Visitors From Venice To Conclude Brilliant 25th NFoM Season

Newtown Friends of Music are looking forward to capping off its 25th anniversary season of sponsoring concerts of stellar talent with a performance by The Quartetto di Venezia on Sunday, April 6. The performance begins at 3 pm in the auditorium of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street/Route 25 in Newtown.

All those attending the concert will be invited to a gala reception immediately following the performance to celebrate the milestone.

Having already enjoyed a highly varied season of brass, piano quartet, woodwinds, and a viola-violin-piano recital, ticket holders will now enjoy the sounds of a string quartet in the typical Italian School of playing stringed instruments.

Direct from Venice, Italy, the four musicians – Andrea Vio, first violin; Alberto Battiston, second violin; Luca Morassutti, viola; and Angelo Zanin, cello – derive their artistic and personal formation from two important schools of interpretation of the string quartet. The first influence is that of the famous Quartetto Italiano, specifically of Piero Farulli, with whom the members of the quartet studied for three years at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana di Siena. The second significant influence was the central European school of the renowned Vegh Quartet, through many meetings with Sandor Vegh and Paul Szabo.

Founded more than a decade ago when its members were students together at the Venice Music Conservatory Benedetto Marcello, Quartetto di Venezia’s keynote characteristics are its concentration on quality of sound, bowing technique and vibrato, and the emphasis on the sound of individual instruments.

Venetian-born volinist Andrea Vio studied in Venice and has given numerous concerts in Italy and abroad including Europe, the United States, South America, Japan, and South Korea. He was artist-in-residence at the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

Mr Vio is a violin professor at the Conservatory of Music “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan.  He performs on a 1651 Amati.

Violinist Alberto Battiston studied in Venice and he has given numerous concerts in international festivals in Italy and abroad. He was artist-in-residence at Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa.

Mr Battiston is a violin professor at the Conservatory of Music Girolamo Frescobaldi in Udine. He plays on a 1912 Giulio Degani violin.

Luca Morassutti studied in Florence. In 1983 he was the winner of the Vittorio Veneto Competition in Italy.

Mr Morassutti is a viola professor at the Conservatory of Music in Adria.  His viola is a 1988 Roberto Regazzi.

Cellist Angelo Zanin studied in Venice and in Switzerland with Paul Szabo, a disciple of Pablo Casals and cellist of the famous Vegh Quartet. He has played in Italy and abroad.

Mr Zanin is a cello professor at the Conservatory of Music F E Dall’Abaco in Verona. His instrument is a 1931 Battista Martinenghi cello.

The Quartetto di Venezia has received enthusiastic reviews wherever in the world it has performed, and its performances have been on Italian State Television and WQXR in New York City. The quartet has been recorded extensively, for Dynamic, Koch, Ermitage, Musical Heritage Society, Fonit Cetra and will bring along CDs for concert-goers to take home.

The all Italian-program on April 6 will consist of Quartet in A, Opus 8, No 6 by Luigi Boccherini; Concerto in G, RV 151, “Alla Rustica,” by Antonio Vivaldi; Quartet in E-flat, Opus 76, No 3 by Antonio Bazzini; “I Crisantemi” (The Chrysanthemums) of Giacomo Puccini; and Verdi’s Quartet in E minor.

Tickets for the concert are $15. Children between the ages of five and 14 are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket holding adult. Early reservations are being advised. The concert starts at 3 pm and the box office opens at 2.

Edmond Town Hall is handicapped accessible, with plenty of free parking behind the building.

A gala reception immediately following the concert will celebrate the musicians and their performances, along with NFoM’s successful completion of presenting 25 years of exquisite music.

For further information or reservations call 426-6470 or send email to FriendsOfMusic@snet.net. Additional program information is available at www.NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org.