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| Susanna presents Arcadia Clarinet Ensemble |
Instead of standing in line to purchase expensive tickets to
a concert in a big city auditorium we
are able to celebrate the holidays by participating in an old style Salotto Musicale offered by the Opera Extravaganza group.
Yesterday
evening we were delighted to be part
of the
end of the year Salotto Musicale in
the Giardino Segreto here in Vetralla for a concert offered by OperaExtravaganza to celebrate the holiday season.
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| Riccardo Bigini presents the program |
The concert,
organized by Opera Extravaganza’s
founder, Finnish soprano Susanna
Ohtonen, was given by the Arcadia Clarinet Ensemble, a group of five bravissimi Italian musicians presented by Riccardo Bigini with Giampiero Allegro, Daniele Fabbrini, Silvia
Cerquaglia and Giacomo Poggiani.
These gifted
musicians enthralled the select international audience with their rich repertoire of clarinet music by Strauss, Rossini, Mozart, Gounod,
Brahms and Shostakovich.
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| Martti Wallen and wife applaud the clarinet ensemble |
The
evening was full of surprises including an
unexpected rendition in the true
spirit of the Musical Salon when bass singer Martti Wallén of the Stockholm Opera and Finnish National Opera came out of the
audience to sing a couple of Christmas
songs.
Wallén happened to be staying in nearby Castel Cellesi, a tiny village populated by foreigners, many of whom were present at the concert.
Wallén happened to be staying in nearby Castel Cellesi, a tiny village populated by foreigners, many of whom were present at the concert.
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| Riccardo Bigini and Giacomo Poggiani of Arcadia Clarinet Ensemble |
The
musicians were happy to participate
in this Musical Salon, since their usual stage performances lack the intimate contact with the public they were able to enjoy here.
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| singing along with Susanna, Morena, Ruud |
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| getting close to the musicians at Salotto Musicale |
