Weekend Berio in Paris

From February 1st to 3, at the Cité de la Musique / Philharmonie de Paris, is scheduled a Week-end Berio+, which in addition to the performance of some 'classics' of Berio’s catalog (including Sinfonia, Sequenza VIII and Opus Number Zoo), it will present two novelties of exceptional importance. Friday, February 1st (Salle des concerts, 8.30 pm) will be presented L'Orfeo, a reworking of Monteverdi’s masterpiece conceived by Berio in 1984 and premiered in Florence with a group of composers including Luca Francesconi, Ludovico Einaudi, Maurizio Dini Ciacci and Betty Olivero. In 1986 the work was reperformed in Florence in a new version, to then fall into oblivion lasting about thirty years. Angela Ida De Benedictis – who oversaw the reconstruction of the score of the work in the 1986 version, staged on this occasion – will report the events of this collective project in a preparatory talk before the performance (Amphitéâtre, 7.00 pm). Among the performers are some of the musicians who took part in the world premiere and the reprise of 1986 (Maurizio Dini Ciacci, who will conduct the opera, and Francesco Pisanu).

Saturday 2 February (Le Studio, 19:00) will be the turn of Twice Upon ..., a theater without words for six groups of children, composed by Berio in 1994 and performed only once under his direction at the South Bank Center in London. The version presented at the Philharmonie is curated by Richard McNicol, a musician who collaborated with Berio in the London production, and features the pupils of the Île de France primary school. In the same concert will be performed Lied for solo clarinet, Sequenza VII for oboe and A solo for viola by Lucia Ronchetti.
Other events include workshops and concerts-shows for families and children dedicated to Berio (February 2nd, Espaces éducatifs, 11:00 am, Amphitéâtre, 3:00 pm, February 3, Salle de conférence). The cycle will be introduced Thursday, January 31, with a portrait of the composer curated by Philippe Albèra (Salle de conference, 6:45 pm).

For more information on the full program of the Week-End Berio+, click here.