Virginia Opera Announces Guest Conductor Joseph Rescigno For "The Valkyrie"

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Virginia Opera announces Joseph Rescigno (Pronunciation: Rescigno – re-SHEEN-yoe) as guest conductor for Wagner’s production of THE VALKYRIE.

Norfolk, VA, 3 December 2010

Virginia Opera announces Joseph Rescigno (Pronunciation: Rescigno – re-SHEEN-yoe) as guest conductor for Wagner’s production of THE VALKYRIE. Maestro Joseph Rescigno has served since 1981 as Artistic Advisor and Principal Conductor of the Florentine Opera Company in Milwaukee, WI where he conducts some of the company’s most challenging and exciting repertory. He has conducted symphonies, concertos, operas, and oratorios for more than 50 companies on four continents.

As a frequent guest conductor, Joseph Rescigno has conducted the New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Hungarian State Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Seattle Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Vancouver Opera, Teatro Bellini, l’Opéra de Marseille, and l’Opéra de Montreal among others. The symphony orchestras he has conducted include the Montreal Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony orchestras, both of which he has conducted in their regular subscription series as well as in opera productions.

As Artistic Director of l’Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal, Maestro Rescigno made four recordings in four years: works by Beethoven, Brahms, and Mendelssohn, and operatic and concert arias by Mozart featuring Lyne Fortin. Two additional recordings round-out his discography: One is "Verismo," arias with Diana Soviero. The other is Minoru Miki’s "Joruri," of which he conducted the world and Japanese premieres.

Maestro Rescigno has conducted virtually the entire core Italian opera repertory—including romantic, verismo, and bel canto operas—as well as the standard French and German repertory and contemporary works. In addition, Maestro Rescigno has conducted the masterworks of the choral literature and symphonies and concertos from the baroque to the modern era, sometimes conducting from the keyboard in works from the earlier eras.

Maestro Rescigno not only brings four decades of experience, he is a born teacher. He has always derived tremendous gratification out of working with young musicians and singers as he does in his capacity as the Music Director of La Musica Lirica festival in Italy. He has a brilliant reputation for nurturing and supporting singers, identifying the brightest stars in the emerging generation, and guiding singers to ensemble work on the highest level.

This native New Yorker comes from a long line of musicians on both sides of his family. He trained as a pianist and has been studying and performing music since childhood. His uncle was the prominent conductor Nicola Rescigno, a founder of both the Dallas and Chicago opera companies; and his grandfather taught him sightsinging from about the age of two. More formally, Rescigno studied with composer Nicholas Flagello and other distinguished teachers in the United States and Europe, including privately at l’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He went on to serve the time-honored, opera-house apprenticeship in the European manner with such influential conductors as Laszlo Halasz (founder of the New York City Opera), Bruno Maderna, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Carlo Moresco, and his uncle. Powerful influences also included pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, conductors Herbert von Karajan and Erich Leinsdorf, and Roberto Benaglio, the legendary chorus master of La Scala. Joseph Rescigno has further been privileged to collaborate with prominent instrumentalists as well as renowned singers of three generations such as June Anderson, Angela Brown, Ghena Dimitrova, Giuseppe DiStefano, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Eva Marton, Johanna Meier, Erie Mills, Erika Sunnegårdh, Ruth Ann Swenson, Tatiana Troyanos, Ramon Vargas, and Deborah Voigt.

Of Maestro Rescigno’s "Die Walküre," John Koopman, Opera News wrote, “The success of the undertaking rested squarely on the energetic leadership of Rescigno and the excellent playing of the Milwaukee Symphony. Seemingly ablaze with its own internal magic fire, the orchestra was a constant supportive presence which lent a marvelous, urgent vitality to the undertaking.”

“Maestro Joseph Rescigno is a luminary in the opera world, with a sterling reputation and tremendous experience. The musicians and I are very grateful to him for agreeing to conduct Virginia Opera’s Wagner production,” said JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

In October, 2010, Joseph Rescigno and the Florentine Opera presented the world premiere of "Río de Sangre," an opera by Don Davis, with a libretto by Kate Gale. Maestro Rescigno conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in Davis’s vibrant, Latin-inspired score. Maestro Rescigno is authoring his first book – The View From the Pit: Where Theater Meets Music.

Maestro Joseph Rescigno thoughtfully comments on conducting for Virginia Opera, “Conducting 'Die Walküre' is always thrilling, but I am especially delighted to be working again with two highly respected colleagues, stage director Lillian Groag and Consulting Artistic Advisor Robin Thompson, whom I know from our time together at the New York City Opera.

“To me, 'Die Walküre' is the most melodic of the four Ring Cycle operas and a great introduction to the music of Wagner. It also contains my candidate for the most erotic love duet in the repertory. This scene comprising the final thirty minutes of Act I is rivaled only by the Act II love duet of 'Tristan und Isolde' or possibly the Act I love duet in 'Madama Butterfly.' In addition, the last twenty minutes of the opera – the highly emotional 'Wotan’s Farewell' and the 'Magic Fire Music' – may qualify as the most exquisite music ever written.

“'Die Walküre' was the first Wagner opera I added to my repertory, and I have also had the privilege of performing excerpts of it in symphonic concerts.

“My history with 'Die Walküre' is permanently intertwined with insights gained from several hours with Erich Leinsdorf, one of the greatest conductors of our time, and a recognized authority on the German repertory. I consulted with him about the first German opera I was to conduct, Richard Strauss’s 'Salome,' just as I would confer with my uncle, the conductor Nicola Rescigno, about Italian opera.

“The first thing I had to do with Leinsdorf was demonstrate that I was worth his time. To test my knowledge, he challenged me to identify a tempo relationship in the finale of Johannes Brahms’s First Symphony. We then went on to spar over the closing of 'Die Walküre.'

“Leinsdorf emphasized how important it is that tempos from one section of a large work to the next have some kind of relationship. Musical works have an architecture that the conductor must illuminate. With 'Die Walküre,' especially in the final scene, there is more than an esthetic interest in the right tempo because singers require more support than any other kind of soloist. We explored a couple of alternatives.

“Leinsdorf hammered home principles that became ever more important as I expanded into the long German operas. I have since carried them into analyzing and performing repertory as diverse as a Rossini comedy, a Beethoven symphony, a Berlioz oratorio, and contemporary operas by John Adams and Don Davis.”

THE VALKYRIE, directed by audience favorite Lillian Groag ("Così fan tutte," 2010; "Don Giovanni," 2010; "Il Trovatore," 2008; "Tales of Hoffmann," 2007; "Agrippina," 2007; "Tristan and Isolde," 2005; "Turandot," 2004; and "Fidelio," 2004), opens at the historic Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday, February 5, with additional performances February 9, 11, and 13. Performances continue at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday, February 18 and Sunday, February 20, followed by the final performances at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond Centerstage in Richmond, Virginia on Friday, February 25 and Sunday, February 27.

THE VALKYRIE will be an action-packed 3 hours, sung in German with English supertitles projected above the stage, with a free pre-opera discussion 45 minutes before each performance for ticket holders. The orchestra for this Virginia Opera production is provided by the musicians of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Single tickets are available for all performances on Virginia Opera’s website at VaOpera.org, and via phone for Norfolk performances at 757/623-1223 (Southside) or 757/877-2550 (Peninsula); Richmond performances at 804/262-8003; and Fairfax performances at 703/218-6500. Season subscriptions are available at 866/Opera-Va (866/673-7282) and online at VaOpera.org.

Virginia Opera may also be found on the web, on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/VaOpera or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/VaOpera.

CONTACT INFORMATION / INTERVIEWS
For artist bios and to schedule interviews, please contact:
Danielle M. Canonico, Director of Communications • Virginia Opera
P.O. Box 2580, Norfolk, VA 23501 • 757/627-9545, ext. 3316 Danielle.Canonico@vaopera.org and www.VaOpera.org
or
Nancy Shear Arts Services, National Press Representatives for Joseph Rescigno,
212/496-9418, sheararts@nancyshear.com and www.nancyshear.com