Andrea Molino conducts Bluebeard's Castle
Premiere at the Sydney Opera House
 
On March 1, the curtain will rise on a new production of Bartók's only opera, Bluebeard's Castle, at the Joan Sutherland Theatre in Sydney.
 
After many successful productions at Opera Australia, Andrea Molino will conduct the Opera Australia Orchestra in this very special 20th century opera in a staging by Andy Morton (Associate Director: Priscilla Jackman) with lighting designed by John Rayment. Duke Bluebeard, the title role, will be sung by Daniel Sumegi, with Carmen Topciu as his fourth wife, Judith.
 
Opera Australia is currently one of the very few Opera Houses in the world presenting opera in front of a live audience; the 2021 Season started in January after the 2020 Season was interrupted in March, with all subsequent productions cancelled.
 
venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, March 1, 5, 8, and 10 at 7:30 PM

Molino's debut at the Royal Opera House London released on DVD
World Premiere of Cathy Marston's The Cellist
 
In February, 2020, the Royal Opera House London invited Andrea Molino to conduct the Royal Opera House Orchestra for a World Premiere: Cathy Marston's first choreography for the Royal Ballet, The Cellist, dedicated to the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré, with music by Philip Feeney.
 
The very successful production was broadcast live in cinemas worldwide and is now available on DVD.

Andrea Molino: Swarm
New piece for solo electric guitar and electronics
World Premiere – Berlin, October 17, 2020
 
As part of ELEKTROPOLIS, a transmedia concert series by the Marc Sinan Company in the newly opened Spreehalle Berlin, Andrea Molino's new work Swarm will be premiered on 17 October 2020.
 
Swarm is conceived for solo electric guitar and an ensemble of 16 electric guitars; on this occasion the ensemble is achieved through sixteen pre-produced, independent guitar voices which will be heard on 16 tracks from different locations in the room. This "swarm" only gathers for the performance of soloist Marc Sinan (electric guitar), to whom the piece is dedicated.
 
„Molino focuses in Swarm on a sociological image“ reads the event's press communique. The simultaneity of similar but not perfectly synchronized elements and sequences creates what he calls „collective sounds“: sound organisms composed by countless small sound particles, where the single component loses its perceptual relevance in favour of a mesmerizing, immersive and multi-layered hearing experience.
 
"Even as a child I was attracted by complex, collective sounds: The chirping of birds, the communal singing in a football stadium or at demonstrations, raindrops on a tin roof... (...) Another fascinating aspect is the way collective sounds spread through space" comments Molino on his work.
 
The concert features two other compositions (Iva Bittová and Oguz Büyükberber). The entire programme "explores the sonic possibilities of the TRANSFORMATOR – an instrument specially developed for the Spreehalle by composer Marc Sinan together with the ambisonic and wave field synthesis specialist Johannes Scherzer from Taucher Sound".
 
The concert series is a cooperation of the Marc Sinan Company with the Industriesalon e.V., the sound scenographers TAUCHER and the University of Applied Sciences (HTW). Supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds and the initiative neue musik berlin e.V.
 
venue: Berlin, Spreehalle, 17.10.2020, 19.30 PM
 
 

Dear Ireland – I want the things
Video now available on Molino's homepage
 
Last April Andrea Molino contributed to a project of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin together with David Moss: Dear Ireland. Their video I want the things was first shown on the theatre's Youtube channel. Now it is available on Molino's homepage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts World Premiere by Marc Sinan
Am Anfang as part of Stuttgart's festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT
 
Andrea Molino and Marc Sinan have worked together on two previous occasions: the World Premiere of Aghet, a project in Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide and the World Premiere of Sinan's Hasretim – Journey to Anatolia were conducted by Molino (a recording has been published by ecm).
 
The next project is on July, 22, when Andrea Molino will conduct the World Premiere of Marc Sinans Am Anfang at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart as part of the festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT.
 
Am Anfang is a project of the Marc Sinan Company, the Neue Vocalsolisten and the Stiftung Humboldtforum Berlin. Marc Sinan and the choreographer and performer Kettly Noël "go in search of the origins of the world and explore scientific and mythological creation stories from West Africa and Europe" and "confront traditional and religious music from Mali with contemporary European music. The narrative instrument consists of singing, performance and video art," the composer states.
 
This is why musicians who come from very different traditions work together: Andrea Molino will conduct the avant-garde music ensemble Djiguiya Orchestra from Bamako (Mali), the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Berlin Marc Sinan Company.
 
Am Anfang is invited by the festival DIE IRRITIERTE STADT which takes place in the Theaterhaus Stuttgart and at various locations throughout the city, with performances, actions, city walks, installations and a symposium.
 
venue: July 22, Stuttgart, Theaterhaus, 7:00 and 9:00 PM
more information
 
 

The Sense of the Place – Dublin
A music video series conceived and composed by Andrea Molino
 
13. In one breath has already been published two months ago, 14. Not fast, smooth and deliate is online for some weeks, and 9. Liquid for a few days.
 
They are available on Vimeo, YouTube, and on Andrea Molino's web page.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Dear Ireland  – I want the things
Abbey Theatre's Digital Project in the Times of Corona
Andrea Molino and David Moss contribute with a monologue
 
What should Ireland write on a postcard to itself? This is one of the questions with which Ireland's National Theatre introduces Dear Ireland, a digital project launched in April/May, 2020. 50 writers have been given a commission to create a monologue, and each of them has chosen an actor to perform it. Thus, in times when direct contact between artists and the public is impossible, the dialogue between them may continue.
 
As the project is conceived to create opportunities to hear and share Ireland’s artistic voices, most of the contributors are Irish. But there are some exceptions, including Italian composer and conductor Andrea Molino. His project I want the things was realized by David Moss. Molino and Moss have worked together many times, especially in Music Theatre projects conceived and composed by Molino like Those Who Speak in A Faint Voice, CREDO, and others.
 
Dear Ireland is a project in the times of Social Distancing: The monologues will not be shown on stage but will be screened in four parts at 7.30pm from April, 28 to May, 1 on Abbey theatre's YouTube Channel.
 
The turn of I want the things is on Wednesday 29 April. From May, 2 the videos will be permanently available.
 
 
 

The Sense of the Place – Dublin
A music video series conceived and composed by Andrea Molino
 
Videos 5. Intense, 7. Delicate, not too fast, not too loud and 12. Fragile have been published in March and April, 2020. They are available on Vimeo, YouTube, and on Andrea Molino's web page.

The Sense of the Place – Dublin
A music video series conceived and composed by Andrea Molino
 
The place where a piece is performed as a constituent element of the composition: this is the starting point for The Sense of the Place – Dublin, a series of music videos conceived by Andrea Molino. As Molino writes in his blog; "The location where the event takes place has an aesthetic, artistic and narrative (even more than logistic) influence on the event itself. [...] The context becomes part of the text.“

Recorded in Dublin in 2019, the music videos, shot by filmmaker Christopher Ash, show Deirdre O'Leary (solo bass clarinet), performing Molino's music at various places in Dublin. The video editing as well, realized by Ash and Molino together, is notated in the score and is part of the music composition.

The Sense of the Place – Dublin is conceived in the context of the HOME project, an ongoing multi-media arts project that focuses on the international homeless crises, a production of Lundström Arts Management in collaboration with Comhairle Cathrach, Bhaile Átha Cliath (Dublin City Council), Dublin City Arts Office and Fingal County Council Arts Office.

Starting on January 28, the videos will be published at intervals of about 2 weeks. They will be available on Vimeo, YouTube, and on Andrea Molino's web page.
  
 

Andrea Molino debutes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
February 17 – World Premiere of The Cellist in London
 
The Royal Opera House, London, has invited Andrea Molino to conduct a ballet World Premiere: Cathy Marston's choreography The Cellist. Written in collaboration with Edward Kemp, this is her first work for The Royal Ballet on the Main Stage and it is dedicated to the famous cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who is regarded as one of the most important cellists of all time. Her career, however, ended early because she contracted multiple sclerosis at the age of 28.

The music for The Cellist is also a World Premiere: Philip Feeney has written an original score, and it features, of course, a solo cello, played by Hetty Snell, accompanied by the Royal Opera House Orchestra conducted by Andrea Molino.
 
On the stage: Royal Ballet soloists Lauren Cuthbertson, Matthew Ball and Marcelino Sambé (doubled by Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Cesar Corrales and Calvin Richardson for two performances) and the Royal Ballet perform in a stage set designed by Hildegard Bechtler with ligth design by Jon Clark and costumes by Bregje van Balen.
 
The performance will be broadcast live in cinemas worldwide on February, 25.
 
venue: London, Royal Opera House, Main Stage – February 17, 18, 25, 28 and March 2, 4, always at 7.30 PM
 
more information
rehearsal photos on instagram
rehearsal informations on twitter
rehearsal video on youtube
trailer
  
 

Limelight Magazine picks Wozzeck as one of the "Top Shows of 2019"
Opera Australia's production was conducted by Andrea Molino
 
Limelight, Australia's Classical Music and Arts Magazine, has picked Opera Australia's production of Berg's Wozzeck as one of the "Top Shows of 2019". The distinction is addressed especially to William Kentridge for his direction, Michael Honeyman for the title role, and to Andrea Molino who conducted the Opera Australia Orchestra: "Not only was it dazzling visually with its ever-changing projections, but it was pretty stunning musically too, with [...] conductor Andrea Molino uniting the disturbing dissonance and moments of lush beauty in a powerful reading of the complex, unsettling score."

The co-production between Opera Australia, the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the Canadian Opera Company in association with the Sydney Festival premiered in the Sydney Opera House in January, 2019, and already then, Limelight's review was clear: "A stunning production, visually and musically, that tips you into a nightmarish world, though the emotion is  sometimes overwhelmed."


more reviews

Andrea Molino debutes with the Orchestre National de Lyon
New Year's Eve at Lyon: Offenbach en fête
 
Andrea Molino will start into the New Year with a series of four concerts, featuring a new collaboration: he will conduct the New Year's Concert with the Orchestre National de Lyon at the great hall of Lyon's Auditorium Maurice Ravel. This is also the starting point for a further cooperation with the orchestra which will continue in 2020.
 
The concert focusses on the Offenbarch bicentenary in 2020. On the program: a compilation of extracts from Offenbach's operettas, as sparkling as it should be for a New Year's Eve.
 
And sparkling also because of the contributing singers: sopranos Véronique Gens and Measha Brueggergosman together with tenor Jean-Paul Fouchécourt in the roles of Venus, Hoffmann or the Baron de Gondremarck among others, in a semi-staged direction by Romain Gilbert with light design by Fabrice Oudin.
 
 
venue: Lyon, Auditorium Maurice Ravel, Grande Salle – December 30 and 31 at 8 PM, December 29 and January 1 at 4 PM
 
 
 

HOME project: Video Trailer  
Andrea Molino creates the music for a new multi-media arts project
First Performance scheduled for autumn 2021 in Dublin 
 
HOME is an ongoing multi-media arts project that focuses on the international homeless crises. Originated by Deirdre O'Leary, created by Deirdre O'Leary, Andrea Molino and Christopher Ash and produced by Lundström Arts Management.
 
The project addresses the theme of homelessness through site specific video contributions, including from people with a lived experience of homelessness. HOME takes the form of a multi-media installation embedded in a live staged music performance.
 
HOME is scheduled to be completed and receive its first performance in Dublin in the autumn of 2021.
 
Part of the project is Andrea Molino's The Sense of the Place_Dublin music video series, recorded in Dublin in 2019, due to be published from January 2020.
 
Solo Bass Clarinet / Deirdre O'Leary 
Music / Andrea Molino 
Filmmaker / Christopher Ash
A production of Lundström Arts Management 
in collaboration with Dublin City Arts Office
 
HOME project: Video Trailer
 

 

Moscow – Tchaikovsky Concert Hall
Andrea Molino conducts Clementine Margaine's Recital
 
"Andrea Molino conducted the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra, giving the sound endless explosive vigor." That's what Maya Krylova wrote on Classical Music News about Andrea Molino's debut at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Under his baton, the New Russian State Symphony Orchestra has accompanied French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine for her opera recital.
 
The program focused on French romantic repertoire, with vocal and symphonic highlights from Bizet's Carmen, Massenet's Werther and Saint-Saëns' Samson and Delilah. It also included a slight detour to Italy with Donizetti's La Favorite and, of course, has honoured the eponym of the Concert Hall, Tchaikovsky, with excerpts from The Queen of Spades and The Maid of Orléans.
 
 
venue: Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, Moscow, November 8, 7 PM
  
  
 

"Beethoven is everywhere", on Lugano's Ludwig van Festival
New post and video on Andrea Molino's RAI-Blog
 
In June, Andrea Molino curated the Ludwig van Festival, with Beethoven's Symphonies played by the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana conducted by Markus Poschner, Kagel's Ludwig van and multimedia installations at the LAC – Lugano Arte e Cultura.
 
Now Molino reflects the event in a text entitled "Beethoven is everywhere", published on his RAI-Blog -qui non 'è perché-. The core of the Festival's concept was to highlight the role of Beethoven's music and personality in contemporary perception and in the media. Molino chose to frame Beethoven's music in the context of Mauricio Kagel's intriguing project Ludwig van, realised in 1970 on the occasion of Beethoven's anniversary.
 
Together with the text, a video about the project is available, showing Andrea Molino in discussion with Denise Fedeli, the Artistic Director of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, and with its Principal Conductor, Markus Poschner.
 
 
video
 
 

Andrea Molino curates Lugano's Ludwig van Festival
Beethoven's Symphonies, Kagel's Ludwig van
and a multimedia installation at the LAC – Lugano Arte e Cultura
 
In the framework of the Festival Ludwig van curated by Andrea Molino, five Beethoven symphonies (the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th) will be performed over the course of three concerts by the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, conducted by Markus Poschner. Two concerts will take place in the Sala Teatro LAC, the 9th Symphony will be presented as an open air event in Piazza Luini, with more than 200 choristers coming from all over the Italian part of Switzerland.
 
But the core of the Festival's concept is to highlight the role of Beethoven's music and personality in the contemporary perception and in the media. Andrea Molino has chosen to frame Beethoven’s music in the context of the intriguing project Ludwig van, realised in 1970, on the occasion of Beethoven's anniversary, by the German-Argentinian composer Mauricio Kagel. The Orchestra will perform a selection of Kagel's fragments during the Beethoven concerts, interacting with video projections. A multimedia installation, featuring Kagel's ironic and provocative film among other materials, will be displayed in the LAC foyer.
 
The makeup of this event involves several local organisations, under Molino's supervision: among others the CISA-Conservatorio Internazionale di Scienze Audiovisive in Locarno will realize all audio-visual components of the project; an Ensemble of students of the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana (CSI) will play Kagel compositions in the Hall of the Sala Teatro LAC on the nights of the performances.
 
venue: Lugano, June 7 and 8 at Sala Teatro LAC – 20:30PM and June 9, Piazza Luini – 21:00PM
 
  

Kròl Roger at Stockholm's Royal Opera
Andrea Molino conducts Swedish First Performance on March, 16
 
In May 2017, Andrea Molino was honoured with the Green Room Award for his conducting of an acclaimed production of Szymanowski's King Roger (Kròl Roger) in Sydney and Melbourne, the Australian First Performance of this opera.
 
Now he is back in the pit for another First Performance of this sumptuous opera, this time at Stockholm's Royal Opera. On March, 16, it will be premiered on the Swedish stage, directed by Polish film director Mariusz Trelinski who is surrounded by a mostly Polish team. Not astonishing since this is a co-production with Warsaw's Teatr Wielki where the Premiere took place in December, 2018. The second co-producing stage is the National Theatre, Prague.
 
As for the singers, the roles of King Roger and the Shepherd are sung by Trelinski's compatriots Lukasz Golinski and Arnold Rutkowski, who are joined by two Swedish singers: Elin Rombo as Roxane, and Niklas Björling Rygert, as Edrisi. Molino conducts the Royal Swedish Orchestra, the Royal Swedish  Choir and the Childrens’ Choir from the Adolf Fredrik’s School of Music.<
 
venue: Stockholm, Kungliga Operan, March 16, 19, 27. and April, 2, 10, 18, and 23 at 7 PM. March, 23 at 15 PM

 
reviews of the Australian First Performance

"This production is an overwhelming triumph."
Andrea Molino conducts Berg's Wozzeck at the Sydney Opera House
 
On January, 25, Andrea Molino was once more at the conductor's desk of Sydney's Joan Sutherland Theatre, this time to conduct Alban Berg's Wozzeck with staging by South African multimedia artist William Kentridge.
 
Reviewers were once more unanimously convinced: "This production is an overwhelming triumph. The conductor, Andrea Molino, understands the score so deeply that by the third scene the musical language seemed completely natural, embracing both lyricism and disjunction comfortably.", wrote Nicholas Routley (Australian Stage Online, 26.1.2019).
 
His colleague Jo Litson fully shares this opinion: "Musically, the production is also a thrilling, if challenging ride, with the orchestra rising to the occasion under the baton of the superb Andrea Molino who unites both the disturbing dissonance and moments of lush beauty in a powerful reading of the complex, unsettling score." (Limelight Magazine, 27.1.2019)
 
Opera Chaser (26.1.2019) wrote: "It’s a feast of extraordinary artistic stimulation of the highest level in a new, grandly signed William Kentridge production. Conductor Andrea Molino matches Kentridge’s gestures head on with Berg’s angular, atonal musical landscape as he sculpts an ever-present tension over the rises, falls and tumbles in the score."
 
For whoever wants to build an own opinion: the live radio broadcast of Opera Australia's production by ABC Classic is available until the end of March, 2019.
 
more reviews
radio interview with Andrea Molino (in Italian)
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Australian Premiere of Berg's Wozzeck
Staging by South African multimedia artist William Kentridge
 
Andrea Molino will again conduct at the Sydney Opera in January/February 2019. After Kasper Holten‘s King Roger and Barrie Kosky‘s The Nose (the production was recently called "a highlight of Opera Australia’s mainstage season" in Limelight's top opera shows of 2018) Molino is again working with a major director for an important 20th century opera: on the program is the acclaimed production of Berg's Wozzeck in the staging of South African multimedia artist William Kentridge, "his most elegant and powerful operatic treatment yet", as stated by The New York Times.
 
The cast of the Australian Premiere includes baritone Michael Honeyman in the title role and Lorina Gore as Marie. Andrea Molino conducts the Opera Australia Chorus, Opera Australia Children's Chorus and the Opera Australia Orchestra.
 
The co-production between Opera Australia, the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival and the Canadian Opera Company in association with the Sydney Festival was premiered with great success at the Salzburg Festival in 2017.
 
Kentridge sets the story in a war situation and the set design by Sabine Theunissen as well as the costumes designed by Greta Goiris are visibly inspired by his characteristic charcoal drawings.
 
The production is accompanied by a series of events. Two retrospective exhibitions will offer an insight into Kentridge's work. The Art Gallery NSW hosts an exhibition curated by the artist. Drawings, sculpture, woodcuts, kinetic theatre installation and rare vintage works can be seen at the Annandale Galleries.
 
And finally Opera Australia's Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini is in conversation with the artist on January 22 at 7:30 PM in the Joan Sutherland Theatre.

The live recording of Wozzeck from the Sydney Opera House will be broadcast by ABC Classics FM on Saturday, February 24, at 7 PM.
 
venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
January 25 and 30, February 6, 9, 12 and 15 at 7:30 PM
February 2 at 1:00 PM
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Carmen in Xi'an, China
Premiere of a new production at the Shaanxi Opera House
 
Carmen is not only Bizet's best-known work but it is also at the top of the most performed operas worldwide. Andrea Molino has conducted the work on several occasions, including the premieres of the new productions by John Bell at the Sydney Opera House for Opera Australia in June, 2016 and by Jean-Louis Grinda at the Théâtre du Capitole at Toulouse in April, 2018.
 
Andrea Molino will now conduct the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Xi'an Symphony Orchestra in a new production by Charles Roubaud at the Shaanxi Opera House in Xi'an (central China) with stage design by Emmanuelle Favre and costumes by Cui XiaoDong. On the stage an international cast including Jolana Fogasova (Carmen), Francesco Pio Galasso (Don José), Zoltan Nagy (Escamillo) and Ruth Rosique (Micaëla).
 
venue: Shaanxi Opera House in the Shaanxi Performing Arts Centre,  October 26 and 28
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Il Turco in Italia
Reviews of the reprise at the Sydney Opera House
 
In August, Andrea Molino returned to the Sydney Opera House for the reprise of the acclaimed 2014 production by Simon Phillips of Rossini's Il Turco in Italia. The 2018 reviews for the reprise are just as impressive as those of the premiere.
 
"The orchestra, led by Andrea Molino, plays with as much joie de vivre as the performers on stage. Together they make this almost silly, yet musically stretching opera, a frivolous musical romp that lifts the spirits and makes life seem a lot brighter," wrote Carol Wimmers (Stage Whispers, 12.8.2018). Angus McPherson (Limelight Magazine, 11.8.2018) stated that "Chorus and orchestra are both in top form under the baton of Andrea Molino...". Bill Stephens (Arts Reviews, 13.8.2018) thought that "...The music is certainly attractive, especially when given the sparkling performance it received on this occasion by the Opera Australia Orchestra under Andrea Molino."
 
Others spoke of the "...tasteful and stylish conducting of Andrea Molino..." (Zoltán Zsabó, Bachtrack, 13.8.2018) and said that "Australian Opera Chorus and Opera Australia Orchestra were both in fine form under the clear and expressive direction of Andrea Molino." (David Barmby, ArtsHub, 14.8.2018)
 
more reviews
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Rossini at the Sydney Opera House
Reprise of the acclaimed 2014 production of Il Turco in Italia
 
"She's flirtatious, audacious and unspeakably bored. He's geriatric, sycophantic and easily ignored. Add a handsome prince, a gypsy minx, and a poet in need of a plot. Put this classic Rossini in vintage bikinis and a rollicking good time we've got!" That's how Opera Australia announces the reprise of its 2014 production of Rossini's Il Turco in Italia (The Turk in Italy) – the Australian First Performance.
 
Andrea Molino conducted this premiere in Sydney with great success: "It is musically superb. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the wickedly delightful and exuberant conducting of maestro Andrea Molino is in fine form…", stated Lynne Lancaster (Sydney Arts Guide, 2.2.2014).
 
For the reprise, Molino returns to the Joan Sutherland Theatre, conducting all of the eight performances. The acclaimed production directed by Simon Phillips is, of course, unaltered, and Molino conducts, as for the premiere, the Opera Australia Orchestra and the Opera Australia Chorus. Paolo Bordogna is back in Sydney as the Turk Selim and leads an outstanding cast.
 
Venue: Sydney, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
August 10, 15, 23, 25, 28, 30 and September, 1 at 7:30 PM – August 18 at 12:30 PM
 
more information
reviews of the premiere
trailer video
interview with Simon Phillips (director)
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Mahler, Messiaen and Strauss
Reviews of the concert with Thomas Hampson and the MSO

Andrea Molino returned to Australia for a sumptuous concert with Thomas Hampson and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Melbourne's Hamer Hall and a second performance the next day at Geelong's Costa Hall. On the program: Mahler's Totenfeier and his Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, sung by Thomas Hampson, Messiaen's Le Tombeau Resplendissant and Tod und Verklärung by Richard Strauss.
 
"It was a night to remember", wrote Ron Jontof-Hutter (J-Wire). "Maestro Andrea Molino conducted with conviction bringing out the vast colours of Mahler’s tonal palette… (and) brought out the best with excellent knowledge of the scores, clear conducting, great attention to detail in dynamics and accurate phrasing."
 
And Paul Selar (OperaChaser) wrote that "…it was especially rewarding to see Andrea Molino conducting with a clear sense of poetry and purpose for tonight's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra concert."
 
more reviews
Molino about the program

 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Mahler, Messiaen and Strauss
with Thomas Hampson and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
 
Andrea Molino returns to Australia for a sumptuous concert with Thomas Hampson and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Melbourne's Hamer Hall and a second performance the next day of the same program at Geelong's Costa Hall.
 
Molino will first conduct Mahler's Totenfeier, after which Thomas Hampson will sing Mahlers Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. In the second part Messiaen's Le Tombeau Resplendissant will be followed by Tod und Verklärung by Richard Strauss.
 
"The program will introduce the audience to two pieces that they may not be familiar with: Mahler’s Totenfeier and Messiaen’s Le Tombeau Resplendissant", says Molino. "To me the strength of this program is the coherence of its narrative. It’s kind of self-explanatory that all four pieces deal with the theme of death; but in four different and fascinatingly disparate ways."
 
The concert will be recorded live by ABC Classics.
 
more information
 
venue: Melbourne, Hamer Hall, Thursday 7 June 2018 at 7:30pm
Geelong, Costa Hall, Friday 8 June
 
 
 

June 17 ABC Classics FM braoadcast
The Nose conducted by Andrea Molino
 
In February 2018, Andrea Molino conducted Shostakovich's seldom played opera The Nose at the Sydney Opera House, a new production directed by Barrie Kosky. Public and critics were unanimously enthusiastic ("a triumph of the highest order" and "Molino is exceptional").
 
ABC Classics FM recorded the production live at the Sydney Opera House on February 28, it was broadcast on March 1, at 8 pm. ABC Classics has announced that the production will be broadcast once more on June, 17.
 
reviews
 
 
 
 

Andrea Molino Receives Best Conductor Award
2018 Green Room Award for King Roger in Melbourne
 
Andrea Molino was presented with the 2018 Green Room Award as best conductor for Opera. He was honoured for his conducting of Szymanowski's King Roger (Kròl Roger) directed by Kasper Holten at the Arts Centre Melbourne (State Theatre) in May 2017, the First Performance of this opera in Australia.
 
The award ceremony was held at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre on Monday 9 April. The Green Room Awards are Australia's premiere arts awards; the prizes are presented in 64 categories of the performing arts.
 
On three occasions Molino has been nominated previously, in the Best Opera Conductor category: in 2016 for his La Bohème for Opera Australia at the State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Centre, in 2015 for his season of Tosca in Melbourne for Opera Australia, and in 2014 for Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) in Melbourne.
 
 
reviews: King Roger – La Bohème – Tosca – Un Ballo in maschera
 
 
 
 

The 18th Meet In Beijing Arts Festival Opening concert
Andrea Molino conducts Opera gala in homage to Rossini
 
On April, 27, Andrea Molino will conduct an opera gala in the concert hall of the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, together with Tan Lihua, the music director of the renowned Beijing Symphony Orchestra. The concert is the opening event of the prestigious Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, and is dedicated to Italian opera, especially to Rossini to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his death.
 
Italy is the invited country of the festival in 2018. The concert is a collaboration between the Ministery of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese People's Republic, the Italian Ministery of Foreign Affairs Farnesina (Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale), the Istituto di Cultura Italiana in the Chinese capital together with the Ambasciata d'Italia (Italian Embassy), and the Accademia Chigiana (Siena).
 
Andrea Molino will conduct the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, focussing on Italian opera singers Anna Roberta Sorbo, Sara De Flavis, Pasquale Scircoli, and Diego Savini.
 
 
venue: Beijing, April 27 – National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA)
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts Carmen at Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse
Reviews of the performances from April, 6

"Today was one of those performances that made it seem as if one was hearing this extremely familiar work for the very first time. It felt so fresh, so vivid, without any sense of going through the motions or routine." That's how Opera Traveller (16.4.2018) describes the performance of Bizet's Carmen at Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, conducted by Andrea Molino.

Charlotte Saulneron (Res Musica, 10.4.2018) confirms that "Carmen is a conductor's opera, intended for a colourful and varied orchestra. Andrea Molino, at the head of the Orchestre Nationale du Capitole, approaches the piece with a jubilant easiness and lively and sensitive conducting, as in the incandescent luminosity of the first theme of the prelude. So much life and momentum for one of the best-known operas in the repertoire, which has yet to reveal all its mysteries!”

As for the details, Emmanuel Andrieu (Opera Online, 17.4.2018) points out that "The line is firm, allusive. The contrasts are underlined with the most subtle science. Poetry is born at every moment out of his attention to the slightest nuance, the slightest word.” And Opera Traveller concludes: "The ‘habanera’ had irresistible swing, the ‘chanson bohème’ whipped up a storm."

more reviews
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts new production of Carmen
Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse – April 2018
 
Carmen is not only Bizet's best-known work but is also at the top of the most performed operas worldwide, and to participate in a production of this most French of all French operas in France is certainly a great honor. In April, Molino conducts Carmen at the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse. He knows the score well: he has already conducted Bizet's opera in different occasions, including at the Sydney Opera House for Opera Australia (premiered in June, 2016), always with great success.
 
The new production at Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse (a co-production with the Opéra de Monte-Carlo) will be directed by Jean-Louis Grinda. The cast includes Clémentine Margaine (who already sang the role of Carmen in Sydney under Molino's conducting), Charles Castronovo (Don José), Dimitry Ivashchenko (Escamillo), and Anaïs Constans (Micaëla). Molino conducts the Orchestre national du Capitole and the Chœur et Maîtrise du Capitole.
 
venue: Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse
April 6, 10, 13, 17. and 19 at 8 pm and April 8 and 15 at 3 pm
 
more information
introduction to the production (in French)
reviews of the Sydney production
 
 
 

Andrea Molino conducts The Nose
Reviews of the Premiere at the Sydney Opera – February 2018
 
In February 2018, Andrea Molino conducted Shostakovich's seldom played opera The Nose at the Sydney Opera House, a new production directed by Barrie Kosky, and once more, public and critics were unanimously enthusiastic.

Victor Grynberg called the premiere "…a triumph of the highest order with an amazingly rehearsed company of more than 80 performers, and the excellent Opera Orchestra, conducted by the enthusiastic Andrea Molino.” (J-Wire, 25.2.2018)

Murray Black said that "Sustaining tight-knit ensemble and textural clarity, conductor Andrea Molino and the Opera Australia Orchestra captured the music’s spiky astringent sounds, biting rhythms, predominantly acerbic character and often relentless pace." (The Australian, 23.2.2018).

Not astonishing then Deen Hamaker's statement: “In The Nose, Molino is exceptional, leading the Opera Australia Orchestra in a high-octane performance that keeps the vigour and verve of the music moving throughout the two-hour piece." (Sounds Like Sydney, 22.2.2018)

And to quote just one more of the numerous reports, let's hear Zoltán Szabó's opinion: "Much of the performance’s energy is propelled from the pit, governed by Andrea Molino’s vigorous and confident conducting… His empathy with this music, coupled with his no-nonsense, effective conducting style, make him an ideal proponent of this opera." (Australian Book Review, 23.2.2018).
 
more reviews
 
 

Andrea Molino: "The Sense of the Place"
Conference Contribution published in Ambienti Mediali

In June 2016, Andrea Molino participated in the interdisciplinary conference, Interactive Imagination, organized by the Department of Philosophy at Rome's University La Sapienza and the Istituto Svizzero di Roma. The conference papers, including Andrea Molino's essay: "The Sense of the Place", are now available in print, published in Ambienti Mediali in the series Plexus, edited by Dario Cecchi, Martino Feyles, Pietro Montani, Milan (Meltemi) 2018.
 
The conference had undertaken to clarify two issues: the philosophical implications and the creative potentialities of what is defined as "interactive imagination". In his contribution, Molino explains how he was lead to develop an "instrument" which he will use in future projects: "SWARMS, a web platform designed to allow a centralised control panel to receive and develop in real time a potentially unlimited number of audiovisual streams, coming live from different locations around the world, sent by different kinds of devices (firstly, though not exclusively, from widespread means of social communications such as smartphones and tablets)."
 
 
 
 

ABC Classics FM broadcast The Nose conducted by Andrea Molino
 

ABC Classics FM announces to broadcast of Shostakovich's opera The Nose, premiered at the Sydney Opera House on February, 21. The new production, conducted by Andrea Molino and directed by Barrie Kosky, will be recorded live at the Sydney Opera House on February 28 and broadcast on March 1, at 8 pm.
 
The performance can be streamed online worldwide for 28 days following the broadcast date.
 
 
 

 

Andrea Molino nominated for the 2018 Green Room Awards
Best Conductor for Opera for King Roger in Melbourne
 
Conductor Andrea Molino has been nominated in the Best Opera Conductor category of the 2018 Green Room Awards, Australia's premiere arts awards, for his conducting of Szymanowski's King Roger (Kròl Roger) at the Arts Centre Melbourne (State Theatre) in May 2017.

This is Molino's fourth nomination, all of them for conducting Opera Australia productions (La Bohème, Tosca, and Un Ballo in maschera).

reviews of the Premiere at the Sydney Opera

The Nose at the Sydney Opera House

"A lowly official wakes up to find his nose has escaped his face. To add insult to injury, the nose is gallivanting around town wearing a higher rank than his."

That's how Opera Australia introduces us to the story of Shostakovich's seldom played opera The Nose. Andrea Molino starts his 2018 opera season at the Sydney Opera House with this satirical, absurd work after a novel by Nikolai Gogol, composed by the 20 year old Shostakovich in 1927/28. He will conduct an outstanding cast led by Martin Winkler, John Tomlinson, Antoinette Halloran and Alexander Lewis together with Opera Australia Chorus and Opera Australia Orchestra.

The Australian theatre and opera director Barrie Kosky signs for the staging, the set and lighting designer is Klaus Grünberg. The co-production between the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opera Australia, Komische Oper Berlin and Teatro Real, Madrid was lauded as "terrifically realised, brilliantly inventive and highly entertaining” (The Spectator) at its London premiere.

In fact, at Opera Australia's press conference very impressive tap dancing noses made their Australian pre-premiere appearance, and their success led to the suspicion that The Nose will become one of the hits of the season…
 
 

 
 
more information:

venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
February 21, 23, 26 and 28 at 7:30 pm, March 3. at 1:00 pm

Interview with Andrea Molino on SBS Radio Italian
interview with Andrea Molino on SBS Radio German
Trailer of the production

Aghet – Project in Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
Videos of the World Premiere at Berlin's Radialsystem now available
Andrea Molino conducts music by Gedizlioglu, Sharafyan, and Oehring


The concert project Aghet, initiated by Dresdner Sinfoniker and Marc Sinan, commemorates the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. It was first performed in Berlin (Radialsystem) on November 27, 2015, and then toured to Dresden, Belgrade, and Yerevan.

Following a number of protest statements from the Turkish Government, which asked the EU to withdraw its financial support for the project, a performance previously planned for Istanbul on November 13, 2016 was cancelled as the German General Consulate was no longer willing to host it in its Kaisersaal, a decision which attracted considerable attention in the German press. The Manager of Dresdner Sinfoniker, Markus Rindt and Marc Sinan protested against the decision in an open letter to Frank Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister at the time.

The project featured two World Premieres, by Zeynep Gedizlioglu (Turkey) and Helmut Oehring (Germany) and Vache Sharafyan's (Armenia) Surgite Gloriae (first performance in Germany).

Andrea Molino conducted the Dresdner Sinfoniker together with musicians from Turkey, Armenia, members of the No Borders Orchestra, five soloists (Marc Sinan, guitar; Matthias Worm, viola; Araik Bartikian, duduk; Carl Thiemt, baritone; Friedrich Ilgner, boy soprano), and a female choir (members of the Dresdner Kammerchor and of AuditivVokal).
 
 

Highlights from Molino's 2018 Season

The Nose at the Sydney Opera House

Andrea Molino starts his opera season with Shostakovich's seldom played opera The Nose at the Sydney Opera House. The co-production with the Royal Opera House was well received – "terrifically realised, brilliantly inventive and highly entertaining” (The Spectator) – at its London premiere. The Australian theatre and opera director Barrie Kosky is responsible for the staging of this satirical, absurd work, composed by a young Shostakovich in 1927/28. Andrea Molino will conduct an outstanding cast which will include Martin Winkler, John Tomlinson, Antoinette Halloran and Alexander Lewis together with the Opera Australia Chorus and Opera Australia Orchestra.
 
venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, February – March 2018
 

Carmen at the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse

Carmen in France! Molino has already had a great success with this opera at the Sydney Opera House: "Andrea Molino is a dynamo in the pit, powering things forward from the vigorous overture onwards, yet unafraid to be appropriately bold with rubato when required. He brings out plenty of colour in Bizet’s extraordinary score, the intermezzos with their various delicious woodwind solos a highlight…", that's how Limelight Magazine described the Carmen Premiere in June, 2016. Now Molino will conduct the new production at the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse (a co-production with the Opéra de Monte-Carlo). Jean-Louis Grinda will be the director, and the cast includes Clémentine Margaine (who already sang Carmen in Sydney), Charles Castronovo (Don José), Dimitry Ivashchenko (Escamillo), and Anaïs Constans (Micaëla). Molino conducts the Orchestre national du Capitole and the Chœur et Maîtrise du Capitole.
 
venue: Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse, April 2018
 
 

Mahler, Messiaen and Strauss in Melbourne
with Thomas Hampson and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

In June 2018, Molino returns to Australia for a sumptuous concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Hampson at Melbourne's Hamer Hall. The evening will start with Mahler's Totenfeier, after which Thomas Hampson will sing Mahlers Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, followed by Messiaen's Le Tombeau Resplendissant and Tod und Verklärung by Richard Strauss.
The concert will be recorded live by ABC Classics.
 
venue: Hamer Hall, Melbourne, June 2018

The Turk in Italy at the Sydney Opera House

"It is musically superb. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the wickedly delightful and exuberant conducting of maestro Andrea Molino is in fine form… and the singing is superb." This was one of the many enthusiastic reviews for Molino's conducting of the Australian Premiere of Rossini's musical comedy in January, 2014. For his second appearance in Sydney for the 2018 season, Molino will conduct another season of The Turk in Italy in the staging by Simon Phillips: "One of Opera Australia's brightest, best and most daring shows". Paolo Bordogna will come back to Sydney as the Turk Selim.
 
venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, August – September 2018
 
 

Molino conducts Kròl Roger at the Melbourne State Theatre
Revival of the First Australian Performance
 
"This superb production is a rare chance to see something rich and strange", that's how The Sydney Morning Herald commented on the First Australian Performance of Szymanowski's Kròl Roger at the Sydney Opera House, conducted by Andrea Molino.

Fortunately there is now one more opportunity to meet with King Roger, his wife Roxana and the mysterious sheperd: The production will now be presented at Melbourne State Theatre.

Opera Australia's co-production with the Royal Opera House, London, was acclaimed both by public and critics. Reviews emphasized that Andrea Molino's "and the orchestra’s sumptuous sounds, supple phrasing and textural clarity revealed every aspect of its multifaceted brilliance" (The Australian), and were amazed that he conducted from memory.

In Melbourne, Andrea Molino conducts a cast led by Arthur Espiritu, Lorina Gore and Michael Honeyman, the Opera Australia Chorus and the Orchestra Victoria.

venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre, May 19, 23, 25 at 7:30 pm and 27 at 1:00 pm

Molino conducts Szymanowski's Kròl Roger
Reviews of the Premiere at the Sydney Opera
 
"Reception on opening night was highly enthusiastic, in a production none of us is likely ever to see bettered." This is how Jason Catlett (TimeOut, 24.1.2017) comments on the Australian First Performance of Szymanowski's masterpiece, conducted by Andrea Molino.
 
“Probably the only conductor in the world to conduct this opera from memory, Andrea Molino deftly moulds the Sydney Children’s Choir, the Opera Australia chorus and orchestra into an intoxicating kaleidoscope of luscious sound to compliment director, Kasper Holten, and designer Steffen Aarfing’s compelling visual concept“, writes Bill Stephens (Canberra Critics Circle, 25.1.2017).
 
"Szymanowki's score is a voluptuously beautiful, imaginatively coloured, stylistically diverse masterpiece. Conductor Andrea Molino and the orchestra’s sumptuous sounds, supple phrasing and textural clarity revealed every aspect of its multifaceted brilliance", writes Murray Black (The Australian, 21.1.2017).
 
Clive Paget, too, is very impressed: "Andrea Molino conducts from memory – yes, from memory! – and builds a most seductive edifice that washes over us with wave upon wave of luxurious orchestral tone..." (Limelight Magazine, 21.1.2017).
 
more reviews
 
 
 

Andrea Molino once more nominated for the Green Room Awards
 
Conductor Andrea Molino has been nominated in the Best Opera Conductor category of the 2016 Green Room Awards, Australia's premiere arts awards, for his La Bohème for Opera Australia at the State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Centre. The award ceremony is scheduled for March, 27.
 
This is Molino's third nomination for three consecutive years, all of them for conducting Opera Australia productions.
 
The first was in 2014 for Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) in Melbourne. The production, with staging devised by the legendary Catalan company La Fura dels Baus, has been described as "a visually stunning, musically first-rate and dramatically provocative production" (Limelight).
 
The second was for his season of Tosca in Melbourne. Molino opened the Opera's Spring Season with this premiere with staging by the legendary John Bell: "...conducting a top, in-form Orchestra Victoria, Andrea Molino executed the musical landscape with immense beauty, bold colour and confident pacing..." (Bachtrack, November 13, 2014).
 
As for Molino's conducting La Bohème, set in the bohemian streets of 1930s Berlin, critics were once more unanimous after its premiere in May 2016. To quote just one of the reviews: "On opening night, Puccini’s score resonated with sensitivity and vigour under conductor Andrea Molino and Orchestra Victoria played with faultless beauty." (Herald Sun, 6.5.2016).
 
reviews La Bohème in Melbourne
reviews La Bohème in Sydney
 
 
  

Andrea Molino conducts Kròl Roger at the Sydney Opera House
Australia’s First Performance of Szymanowski's masterpiece
 
"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear a 20th-century Polish masterpiece", is how Opera Australia announces its next premiere, the Australian First Performance of Szymanowski's opera Kròl Roger at the Sydney Opera House.
 
Andrea Molino conducts this (too) seldom played opera with a cast led by Saimir Pirgu (Shepherd), Lorina Gore (Roxana) and Michael Honeyman (King Roger), the Opera Australia Chorus, Opera Australia Orchestra, and the Children's Chorus Gondwana Choirs.
 
The co-production with the Royal Opera House, London was first performed in Covent Garden and was "rapturously acclaimed" by critics who described Kasper Holten's staging as a "major artistic triumph" (The Telegraph, UK). Set and costumes were designed by Steffen Aarfing, the choreography by Cathy Marston.
 
Opera Australia presents this production in association with the Sydney Festival.
 
venue: Syndey Opera House, Joan Sutherland Theatre, January 20, 28 and 31 at 7:30 pm, February 2, 4, 8, 15 at 7:30pm and 11 at 1:00 pm
 
 
more information

"Outstanding Conductor"
2016 OperaChaser Australian Commendation for Andrea Molino
 
Andrea Molino has received the 2016 OperaChaser Australian Commendation "Outstanding Conductor" for his interpretation of Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Opera Australia.
 
Molino has conducted the premiere of Rossini's Opera buffa at Sydney's Joan Sutherland Theatre on January 28, 2016, followed by a further seven performances.
 
In its review (February 14, 2016), OperaChaser wrote: "…conductor Andrea Molino brings the mastery of Rossini's melodious energy and allows it to penetrate and float in fabulous form. … Maestro Molino mixed the tempi with enormous appeal and his soloists all obligingly shaped their vocal delivery to match. All the while, a unified Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra performed at their exquisite best."

 
more information
more reviews

Project in Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide
Belgrade and Yerevan: Aghet – agit continues its tour
Molino conducts Dresdner Sinfoniker and their Armenian guests
 
After the successful World Premiere at Berlin's Radialsystem V on Novmber 27, 2015 and a representation at the Festspielhaus Hellerau in Dresden, the concert project Aghet, focussing on the Armenian genocide in 1915, gives performances in Belgrade and Yerevan.

As for the World Premiere, Andrea Molino will conduct the Dresdner Sinfoniker together with their guests, members of the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia. The project, initiated by the Dresdner Sinfoniker's general manager Markus Rindt and by Marc Sinan, commemorates the centenary of the Armenian Genocide with pieces by Zeynep Gedizlioglu (Turkey), Helmut Oehring (Germany), and Vache Sharafyan (Armenia).
 
A concert in a chamber music version previously planned in Istanbul on November, 13 has been cancelled as the German General Consulate was no longer willing to host it in its Kaisersaal, a decision which attracted considerable attention in the German press. Markus Rindt and Marc Sinan have protested against it in an open letter to the German Foreign Minister, Frank Walter Steinmeier.
 
In April, the Turkish delegation to the European Union in Brussels requested the EU to withdraw its support for the project, dedicated to the 100. anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Turkey subsequently stopped its collaboration with EACEA.
 
 
venue
Yerevan, Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, November 10, 7pm
 
 
 
 

Sugi Opera Gala Concerts in Seoul and Busan
Andrea Molino conducts excerpts from Carmen
Excellent cast for a half scenic version
 
New Carmen for Andrea Molino: He will conduct a half scenic production in Seoul and Busan, (South Korea) for the Sugi Opera.
 
It is his second encounter with Bizet's masterpiece, one of the most successfull operas of the repertoire. The first was a new production at the Sydney Opera House, and critics were unanimous in complimenting him ("Andrea Molino is a dynamo in the pit" – "one of the best orchestral experiences of recent memory").
 
The excellent cast includes Sanja Anastasia in the title role, Gaston Rivero sings Don José, Tatiana Lisnic is Micaëla, and Gezim Myshketa sings Escamillo, accompanied by the Seoul City Philharmonic Orchestra.
 
 
venues
Seoul, Grand Hyatt Seoul, Grand Ballroom Hall, December 1 and 2
Busan, Bexco Auditorium, December 6

 
 

Rai 5 broadcasts Molino's – there is no why here –
Live recording of the World Premiere on Italian TV
 
On October 16 and 18, Italian TV channel RAI 5 (part of Italy's national public broadcasting company RAI) broadcast the live recording of the World Premiere of Andrea Molino's multimedia music theatre project
– there is no why here – (– qui non c'è perché –).
 
– there is no why here –, an international co-production, was premiered on April 24, 2014 by Teatro Comunale di Bologna, directed by the composer.
 
The piece is the final chapter of a trilogy which started with Molino's two previous multimedia projects: CREDO, on ethnic and religious conflicts, and WINNERS, on "winners and losers".
 
Conceived and composed by Andrea Molino, in collaboration with Giorgio Van Straten for the text and the dramaturgy, it takes its title from If This Is A Man by Primo Levi. The basis of the project's dramaturgy is the critical point where the traditional ways of distinguishing between right and wrong, between good and evil, fail – the solitude of man in this condition, the ultimate necessity to assume responsibility.
 
 
An extract of the live recording is online on Opera Platform.
more information
 
 
 

Oslo – Ultima Festival – September, 16
Andrea Molino conducts Stockhausen's Sternklang
 
Sternklang is a meditative "park music for five groups" of approximately 150 minutes for 21 singers and instrumentalists, widely separated from each other. Microphones, synthesizers, amplification projected via loudspeakers and a percussionist complete the instrumentation of the work, first performed in Berlin's English Landscape Garden (Tiergarten) in 1971.

The Ultima Festival will present this open air event at five separate ‘stations’ around the Ekeberg Sculpture Park in eastern Oslo.

Andrea Molino will conduct the composition for its Norwegian Premiere with the vocal ensemble Nordic Voices and German bass Andreas Fischer, percussionist Kjell Tore Innervik, and students from Norwegian Academy of Music.

venue: Oslo, Ekebergparken – September, 16 at 8pm – free entrance
more information 
 
 
 

Agony and Ecstasy
Andrea Molino conducts soprano Emma Matthews' new opera album
 
The renowned Australian soprano Emma Matthews has recorded her third album Agony and Ecstasy with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andrea Molino. They know each other well as they have already collaborated, i.e for Matthews' acclaimed Fiorilla in the 2014 Sydney Opera production of Rossini's Il Turco in Italia, conducted by Andrea Molino.
 
"Working with Andrea Molino has been wonderful. We have a lovely trust... You can hear the smile in my voice. We really spark off each other....", Emma Matthews said in an interview given in August to Australia's classical music and arts magazine Limelight.
 
Inspired by words from Verdi’s opera La traviata ("Love is the heartbeat of the whole universe: mysterious, proud, an agony and an ecstasy to the heart", from Violetta's aria in Act I), the album presents eight arias – bel canto by Bellini, Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti and Gounod.
 
Agony and Ecstasy was released on September, 2 on ABC Classics.
 
more information and track list
 
 
 

Reviews
Andrea Molino conducts Bizet's Carmen
Premiere at the Sydney Opera House
 
"Andrea Molino is a dynamo in the pit": That's how Clive Paget (Limelight Magazine) sums up Andrea Molino's conducting in his review of the Carmen Premiere at the Sydney Opera House, and he continues: "(Molino) brings out plenty of colour in Bizet’s extraordinary score, the intermezzos with their various delicious woodwind solos a highlight."

He is not the only one to praise the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra "in fantastic form" under Molino's baton, as Eugene Thinks writes, continuing: "Every subtle orchestration in Bizet’s score was absolutely audible and brought to the fore making this one of the best orchestral experiences of recent memory."

Not astonishing then David Larkin's review (Australian Book Review) in which Molino and the orchstra are described as the "unsung heroes of the night, from the sparkling Prelude to the final despairing echo of José's last cry.".

And Larkin reports that the audience was in agreement with the critics' opinion: "The Entr'acte before Act III, a short idyll representing the brief off-stage happiness of the lovers, was deservedly applauded."
 
more reviews
 
 

Molino conducts Carmen at the Sydney Opera House
New production by Opera Australia
 
Andrea Molino returns once more to the Sydney Opera House for a new production of Bizet's Carmen and is very happy to work once more with director John Bell with whom he has already collaborated for an acclaimed Tosca premiered in 2014 at the Melbourne State Theatre.

"What leads you to love the one person who is going to destroy you?" – that is the question John Bell asks on behalf of Bizet's Carmen, the hero of one of the most popular operas in the repertoire. Thus, the production not only focusses on the psychological aspects of the tragedy but looks underneath the "tale of power, corruption and destruction waiting to be told," as Bell says. The set leads to a "colourful and dangerous world of decaying grandeur" designed by Michael Scott-Mitchell. Teresa Negroponte is responsible for the 1950 costumes.

Andrea Molino conducts French star Clémentine Margaine and Australian favourite Milijana Nikolic as Carmen and an outstanding ensemble, the Opera Australia Chorus, and the Australia Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
 
venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
performances conducted by Andrea Molino:
June 16, 18 , 21, 25, 29, July 1, 5, 9 and 13 / 7:30 PM

more information
 

Reviews
Melbourne Arts Centre – Molino conducts La Bohème
 
Andrea Molino has once more conducted Opera Australia's La Bohème production, this time at the State Theatre in Melbourne.
 
He knew the production as he had conducted it for Opera Australia's Summer Season opening at the Sydney Opera House on New Year's Eve 2014.
 
As for Sydney, so for Melbourne: critics were unanimous in complementing Molino for conducting with "sensitivity and vigour" (Paul Selar, Herald Sun, 6.5.16), for his maintaining of "a gentle dynamic to Orchestra Victoria’s performance of Puccini’s evocative, romantic score, allowing key woodwind and harp phrases to provide gorgeous colour," (Simon Parris, Man In Chair, 4.5.16), and for his "measured tempi throughout that allowed the music to breathe" (Barney Zwartz, Sydney Morning Herald, 4.5.16).
 
more reviews
 

Rome, June 6-8, 2016
Conference Interactive Imagination
Andrea Molino participates via remote contribution from Australia
 
Andrea Molino has participated in the interdisciplinary conference Interactive Imagination, organized by the Department of Philosophy of Rome's University La Sapienza and the Istituto Svizzero di Roma (June 6-8, 2016). Partners were CIEG, Visual Studies Rome Network, and il lavoro culturale as media partner.
 
The conference has undertaken to clarify two issues: the philosophical implications and the creative potentialities of what is defined as "interactive imagination".
 
Molino took part in the 5th session, Forms of Interactive Imagination II. In his contribution "The Sense of the Space", his starting hypothesis was: "..to be able to fully capture the narrative of an event, the context needs to be considered part of the text," and described the idea of “simultaneity” as "deeply connected with the idea of place as a compositional element". These reflections have led him, as he continued, to develop an “instrument” which he will use in future projects: "SWARMS, a web platform designed to allow a centralised control panel to receive and elaborate in real time a potentially unlimited number of audiovisual streams, coming live from different locations around the world, sent by different kinds of devices (firstly, though not exclusively, from widespread means of social communications such as smartphones and tablets)."
 
more information
 

Love and Friendship according to Puccini
Molino speaks about La Bohème with Australian Radio SBS
 
In May, Andrea Molino conducted Puccini's La Bohème in the Melbourne Autumn Season in a production he knew already as he had opened the Sydney Summer Season with it. In an interview for Australian Radio SBS, he talked about his conducting, about realism in La Bohème, and about his latest own project, a multimedia music theatre about migration to be premiered in 2018.
 
The interview is available in Italian.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Andrea Molino has signed open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel

Andrea Molino together with other artists has signed an open letter instigated by the Dresdner Sinfoniker to Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German Parliament on the debate over the recognition of the Armenian genocide.
 
After the debate on June, 2 in the German Parliament (Bundestag), a resolution proposed by CDU, SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen recognizing the genocide was submitted to a vote in the Bundestag and accepted.
 
Andrea Molino is the music director of the Aghet – agit project. He conducted its world premiere last November at the Radialsystem V in Berlin.

La Bohème in Melbourne
Molino returns to Opera Australia
 
Following a very successful engagement conducting Rossini's Barber of Seville in January and February ("Easily the pick of the season so far…"), Andrea Molino returns to Opera Australia in May for Puccini's La Bohème at the State Theatre in Melbourne.
 
It's a production Molino knows already as he has conducted it for Opera Australia (in "…a reading that cannot be faulted and lovingly brings out the numerous colours and effects…"), opening the Summer Season at the Sydney Opera House on the 2014 New Year's Eve.
 
The documentary video Bellezze diverse – Different beauties gives an impression of Molino's conducting and Opera Australia's staging: The setting shows not Paris but the bohemian streets of 1930s Berlin, in the colour and chaos of street fairs and burlesque bars, fairylights and fishnet stockings (leading team: Gale Edwards, director; Andy Morton, revival director, Brian Thomas, set designer, Julie Lynch, costume designer, and John Rayment, lighting designer).
 
In Melbourne, Molino will conduct an outstanding new cast of singers, inlcuding international stars like Lianna Haroutounian as Mimì and Gianluca Terranova as Rodolfo, Orchestra Victoria and the Opera Australia Chorus.
 
venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre – May 3, 5, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 25 and 28 at 7:30 and May 21 at 1 pm.

 
 
 

Aghet – Project in Commemoration of the Armenian genocide
Turkey requests EU to withdraw support
 
The Turkish delegation to the European Union in Brussels is currently requesting the EU to withdraw its support for the project Aghet – agitby the Dresdner Sinfoniker, dedicated to the 100. anniversary of the Armenian genocide.
 
Andrea Molino conducted the world premiere of the project last November in Berlin, with world premieres by Helmut Oehring and Zeynep Gedizlioglu and a piece by Vache Sharafyan; only a previously accepted commitment prevents him from conducting the performance which is about to happen at the Festspielhaus Hellerau in Dresden.
 
Andrea Molino wishes to express to Markus Rindt and all colleagues of the Dresdner Sinfoniker, to the production team lead by Ben Deiß and to Marc Sinan his complete support in this situation.
 
 
more information: Dresdner Sinfoniker, Musik in Dresden, ARD, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel, n.tv
 
 
 

– there is no why here –
Molino's multimedia music theatre project available online
Extract from the World Premiere on The Opera Platform
 
An extract of the Bologna World Premiere (April 24, 2014) of Andrea Molino's latest work for the stage has been published online by arte.tv. It is availabe at The Opera Platform, a partnership between Opera Europa, representing 155 opera companies and festivals, the cultural broadcasting channel arte.tv, and 15 theatres from across Europe.
 

The Kiss
Andrea Molino is the conductor for Nicole Car's debut solo album
 
Together with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Andrea Molino has accompanied Nicole Car for a travel through her French, Italian, Russian, and Czech operatic repertoire. The Kiss was launched in February and received with enthusiasm both by critics and the public.
 
Andrea Molino not only accompanied Ms Car, the CD also contains several orchestral excerpts. Conductor and orchestra thus had an extra opportunity to show themselves at their best:
 
"The AOBO sounds particularly inspired and vibrant in this recording with the Italian Andrea Molino on the podium" (Inge Southcott, The Music Trust)
"The iridescent strings of the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Andrea Molino, are also worth a hat-tip." (Neil Fisher, The Times)
"It’s good to hear such fine playing from the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra under Andrea Molino." (Steve Moffatt, Limelight Magazine)
 
 
more information
 
 
 

A matter of things – conversations for a different theatre
New postings
 
Read and comment:
 
111 bicycles and 9 Harley Davidsons – interaction rhythms in a perfect city
In conversation with Jörg Köppl
 
A forest of grandmothers and a silent quartet
In conversation with Yuval Avital
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Kiss
Andrea Molino conducts Nicole Car's debut solo album
 
Soprano Nicole Car's debut solo album, conducted by Andrea Molino, is a showcase of her repertoire in the French, Italian, Russian and Czech operatic repertoire – with arias from Verdi to Puccini, from Tchaikovsky to Cilea. A rarely recorded lullaby from an opera by Smetana gives the album its name: The Kiss (Hubicka).

The CD was launched on February 5 – and almost at once was number one in the ARIA Classical Chart and on the iTunes classical chart in Australia.
 
Andrea Molino and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra accompany Ms Car and seize the opportunity to present a selection of orchestral excerpts: the Introduction to Act 1 of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; the Intermezzo from Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, the Ouverture to Smetana's Hubicka (The Kiss). Digital purchasers can also download the Polonaise from Act III of Eugene Onegin.
 
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Sydney Opera House – Molino conducts Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Reviews
 
"It’s what Rossini would have wanted," (Ben Neutze, Daily Review, 29.1.2016) and "Easily the pick of the season so far" (Tom Pillans, Daily Telegraph, 1.2.2016) – this is the summing-up of two of the critics published after the opening night of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Sydney Opera House.
 
In January and February 2016, Andrea Molino was back at the Sydney Opera House for this production initially premiered at the Melbourne Arts Center, together with a cast of international Rossini specialists, the Opera Australia Chorus, and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
 
"At the helm is maestro Andrea Molino, in whose hands an old warhorse emerges as a frisky young filly. Leaving nothing to routine, he shapes and invigorates each phrase and whips up all the right Rossinian storms," is the performance's description in Limelight (Clive Paget, 29.1.2016)
 
reviews
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Interview on Australian SBS Radio German
Andrea Molino speaks about his career, actual politics,
and a new project
 
The Australian SBS Radio German has published an interview with Andrea Molino (in German). Molino talks about his beginnings as a musician and conductor and about the importance of political themes for his composing.
 
Interview (in German)
 
 

Sydney Opera House
Molino conducts Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia
 
Andrea Molino starts his 2016 opera season conducting Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Sydney Opera House.
 
For the 2012 premiere of Opera Australia's production at the Melbourne Arts Centre, Elijah Moshinsky directed Rossini's immortal comedy in a setting inspired by 1920s silent films. The production will now move to the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
 
Molino conducts a cast of international Rossini specialists, including Paolo Bordogna as Figaro and Kenneth Tarver as Almaviva, the Opera Australia Chorus and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
 
Molino will return to Opera Australia in May to conduct La Bohème at the Melbourne Arts Centre, and in June for John Bell's new production of Carmen at the Sydney Opera House.


venue: Sydney Opera House, January 28 and 30, February 4, 6, 10, 17 and 20 at 7:30 pm, February 13 at 1 pm

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Aghet – Project in Commemoration of the Armenian genocide
Reviews of the World Premiere
 
The concert project Aghet, focussing on the Armenian genocide in 1915, had its Premiere at Berlin's Radialsystem V on Novmber, 27.
 
Andrea Molino conducted the Dresdner Sinfoniker, which was joined by musicians from Turkey, Armenia, members of the No Borders Orchestra, five soloists and a female choir. The programme included two World Premieres by Zeynep Gedizlioglu (Turkey) and Helmut Oehring (Germany)
 
The evening in Berlin was met with enthusiasm by the public.
 
"The ability to ignore history's lessons is ubiquitous. That makes initiatives like this all the more important", Shirley Apthorp said ("A howl of protest", Financial Times, 30.11.2015), and as for the realisation, she continued: "Emphatic conducting from Andrea Molino and sensitive orchestral playing ensured an evening of scrupulous music-making."
 
She was joined in her opinion by Olaf Brühl who wrote, of Gedizlioglu's piece: "The interpretation by the ensemble under the baton of Italian conductor Andrea Molino was excellent, it served the beautiful score in every aspect, and left nothing to be desired on behalf of transparency and expressivity." ("Neue Musik von Zeynep Gedizlioglu, Vache Sharafyan und Helmut Oehring", kultur-extra .de, 2.12.2015)
 
Stefan Amzoll wrote of Andrea Molino as a "musician with a highly physical charisma"; ("Trommelfeuer des Protests", Neues Deutschland, 1.12.2015). "A very strong performance, a revival should be obligatory." Amzoll concluded.
 
Aghet is the third part of a project initiated by Dresdner Sinfoniker and Marc Sinan about the history and culture of Anatolia. After the two Berlin performances, the concert will be performed in Dresden on April, 29 and travel to Belgrade, Yerevan and Istanbul later in 2016.

Live recording of the performance by Deutschlandradio Kultur
reviews

Interview with Andrea Molino

In an interview he recently gave Roberto Cucchi from "I Teatri dell'Est", Andrea Molino speaks about his work as a composer and conductor, about Italian opera and Australian opera life, about conducting his own works and about his "trilogy": CREDO, WINNERS, and – qui non c'è perché – .

The complete interview (in Italian) is available online.

A matter of things – conversations for a different theatre
New postings
 
Read and comment:
 
The Collective Sound
The rain on a metal roof, Xenakis in Brussels and Violetta’s death
 
Where decisions are made: Art and the Polis
In conversation with Pietro Montani