Venetian Organs: Concert with Francesco Bravo in Tremosine
Sunday, December 10th at 8:30 PM will host a very interesting concert at the Chiesa di S. Bartolomeo in Vesio di Tremosine as part of the GLI ORGANI STORICI DELLA LOMBARDIA (Historical Organs of Lombardy) series. The series is part of the programming for the Festival Lombardia Europa Musica, promoted by the Assessorato alle Culture, Identità e Autonomie della Regione Lombardia, with support from the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali / Dipartimento dello Spettacolo, under the patronage of the Consiglio d’Europa and the Istituto Europeo degli Itinerari Culturali, organized by the Comitato Lombardia Europa Musica 2000.
The concert is promoted by the Comune di Tremosine in collaboration with the Biblioteca Civica and the Parrocchia di S. Bartolomeo in Vesio di Tremosine. The star of the concert is organist FRANCESCO BRAVO. The program, performed on the 1768 organ, offers an original survey of organ music in Venice from the 16th to the 18th century. Venice represents an important reference point in the history of instrumental music, with its churches often equipped with two organs and a tradition of pairing vocal and instrumental music to enrich liturgical services.
The organists and the Venetian repertoire
Among the organists who played on the prestigious instruments of San Marco, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, and other Venetian churches, many produced the first significant examples of autonomous instrumental music, separate from vocal composition. This includes Giovanni Picchi, whose “Todesca” and “Ballo ditto Il Pichi” will be performed. The same careers of organists and chapel masters involved the two Gabrieli, Andrea and Giovanni, also featured in Francesco Bravo’s program.
One important composer was Francesco Cavalli, with a “Canzona a quattro” performed. In the 18th century, many instrumental concertos by major Venetian masters such as Vivaldi and Albinoni were transcribed for organ by German composers. We will listen to Albinoni’s Concerto No. 5 Op. 2 and Giorgio Gentili’s Concerto No. 5 Op. 1 in organ arrangement by Walther, as well as Vivaldi’s Concerto No. 9 Op. 3 in the transcription of Johann Sebastian Bach. The program concludes with a Benedetto Marcello Sonata.
The instrument and the performer
The instrument in Chiesa di S. Bartolomeo, a Callido from 1768, was restored in 1988 by the Casa Organaria Vincenzo Mascioni in Cuvio (Varese).
Francesco Bravo, born in Treviso in 1964, graduated with highest honors in organ and organ composition from the Conservatorio di Venezia, under Elsa Bolzonello Zoja, and also earned top marks in harpsichord with Patrizia Marisaldi at the Conservatorio di Castelfranco Veneto. He furthered his studies with Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini and Harald Vogel at the Accademia di Musica Italiana per Organo di Pistoia, as well as with Marie-Claire Alain, Michael Radulescu, Montserrat Torrent Serra, Daniel Roth, Jesper Christensen, and harpsichord with Emilia Fadini and Ton Koopman.
A winner of national and international competitions, he performs concerts in Italy and abroad. He has recorded for the Radio della Svizzera Italiana and the Phoenix record label. As Honorary Inspector for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, he actively works on the restoration of historic organs and is a member of the Commission for the Protection of Historic Organs at the Soprintendenza per i Beni Ambientali ed Architettonici di Milano, delegated for Veneto. He is the titulaire organist of the 18th-century organ of the church of S. Andrea in Riva di Treviso.
Entry and information
Free admission