On the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the historical victory at the Bands' International Competition in Como, Italy, the Societa' Filarmonica Nazionale La Valette, under the distinguished patronage of the President of Malta Dr George Vella, is presenting a celebration concert Magia di Operette featuring the most beautiful selections of operettas with the special participation of tenor Andrea Bragiotto and soprano Barbara Fasol from Milan. This concert will be held on Saturday, 19 November at 7.15pm at the Catholic Institute Theatre, Floriana.
The La Valette Band, conducted by Mro Dominic Darmanin FLCM, will perform major highlights from famous operettas that are popular with the local public in a unique concert with special arrangements for a symphony band from the original orchestra scores including the harp. The programme will include solos and duets to be performed by tenor Bragiotto and soprano Fasol from The Merry Widow and Il Paese del Sorriso by Franz Lehar; The White Horse Inn by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz; La Danza delle Libellule by Carlo Lombardo and Franz Lehar; La Principessa della Czarda by Emmerich Kalman; La Duchessa del Bal Tabarin by Leon Bard; Scugnizza by Mario Costa; Madama di Tebe and il Paese dei Campanelli by Carlo Lombardo and by general request L'ultima Bambola, La Canzone della Margherita and Oh Cin ci La' from the very popular operetta Cin ci La' by Carlo Lombardo and Virgilio Ranzato.
Bragiotto is a professional tenor and qualified tutor in lyrical and modern singing. He graduated in classical singing in 2001 from the Istituto Musicale Pareggiato O. Vecchi of Modena. Andrea started his career at the age of 13 at the Teatro Lirico and Pala Trussardi in Milan in I Pomeriggi Musicali with world famous soprano Montserrat Caballe'. In 2006 he was the protagonist in the world premiere as the Poet Virgil in the opera Dante narrates Hell, composed by Andrea Arnaboldi.
His operatic career started with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini and Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart, in 2005 in Verdi's Traviata and continued enlarging his extensive repertoire of operas Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini and Verdi's Rigoletto; he performed the roles of Arturo Buklaw in Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti; Peppe/Arlecchino in Pagliacci; Fenton and Bardolfo in Verdi's Falstaff, in Cosi fan tutte and Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, among many others.
Andrea had performed at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta in concerts dedicated to the Italian Bel Canto with selections from operas, operettas and classical Italian songs. He is also the artistic and programming director of the Musical Institute NovaMusica in Buccinasco, Province of Milan.
Barbara Fasol is a lyrical soprano and teacher of operatic and modern singing at the Institute NovaMusica in Buccinasco, province of Milan. She studied with sopranos Angela Nascimbeni, Cecilia Albanese Nunez and Maria Malatesta Calabro' and graduated in lyrical singing at the ISSM, Istituto Superiore Studi Musicali Franco Vittadini of Pavia. She made her debut in 2003 at the Festival Lirico Varese Ligure in the opera Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart with the State Symphony Orchestra of Kharkov conducted by Dan Ettinger. She performed the roles of Serpina in La serva padrona and Livietta in Livietta e Tracollo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and in various opera theatres in Bergamo, Turin, Lecco, Milan, Forli', Pavia and at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta in the Italian Bel Canto selections.
Barbara is also active in selection boards at the Concorso Lirico Internazionale Citta' di Lissone, Giovanni in Canto and Arturo Toscanini in Mantova.