Italian maestro to lead QPO concert

Internationally-renowned Italian musician Jacopo Sipari di Pescasseroliwill conduct today (November 27) a concert by the Qatar PhilharmonicOrchestra (QPO) at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC).The performance, sponsored by the Italian embassy as part of the ItalianWeek celebration in Doha, will also witness famous Italian sopranoSilvana Froli singing some of the important Giacomo Puccini pieces.“This is my first time in the Middle East and this experience for me isamazing because I never thought that I will find an incredibleinternational orchestra like QPO, it can be considered as one of thebest,” the maestro told Gulf Times after their rehearsal yesterday. He said some of the pieces to be performed at the concert includeGioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and Overture to La Cenerentola(Cinderella), Puccini’s Tosca and Madame Butterfly, Giuseppe Verdi’sOverture to Nabucco and Overture to La forza del destino, and PietroMascagni’s Prelude to Cavalleria rusticana.Di Pescasseroli added that he considers Puccini as one of the mostimportant Italian opera composers, who was “revolutionary in his life”for building a unique opera, which is “a mixture of love, passion anddeath and all kinds of human emotions.” “It is too beautiful to hear and to lead this kind of music and theaudience will feel like they’re part of it,” he stressed. “We also havethis kind of Italian Verdi and Rossini music, very sparkling.”He also described QPO “as the biggest treasure” that Qatar has, whichpossesses and performs with musical ingenuity. “They have an amazingsound, amazing colours, wonderful technique, big intelligent musicale,and it is an incredible pleasure,” di Pescasseroli noted. He said hetold his friends in Italy that they need an extraordinary orchestra likeQPO, a group comprising 27 nationalities. “It is like incredible, a big pleasure for me, because it seems you areconducting the world,” the maestro added. “You can invite all the bestconductors in the world and everybody can be just only happy to workwith this orchestra. Di Pescasseroli said he was invited by his close friend, Italianambassador to Qatar Pasquale Salzano, to conduct the QPO concert for theItalian Week – an extraordinary event mixing Italian and Qataritraditions in Doha. About Qatar, he said, “everything in the country is just amazing, thewonderful places and respectful people, as well as the perfect weatherduring this period, it is like spring in Italy.”About the kind of music he conducts, di Pescasseroli pointed out that itcan give people all kinds of signals, words, and speech since music hasno boundaries. “Thanks to this orchestra (QPO), your country can just bring its lovefor music and culture to all over the world,” he stressed. About QNCC,the maestro described it as “a wonderful and perfect place forfunctions,” where the audience can appreciate music in all its detailsand “hear all the colours of the orchestra.”After the concert in Doha, di Pescasseroli said he will return toBelgrade for another performance and then to then Nicaragua for thePuccini Foundation project for young people. “Through music, we canoffer a very big opportunity especially to children. Through music, theycan express themselves and can believe in a better future,” he added.A profileBorn in 1985, Jacopo Sipari di Pescasseroli studied piano, compositionand singing and graduated at “A. Casella” Conservatory of L’Aquila. He continued his training in Italy and abroad with M Mauro Cardi,Alessandro Sbordoni, Azio Corghi, Sandro Rancitelli, Cesare Scarton,Josè Maria Sciutto, Mirta Herrera, Maria Mosca, Aurelio Iacolenna andMaria Chiara Pavone. He received many awards such as the “Young Italy” award by the CNEL, andthe “Chimera d’Oro” International Art Prize for music innovation. In2012, he was appointed “Honourary Citizen of Abruzzo” for his merits inmusic and culture. Di Pescasseroli was the principal guest conductor of the PucciniFestival Foundation of Torre Del Lago. He was a conducting guestprofessor at The National Conservatory of Mexico City, an artisticdirector of The International Midsummer Festival of Italy (Tagliacozzo),and became the head Department of “Singing And Pop Music Class” at theTchaikovsky Conservatory In Italy. He has been the guest conductor ofthe National Theatre Orchestra of Serbia, Puccini PhilharmonicOrchestra, National Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra of Serbia, IstanbulState Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Zapopan (Mexico),National Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television of Ukraine, NationalSymphony Orchestra of Mexico, Philharmonic Orchestra of Benevento,National Philharmonic Orchestra of Mongolian State and many others.