return- 1958 Fortunella (reference, even quotation, was za near the end. This infectious and too-little- ation of Puccini’s early maturity. ing to in 1932, but he also continued his ed- an integral part of his technique); Part II won an performed Concerto closes with a rousing romp ucation by earning a degree in music history and Oscar. Despite the great diversity of his work, through its final pages. literature from the University of Milan. After Rota said that it was all written to fulfill his Nino Rota (1911–1979) graduating in 1937, Rota accepted a teaching job simple creative philosophy: “I’d do everything Piano Concerto in C major in the southern coastal city of Taranto, located I could to give everyone a moment of happiness. Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) where the instep meets the heel of the Italian That’s what’s at the heart of my music.” Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 Composed in 1959–1962. Premiered on boot, and two years later moved an hour north Rota composed eleven solo concertos: three December 12, 1987, in Rome by the RAI Symphony to join the faculty of the Bari Conservatory; he for cello, three for piano, and one each for trom- Composed in 1882–1883. Premiered on December 2, Orchestra, conducted by Günther Neuhold, with was named the school’s director in 1950 and re- bone, violin, horn, bassoon, and harp, as well as 1883, in , conducted by Hans Richter. Aldo Ciccolini as soloist. tained that position until two years before his a concerto for strings and one for orchestra. The death, in Rome in 1979. C major Piano Concerto was written in 1959– Brahms had reached the not inconsiderable age The Oscar-winning score forThe Godfather II Though he was active during one of the most 1962, but not premiered until Aldo Ciccolini of 43 before he unveiled his First Symphony. The and the love theme for Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 stylistically adventurous periods in the history and conductor Günther Neuhold performed Second Symphony followed within 18 months, Romeo and Juliet brought him his widest rec- of music, Rota largely held to traditional forms it in Rome with the Italian Radio Symphony and the musical world was prepared for a steady ognition, but Nino Rota was a fully rounded and idioms in his works, a quality that not only Orchestra on December 12, 1987. The work stream of similar masterworks from his pen. musician with rich and varied talents: a gifted shaped his many compositions for the stage and opens with the piano’s presentation of the main However, it was to be another six years before and prolific composer for the , con- concert hall—twelve operas, six ballets, orato- theme, which comprises the most basic of musi- he undertook his Third Symphony, though he cert hall, theater, and cinema; a skilled pianist rios, cantatas, orchestral scores, concertos, inci- cal motives—a simple repeated pitch used as a did produce the Academic Festival and Tragic and conductor; a dedicated teacher; and the dental music, chamber and piano pieces—but unifying element throughout the movement— overtures, the Violin Concerto, and the Second director of one of Italy’s leading conservatories. also suited him particularly well to writing for and a gracefully arched phrase. Flute and violins Piano Concerto during that time. When he got Rota was born in 1911 into an artistic family film. He composed his first movie scoreTreno ( repeat the theme, and then the flute offers a de- around to the new symphony, he was nearly 50, in Milan and began studying music as a child Popolare—“People’s Train”) in 1933, and in 1942 scending motive in dotted rhythms that leads to and had just recovered from a spell of feeling with his mother, the daughter of concert pianist signed with the Lux Film Company in Rome, the contrasting second subject, a rowdy melody that he was “too old” for creative work, even

26 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 27 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES informing his publisher, Simrock, that he would distillation of an almost infinite number of emo- accompaniment. Edward Downes noted about be sending him nothing more. It seems likely— tional states, not one of which can be adequately this lovely Andante that its “almost Olympian though such matters always remained in the rendered in words. “When I look at the Third grace and poise recall the spirit if not the letter of shadows where Brahms was concerned—that Symphony of Brahms,” lamented the English Mozart.” The romantic third movement replaces his creative juices were stirred anew by a sudden master Sir , “I feel like a tinker.” the usual scherzo. It is ternary in form, like the infatuation with “a pretty Rhineland girl.” This When the Third Symphony first appeared, it preceding movement, and utilizes the warmest was Hermine Spiess, a contralto of excellent tal- was generally acclaimed as Brahms’s best work in tone colors of the orchestra. ent who was 26 when Brahms first met her in the form, and perhaps the greatest of all his com- The finale begins with a sinuous theme of January 1883 at the home of friends. (Brahms positions, despite well-organized attempts by the brooding character. A brief, chant-like proces- was 50.) A cordial, admiring friendship sprang Wagner cabal to disrupt the premiere. Critical sional derived from the Slavic theme of the up between the two, but this affair, like every opinion has changed little since. This, the short- second movement provides contrast. Further other one in Brahms’s life in which a respectable est of the four symphonies, is the most clear in thematic material is introduced (one theme is woman was involved, never grew any deeper. He formal outline, the most subtle in harmonic arch-shaped; the other, more rhythmically vig- used to declare, perhaps only half in jest, that he content and the most assured in contrapuntal orous) and well examined. Brahms dispensed lived his life by two principles, “and one of them invention. No time is wasted in establishing the here with a true development section, but com- is never to attempt either an opera or a mar- conflict that charges the first movement with bined its function with that of the recapitulation riage.” Perhaps what he really needed was a muse dynamic energy. The two bold opening chords as a way of tightening the structure. As the end rather than a wife. At any rate, Brahms spent the juxtapose bright F major and a somber chromat- of the movement nears, the tonality returns to summer of 1883 not in his usual haunts among ic harmony in the opposing moods of light and F major, and there is a strong sense of struggle the Austrian hills and lakes, but at the German shadow that course throughout the work. The passed. The tension subsides, and the work ends spa of Wiesbaden, which just happened to be the main theme comes from the strings “like a bolt with the ghost of the opening movement’s main home of Hermine. Work went well on the new from Jove,” according to Olin Downes, with the theme infused with a sunset glow. symphony, and it was completed before he re- opening chords repeated by the woodwinds as turned to Vienna in October. its accompaniment. Beautifully directed chro- More than just an attractive girl was on matic harmonies—note the line, which © 2013 Dr. Richard E. Rodda Brahms’s mind in 1883, however. He had recent- always carries the motion to its close- and long- ly suffered the deaths of several close friends, in- range goals—lead to the pastoral second theme, cluding his dear teacher, Marxsen, and he was sung softly by the clarinet. The development sec- feuding with the violinist Joseph Joachim, who tion is brief, but includes elaborations of most had been a champion of his music for thirty of the motives from the exposition. The tonic years. Many cross-currents of emotion therefore key of F is re-established, not harmonically but impinged upon the Third Symphony, though melodically (again the bass leads the way), and Brahms certainly had no specific program in the golden chords of the opening proclaim the mind for the work. It has nevertheless been recapitulation. A long coda based on the main called his “Eroica” (by Hans Richter and Eduard theme reinforces the tonality and discharges Hanslick), a forest idyll (Clara Schumann), much of the music’s energy, allowing the move- a rendering of the Greek legend of Hero and ment to close quietly, as do, most unusually, all Leander (Joachim), a depiction of the statue of the movements of this Symphony. Germania at Rüdesheim (Max Kalbeck), and of The second and third are the most intimate a young, heroic Bismarck (Richard Specht). It and personal movements found anywhere in is all of these, at least to these individuals, but, Brahms’s orchestral output. A simple, folk-like more importantly, it is really none of these or theme appears in the rich colors of the low wood- any other specifically non-musical subject, be- winds and low strings to open the second move- cause this Third Symphony of Brahms is the ment. The central section of the movement is a pinnacle of the pure, abstract symphonic art Slavic-sounding plaint intoned by clarinet and that stretched back more than a century to bassoon that eventually gives way to the flowing Haydn and Mozart. It is a work of such supreme rhythms of the opening and the return of the mastery of all the musical elements that it is a folk theme supported by a new, rippling string

28 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 29 ORCHESTRA ROSTER ORCHESTRA ROSTER

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ORCHESTRA Nicola Luisotti, Music Director, Caroline H. Hume Endowed Chair , Principal Guest Conductor Giuseppe Finzi, Resident Conductor

first violin double bass horn Kay Stern, Concertmaster Joseph Lescher, Principal William Klingelhoffer, Co-Principal Laura Albers, Associate Concertmaster Jonathan Lancelle, Associate Principal Kevin Rivard, Co-Principal Heidi Wilcox, Assistant Concertmaster Steven D’Amico, Assistant Principal Keith Green Jennifer Cho Shinji Eshima Brian McCarty Dawn Harms Mark Drury Lawrence Ragent Mariya Borozina Lev Rankov† flute trumpet Barbara Riccardi Julie McKenzie, Principal Adam Luftman, Principal Robert Galbraith† Patricia Farrell William Holmes Leonid Igudesman Stephanie McNab John Pearson Asuka Annie Yano Alexandros Sakarellos‡ piccolo trombone Wenyi Shih‡ Stephanie McNab McDowell Kenley, Principal Joseph Edelberg‡ Donald Kennelly oboe David Ridge second violin Mingjia Liu, Principal Virginia Price-Kvistad, Principal Deborah Henry, Assistant Principal tuba & cimbasso Martha Simonds, Associate Principal Janet Popesco Archibald Zachariah Spellman Beni Shinohara, Assistant Principal Eva Karasik english horn timpani Leslie Ludena Janet Popesco Archibald John Burgardt Gerard Svazlian Linda Deutsch Twohy clarinet percussion Craig Reiss Jose Gonzalez Granero, Principal Richard Kvistad, Principal/Associate Timpani Joanne Burke Eisler, Assistant Principal Patricia Niemi viola Anthony Striplen Carla Maria Rodrigues, Principal harp Sergey Rakitchenkov, Associate Principal Olga Rakitchenkov Paul Nahhas, Assistant Principal Anthony Striplen Patricia Heller librarian Jonna Hervig bassoon Carrie Weick Natalia Vershilova Rufus Olivier, Principal Timothy Spears, Assistant Joy Fellows Daniel MacNeill Robin Elliott† orchestra manager cello Shawn Jones‡ Tracy Davis David Kadarauch, Principal Timothy Spears, Assistant Thalia Moore, Associate Principal contrabassoon David Budd, Assistant Principal Robin Elliott† Nora Pirquet Shawn Jones‡ † Leave of absence ‡ Season substitute Emil Miland Victoria Ehrlich Ruth Lane

30 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 31 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

an francisco opera has stood at the made his international debut in 2002 at the UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances. Mr. Luisotti’s Italian pianist Giuseppe S forefront of the world’s great opera compa- Stuttgart State Theater. He has since led pro- other engagements during the 2012–2013 season Albanese has appeared as a nies for nearly nine decades. ductions at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; include a new production of at Milan’s soloist in the world’s premier led the Company from its founding in 1923 and the ; Milan’s La Scala; the La Scala and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, concert venues and makes Kurt Herbert Adler headed the organization Vienna State Opera; Madrid’s ; and in addition to concerts with the Orchestre de his Northern California de- from 1953 through 1981. Legendary for both Paris Opera; among many others. He has also Paris, La Scala’s Filarmonica della Scala, Rome’s but with a work he has per- their conducting and managerial skills, these established growing relationships with a number Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia formed in Rome and Naples. two leaders established a formidable institution of international orchestras and in 2012 he was Orchestra, and the His recent engagements in- that is heralded for its first-rate productions and appointed as music director of the Teatro San Orchestra in Naples. In 2012, Mr. Luisotti was clude Rachmaninoff’s Piano roster of international opera stars. Following Carlo in Naples. appointed music director of the Teatro di San Concerto No. 2 at Madrid’s Teatro Real; Adler’s tenure, the Company was headed by San Francisco Opera has embodied a spirit Carlo in Naples; he led Verdi’s rarely performed Martucci’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Teatro three visionary leaders: Terence A. McEwen, of innovation by presenting eleven world pre- and a concert of Puccini’s di di San Carlo in Naples; Liszt’s Piano Concerto , and Pamela Rosenberg. mieres since 1961. Under Mr. Gockley’s leader- Gloria. Called “both an original thinker and a No. 1 at Milan’s Teatro Arcimboldi and David Gockley became San Francisco ship, the Company has added three new operas great respecter of tradition” by Opera News, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 at the Teatro Opera’s sixth general director in 2006 after to that list and continues to present world pre- Mr. Luisotti made his San Francisco Opera de- dal Verme, also in Milan; Chopin’s Piano more than three decades at the helm of Houston mieres with three new operas in 2013: The Secret but in 2005 conducting and Concerto No. 2 with the Orchestra of the Teatro Grand Opera. During his first months as gen- Garden by Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison has led 16 other productions with the Company. Massimo in Palermo; and a recital at the eral director, Mr. Gockley took opera to the cen- in a co-production with Cal Performances, The He has garnered enthusiastic praise from both International Piano Festival of Brescia and ter of the community with a free outdoor simul- Gospel of Mary Magdalene by Mark Adamo, and audiences and critics for his work at the Royal Bergamo. Internationally, he has appeared in cast of . The subsequent ten Dolores Claiborne by composer Opera, Covent Garden; the Metropolitan Paris, Berlin, London, New York City, simulcasts throughout the Bay Area, including and librettist J. D. McClatchy. Opera; Paris Opera; the Vienna State Opera; La Hamburg, Salzburg, Warsaw, Mexico City, and seven at San Francisco’s AT&T Park, have col- San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Scala; ’s ; Venice’s La Buenos Aires, among many others. In his native lectively drawn nearly 200,000 opera fans. These Opera Guild annually bring opera and music Fenice; Munich’s Bavarian State Opera; Italy, Mr. Albanese has performed at leading simulcasts are made possible by the Company’s education programs to more than 60,000 stu- Madrid’s Teatro Real; Los Angeles Opera; theaters, including Florence’s Teatro del Maggio Koret-Taube Media Suite. Founded in 2007, it dents throughout Northern California. San Toronto’s ; Seattle Musicale, Bologna’s Teatro Carlo Felice, the is the first permanent high-definition video pro- Francisco Opera’s groundbreaking Opera ARIA Opera; Bologna’s Teatro Comunale; and in Teatro dell’Opera in Rome; Trieste’s Teatro duction facility installed in any American opera (Arts Resources in Action) programs work with Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Mr. Luisotti was awarded Verdi; the Arena di ; and Venice’s Teatro house. Mr. Gockley ushered in another first for classrooms and educators in grades K–12 to con- the 39th Premio Puccini Award in conjunction . The pianist’s discography includes re- San Francisco Opera in spring 2008, when the nect professional artistic and creative elements with the historic 100th anniversary of Puccini’s cordings of compositions by Chopin, Schubert, Company presented a series of four operas in of opera with classroom curricula. For 70 years, at the Metropolitan Opera, Schumann, Scriabin, Mendelssohn, Debussy, movie theaters across the country; these operas, the San Francisco Opera Guild has continued to which he conducted in 2010. Equally at home Bartók, Szymanowski, and an album of works in addition to twelve new titles, are available to bring award-winning opera arts in-school pro- on the concert stage, Mr. Luisotti served as prin- by Italian composer Luciano Simoni. Born in theaters and performing arts venues as part of grams to children in more than 250 Northern cipal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony Reggio Calabria, Mr. Albanese began playing the Company’s Grand Opera Cinema Series. In California schools. from 2009 to 2012 and has established growing piano at age five and studied in Pesaro and 2007, Mr. Gockley also launched radio partner- relationships with the orchestras of London Imola. He was a first–prize-winner at the 1997 ships that have returned regular San Francisco Italian conductor Nicola (Philharmonia Orchestra), Genoa, Budapest, Premio Venezia Piano Competition and the Opera broadcasts to the national and interna- Luisotti has been music Turin, and Munich (Bavarian Radio Orchestra), 2003 Vendome Prize Piano Competition, and he tional radio airwaves. director of San Francisco as well as the Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco was awarded a special prize at the 54th annual San Francisco Opera’s first two general Opera since September Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. This fall Busoni International Piano Competition. directors, Messrs. Merola and Adler, regu- 2009 and holds the at San Francisco Opera, Mr. Luisotti leads larly conducted for the first six decades of the Caroline H. Hume and , as well as a special per- Company’s history. In 1985, the Company ap- Endowed Chair. In the formance of the Verdi Requiem in celebration of pointed Sir John Pritchard as its first perma- current season he has al- the bicentennial year of the composer’s birth. nent music director, and he was followed by ready conducted perfor- in 1992. Italian conductor mances of , Nicola Luisotti, one of the opera world’s most , and . This spring he conducts exciting conductors, became music director in Così fan tutte and a concert with the San fall 2009. Born and raised in Italy, Mr. Luisotti Francisco Opera Orchestra co-presented with 32 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 33