Royal Castle in Warsaw
Carmen Giannattasio – Fire and Fury
Music by Gluck, Spontini, Mozart,
Beethoven and Bellini.
Carmen Giannattasio | soprano
Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense
Gianluca Marcianò | Conductor
Programme:
Christoph Willibald Gluck – Overture to Alceste
Christoph Willibald Gluck – Aria “Divinités du Styx” from Alceste
Christoph Willibald Gluck – Dance of the Furies from Orfeo ed Euridice
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Overture to Idomeneo
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Recitativo and Aria Estinto è Idomeneo?… Tutte nel cor vi sento from Idomeneo
Ludwig van Beethoven – Concert Overture Egmont, Op. 84
Ludwig van Beethoven – Scene and Aria “Ah! Perfido,” Op. 65
Gaspare Spontini – Overture to La Vestale
Gaspare Spontini – Aria “O Nume tutelar” from La Vestale
Vincenzo Bellini – Sinfonia from Norma
Vincenzo Bellini – Aria “Casta diva” from Norma
The concert Carmen Giannattasio – Fire and Fury: Music by Gluck, Spontini, Mozart, Beethoven and Bellini. offers a musical reflection on the repertoire and aesthetic associated with one of the greatest singers of the 20th century—an artist who redefined the dramatic dimension of opera by uniting myth, ancient tragedy, and the spiritual absolute of music. The programme leads the listener through key works from the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, revealing the birth of modern musical theatre, in which emotion, word, and drama attain a status equal to that of formal beauty. The music of Christoph Willibald Gluck opens the concert as a manifesto of operatic reform, with its pursuit of emotional truth, expressive simplicity, and the subordination of music to drama. Mozart’s excerpts from Idomeneo deepen this trajectory, exposing the tension between human frailty and the inexorable will of the gods. Beethoven’s Egmont and Ah! perfido shift the narrative toward heroism and tragic individualism, heralding the Romantic vision of a protagonist torn between duty and passion. The culmination of the evening is formed by works of Luigi Cherubini and Vincenzo Bellini—Medea and Norma—operas in which myth becomes a vehicle for portraying extreme emotions, the spiritual power of the female protagonist, and the metaphysical dimensions of sacrifice and destiny. The programme will be performed at the Royal Castle in Warsaw by the Orchestra of Period Instruments of the Warsaw Chamber Opera – Musicae Antiquae Collegium Varsoviense, conducted by Gianluca Marcianò, with soprano Carmen Giannattasio as soloist. The concert presents opera as a space where myth, tragedy, and the sacred converge—a musical tribute to the tradition rendered timeless by Leyla Gencer.
Carmen Giannattasio graduated from the Conservatory of Avellino and was a member of the Opera Studio at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Her international career gained decisive momentum in 2002, when she won the prestigious Operalia Competition in Paris, founded by Plácido Domingo. Since then, she has appeared regularly on the world’s leading opera stages, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Arena di Verona, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Sferisterio di Macerata, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Royal Opera House in London, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Opernhaus Zürich, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper in Berlin, La Monnaie in Brussels, Kungliga Operan in Stockholm, the Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, De Nationale Opera in Amsterdam, Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, Teatro Pérez Galdós in Las Palmas, Los Angeles Opera, and Teatro Municipal in Santiago de Chile. Her extensive repertoire includes such roles as Micaëla (Carmen), Amelia (Simon Boccanegra), Anna (Maometto secondo), Leonora (Il trovatore), Elena (La donna del lago), Violetta Valéry (La traviata), Liù (Turandot), Mimì (La Bohème), Elizabeth I (Maria Stuarda), Nedda (Pagliacci), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Desdemona (Otello), Alice Ford (Falstaff), Madame Cortese (Il viaggio a Reims), Margherita (Mefistofele), Tosca, Amelia (Un ballo in maschera), Norma, Joan of Arc (Giovanna d’Arco), Giorgetta (Il tabarro), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Anna (Le Villi), Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly), Gioconda, Aida, and Minnie (La fanciulla del West). Among her major engagements in the 2025/26 season are performances of Tosca at Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Royal Opera House Muscat, and the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv, as well as Madama Butterfly at Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has collaborated with eminent conductors and directors including Zubin Mehta, Daniel Harding, Pinchas Steinberg, Antonio Pappano, Daniel Oren, Ezio Bosso, Donato Renzetti, Omer Meir Wellber, Ferzan Özpetek, Luca Ronconi, Leo Nucci, Damiano Michieletto, David McVicar, Plácido Domingo, and Joseph Calleja. On 28 February 2017, she was awarded the title Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella della Repubblica Italiana. In December 2021, she received the prestigious Callas Award in New York. In 2024, she was the only singer invited to perform for heads of state attending the G7 Cultural Summit in Pompeii. New York’s Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, La Scala, Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Tokyo, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Opera Rara in London, the Sydney Opera House, the Bolshoi Theatre, Beijing, and Madrid—there are few major opera houses where Carmen Giannattasio has not appeared to great acclaim from both audiences and critics. Her intense career has shaped a modern model of the international opera star, transcending traditional paradigms and anticipating the language of social media: a fusion of uncompromising artistic discipline on stage with a pop-inflected freedom of lifestyle and communication. Renowned not only for her vocal virtuosity but also for her exceptional acting abilities, she has been sought after by film directors such as Ferzan Özpetek, Edoardo De Angelis, Franco Zeffirelli, and John Schlesinger. The Telegraph described her as “the Anna Magnani of opera.” For many years she lived in London, where she formed friendships crucial to her artistic and personal development, including with Judi Dench and Ezio Bosso, who dedicated his celebrated piano piece Following a Bird to her. She has served as a muse to Karl Lagerfeld, Alberta Ferretti, and Antonio Riva. Today, Carmen Giannattasio selects her operatic projects with great care, continuing to refine cornerstone roles of her repertoire such as Tosca while embracing new challenges—making her debut as Giorgetta in Il tabarro in 2023, and undertaking the roles of Gioconda, Aida, Minnie, and Cio-Cio-San in 2024. In parallel, she is planning new social initiatives aimed at women, continuing a path of independence and consistency that from an early age allowed her to combine Slavic studies with conservatory training, a classical operatic career with a conscious, forward-thinking management of her artistic image.
Gianluca Marcianò, a conductor praised by The Sunday Times for his “consistently theatrical and idiomatic orchestral leadership,” is among the most highly regarded artists of his generation. He serves as Principal Conductor of the Orchestra della Magna Grecia in Taranto and Matera, First Guest Conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of the Al Bustan Festival in Lebanon. Highlights of the 2025/26 season include performances with Sir Bryn Terfel in Shanghai and Monte Carlo, returns to the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb and Grange Park Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia), as well as further symphonic projects across Europe. In the 2024/25 season, Marcianò renewed his collaboration with Grange Park Opera (Simon Boccanegra) and Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Aida), while conducting numerous symphonic concerts throughout Europe. He has appeared at major opera houses and international festivals, including English National Opera, Teatro de la Maestranza, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Guangzhou Opera House, the Shanghai Art Festival, and the Ljubljana Festival. He has collaborated with leading artists such as Sir Bryn Terfel, Elīna Garanča, Sumi Jo, Joseph Calleja, and Gautier Capuçon, and has conducted orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Filarmonica Toscanini, and the Moscow City Russian Philharmonic. From 2011 to 2014 he served as Music Director of the State Opera of Tbilisi, and from 2017 to 2019 as Principal Conductor of the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. He is the founder of the Lerici Music Festival—formerly Suoni dal Golfo—celebrating music in his hometown on the Gulf of Poets. In 2017 he was awarded honorary citizenship of Lerici, followed by the Pavlova Award in 2018. Gianluca Marcianò’s repertoire includes major operatic works such as La traviata, Tosca, Un ballo in maschera, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, and Aida. In recent seasons he has conducted new productions at Teatro de la Maestranza (Tosca, Turandot), in Palma de Mallorca (La forza del destino), and in Oviedo (Aida). His discography includes the critically acclaimed album Momento Immobile, recorded with soprano Venera Gimadieva and the Hallé Orchestra. Gianluca Marcianò is an Opera for Peace Ambassador and holds a degree in Political Science from the University of Pisa.