Giovanni Andrea Zanon Was Born in 1998 in Castelfranco Veneto, Northeast Italy

GIOVANNI ANDREA ZANON

Violinist

Giovanni Andrea Zanonwas born in 1998 in Castelfranco Veneto, northeast Italy.

During his career, Giovanni has won more than thirty national and international music competitions (the first, the Riviera Etrusca in Piombino, Tuscany, aged four), has performed more than one hundred concerts as a solo violinist in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia, Austria, Canada and the United States. He debuted (at age thirteen) with Venice’s La Fenice Theater Orchestra as a solo violinist, and with Verona’s Philharmonic Theater Orchestra in the concert Note d’augurio 2013 and in the gala Lo spettacolo sta per iniziare.

He has received recognition and special mentions from a range of institutions, including one, aged six, from the then President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. More recently, he received a special mention and an award from the Queen Sofía Higher School of Music, Madrid and from theGeneralof the United StatesEmbassyinCanada.

In 2002, aged four, he was awarded top marks and honors for his entrance examination to Padova’s Cesare Pollini Conservatory. Giovanni is the youngest violinist in Italian history to attend one of the country’s State Conservatories.

He graduated from Venice’s Benedetto Marcello Conservatory on 16 October 2013 with top marks; the Conservatory also awarded him honors and an honorable mention, the first time this has happened in more than forty years.

He recently graduated from the “International Competition for Young Violinists K. Lipinski and H. Wieniawski” in Lublin, Poland; he is the only Italian to reach the final round in the competition’s history. In October 2012, he was the outright winner at the Premio Nazionale delle Arti, organized by Italy’s Ministry of University and Scientific Research, earning himself the title of “Best Violinist from an Italian Conservatory”.

On 15 January 2013, he was the outright winner (no second prize was awarded) at the “2013 New York International Artists Violin Competition”. This win enabled him to debut, on 24 February 2013, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, the hallowed venue of international classical music for the last 120 years.

His most recent award came on 20 May 2013 with an outright first prize at The “VII International Novosibirsk Violin Competition”, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and held at the M.I. Glinka State Conservatoire. In a unanimous decision, the jury awarded him all of the competition’s special awards, including for the best interpretation of a work by a Russian composer.

On 18 June 2013, Veneto’s Regional Government awarded Giovanni the golden lion for artistic achievement abroad.

On the adviceof MaestroZubinMehtamoved to the UnitedStates to studywith MaestroPinchasZukermanat the ManhattanSchool in NewYork where hewasonlyadmittedto the "Master of Art"inviolin,over 3,000international competitorsand onlycase of admissionto auniversity postcourseat the age of16 years.

Domenico Zanon

He debuted at the Teatro Filarmonico forNote d’Augurio 2013; and returned with the Fondazione Arena during the 2014-15 symphonic season at the Teatro Ristori.

In 2014 he took part in the televised opera gala Lo Spettacolo sta per iniziare presented by Antonella Clerici at the Arena di Verona.

During the 2015 Arena Festival he debuts as a solo violinist for theCarmen Gala Concert on 24th July.

JACOB REUVEN

Mandolin artist

Displaying a unique combination of technical brilliance and rich musical persona, Jacob Reuven has established himself as one of the most intriguing and sought after mandolin players to have emerged from Israel in recent years. Jacob's broad musical horizons encompass everything from classical music, baroque music, contemporary music, world music, to music for modern dance and theatre, bringing to all that he does his unique voice and uncompromising musical standards.

Beginning his mandolin studies at the age of eight under the guidance of Prof. Simha Nathanson at the Beer Sheva Music Conservatory, Jacob later studied with Mr. Lev Haimovitch until beginning his studies at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance where he worked with Prof. Motti Smidt. During his studies Jacob had won twice the academy's prestigious Concerto Competition, which marked the beginning of his promising career.

Jacob has performed as a soloist with some of the best Israeli orchestras and ensembles including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Israeli Sinfonietta, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Twenty First Century Ensemble and played under the baton of conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Antonio Pappano, Mendi Rodan and Zsolt Nagy.

In 2004, Jacob won first prize in the distinguished International Plectro Rioja competition in Spain and has become internationally known. Since then Jacob has been invited to perform with orchestras such as The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, and be a leading artist in festivals including the Festival Mandolines de Lunel.

Jacob has set new standards to mandolin playing both in Israel and worldwide being the first mandolin player to ever perform violin repertoire on mandolin with an Israeli orchestra. The warmth, richness and nostalgic flavor of Jacob's playing were instantaneously embraced by both the audience and the critics, and made Jacob wellknown for his virtuosic and precise interpretations of violin repertoire for solo violin.

Jacob is an enthusiastic chamber musician and has collaborated with the Jerusalem Quartet and the Vivace Ensemble, among others. He is a member of the award-winning Kerman Mandolin Quartet as well as a member of Barrocade: the Israel Baroque Collective, with whom he often performs as soloist. Jacob is also a member of Ensemble Maktub, an ensemble aimed at the performance of Classical Arabic and Middle-Eastern music.

He debuts at the Arena di Verona for the 2015 Arena Opera Festival during the Carmen Gala Concert.

RENATO ZANELLA

Choreographer

Renato Zanella was born in Verona on June 6th, 1961. His father’s side of the family stems from an Italian industrial background whilst his mother’s family is artistically inclined and originates from the German speaking area in Southern Tyrol – his grandfather built violins in Bozen. As a tall teenager, at 1.83 metres, his first love was sports and primarily basketball. It was rather by chance that at age seventeen Renato came into contact with ballet. But since then he devoted his entire energy and passion to dance.

Beginnings, Basel

Zanella received his initial training in Verona before moving on to Rosella Hightower’s famous “Centre de Danse International” in Cannes where he completed his studies. He got his first work contract right away in 1982 from Heinz Spoerli in Basel. There, unusually tall for a dancer, he became familiar with the works of Balanchine, Van Manen, Robert North, Ulysses Dove as well as Spoerli himself. In the course of the next three years he accumulated a wealth of background and experience which stood him in good stead when he moved on to the world famous ballet company of Stuttgart in 1985.

Stuttgart
In Stuttgart, the chef de ballet, Marcia Haydée, gave Zanella not only the chance to work with great choreographers and appear in their works (such as John Cranko, Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylián, Mats Ek, John Neumeier, William Forsythe, Azary Plisetsky, Glen Tetley and Kenneth MacMillan) but also to realize his own creative ambitions: At age twenty-eight, in 1989, Zanella’s first own choreography of 7 minutes for two dancers called “Die andere Seite” (the other side) based on the music of Joachim Kühn’s “Dark” was staged. In 1991 he created a duo called “Stati d’animo” for Haydée and Richard Cragun based on the music of Stravinsky’s “Duo concertant”. Already in 1992 his first full length evening programme was presented (“Mann im Schatten” – Man in the Shade - to the music of Richard Farber). In the same year he also created “Voyage” for Vladimir Malakhov. In 1993 he came up with another full length programme. This time for Marcia Haydée called “Mata Hari” using the music of Shostakovich. The same year, Haydée appointed him to the post of choreographer-in-residence for the Stuttgart ballet company. This ushered in a gradual change where his dancing career was reduced in favor of more time spent on choreography. At about this time his first choreographies for various operas were realized which have subsequently remained an important aspect of his work.

Vienna
Zanella has lured Vladimir Malakhov towards modern dance and Malakhov in turn has been responsible for Zanella’s first contacts with the Vienna State Opera. In 1995, at age 34, Zanella was appointed head of the ballet company of Vienna’s State Opera. During his ten-year term there Zanella has presented close to forty of his own choreographies ranging from short pieces to full length evening programmes. His Mozart ballet from 1998 “Wolfgang Amadée” achieved particular acclaim. In 1999 Zanella paid homage to the local genius Johann Strauß by choosing his music for his own dance version of “Aschenbrödel”(Cinderella). Zanella has repeatedly used classical music in his works but is nevertheless also known for his close attachment to modern music. Yet, he has focused more and more on the great challenges of ballet literature such as Stravinsky’s “Sacre de printemps” (1996), Ravel’s “Bolero (1998), Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” (2000) and Khachaturian’s “Spartacus” (2002). His last choreography for the Vienna State Opera was Stravinsky’s “Renard” in 2005. During his ten years Zanella has transformed the Vienna Ballet Company into a self-reliant ensemble capable of filling even the great roles by their own dancers and meeting the challenges of the greatest choreographers: works from Kylian to van Manen, from Forsythe to Neumeier were presented as were works from Balanchine, MacMillan or Ashton. Traditional choreographies by Petipa and many treatments by Nurejew were also seen. Yet, lovers of ballet appreciated the fact that the main focus of Zanella’s work was always the modern and new. Zanella gave young choreographers from within his corps de ballet a chance of expressing themselves (Gaudernak, Adler, Bombardo to mention just a few) and paid close attention to the training of the next generation of ballet dancers that they were nurtured carefully in a ballet school part of the State Opera. His project called “off ballet special” won wide acclaim where he let handicapped and non-handicapped members of a cultural group called “I am ok” dance alongside dancers of the Vienna State Opera Ballet Company in moving choreographies. During his years as head of the Vienna State Opera Ballet Company Zanella created numerous choreographies used during the traditional Vienna New Year’s Concert performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra every January first and televised to millions all over the world (which he did again in 2010). His choreographies for operas have become an increasingly important part of his creative output. Especially his creations for “Rienzi” (1997) and “Guillaume Tell”(1998) alongside David Pountney as director led to a co-operation that culminated in working for the Festival of Bregenz, and among others to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, London, the Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon, the Marinski-Theater in St. Petersburg as well as the Opera House of Zurich. Zanella has also come up with the choreographies for opera productions staged by Hans Neuenfels, Götz Friedrich (Deutsche Oper, Berlin), Jürgen Flimm, Günter Krämer, Nicola Joel to mention just some of the most prominent. During his years in Vienna, Zanella was also much in demand as a juror for international dance competitions. Yet, he also received many prizes himself. The Italian publication “Danza & Danza” awarded him 1995 the title of “best Italian choreographer abroad”. In 2000 he received the “Premio Internazionale Gino Tani” in Rome. 2001 he was given the “Jakob Prandtauer-Preis” in St. Pölten. The same year, “Danza & Danza” acknowledged his work at the Vienna State Opera with the distinction “Best artistic leader”. The Republic of Austria honoured him with the “Cross of Honour for the Sciences and Arts” (2001).

International Years

After leaving the Vienna State Opera which had consumed most of his energy over ten years, Zanella expanded his wide-ranging international career. His choreographies are enacted by ballet companies not only in Europe but also in America and Asia. In 2007 he received the prize for the best new production in Italy for his full length ballet “Peer Gynt” to the music of Edward Grieg which he created for the “Balletto dell’Opera di Roma”. In 2008 his choreography for John Adam’s Opera “The Flowering Tree” was widely acclaimed in Chicago. In 2009 Zanella branched out into a new field of artistic endeavour by staging operas. His first project “Cosi fan tutte” shown at the “Attersee Klassik-Festival” was a big success with the public and the critics. In 2010, he oversaw the production of “Carmen“during the sixth “Festival of the Aegean” on the island of Syros where Zanella holds the post of artistic director for the dance section. Zanella has worked with the greatest dancers of his time -Marcia Haydée, Carla Fracci, Anastasia Volotchkova, Simona Noja, Shoko Nakamura, Polina Semionava, Dorothée Gilbert, Egon Madsen, Richard Cragun, Roberto Bolle, Alessio Carbone, Vladimir Malakhov, Manuel Legris, Nicolas Blanc, Pascal Molat, Giuseppe Picone and Nicolas Le Riche to name just a few. Artists like Malakhov and Shoko Nakamura give guest appearances with his choreographies regularly, even in Japan. In 2010 he choreographed an “Aida” in Japan which was conducted by Placido Domingo. His most recent world premiere took place in April 2010 in San Francisco where the San Francisco ballet danced 33 minutes to the music of Arnold Schönberg to his choreography called “Underskin”.

Renato Zanella defines himself and his work as a product born out of curiosity and the addiction to continuously experience new things, meet new personalities and talents and receive incessantly new inspirations for his work.

In 2011 he collaborated for the first time with the Fondazione Arena di Verona as choreographer, set designer, costume designer and lighting designer for the ballet Omaggio a Stravinsky at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and in 2012 he realized the ballet Omaggio a Ravel.

In 2013 he signed choreographies, set, costume and lighting design for the show Cercando Verdi on the scenes of the Teatro Filarmonico, then revived at the Teatro Romano of Verona.

Then Zanella created the choreography for Schiaccianoci à la carte at the Teatro Ristori, also in Verona, and again for the Teatro Romano in 2014 he took charge of choreographies, costume and lighting design of Medea, revived in the Autumn in Trento.

In October 2013 Zanella became the Dance Company Director of the Fondazione Arena di Verona.

For the Opera and Ballet Season 2014-2015 at the Teatro Filarmonico he signed the ballets Valzer & Co. and XX Secolo and for the Arena Opera Festival 2015 he created the new choreography of Franco Zeffirelli’s Aida and the show Carmen Gala Concert.

ANITA RACHVELISHVILI

Mezzo-soprano

Anita Rachvelishvili became internationally known when on December 7th, 2009, the opening night of the La Scala season, she sang the title role in Carmen opposite Jonas Kaufmann as Don José, in a production staged by Emma Date and conducted by Daniel Barenboim.

She has since debuted as Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper München, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Seattle Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Regio in Turin, with the Canadian Opera Company, and at the Arena di Verona, as well as making a return in the role to the Teatro alla Scala. Anita Rachvelishvili made her Netherlands debut when she sang her first Dalila in a concert performance of Samson et Dalila at the Concertgebouw. She has also been heard Dulcinée in Massenets Don Quichottein Toronto and in Cagliari. In the fall of 2011 Anita Rachvelishvili debuted at Carnegie Hall inAdriana Lecouvreur. Anita Rachvelishvili returned to the Staatsoper Berlin in as Lyubasha in the new production of Rimsky Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, staged by Dmitry Cherniakov and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Performances for the 2013/2014 season included appearing as the Konschakowna in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Borodin’s Prince Igor which was the first time the company had performed this work since 1917. Shereturned to the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Carmen. Earlier in the season, she sang as Carmen at the Staatsoper Berlin and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. She also returned to the Arena di Verona that season as Carmen and as Amneris in Aida. She ended the season with a solo recital at the Mariinskij Theatre in St. Petersburg. The 2014/2015 season began with a return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Carmen. She also returned to the Teatro alla Scala for a new production of Aidaled by Zubin Mehta and appears this season at the Teatro alla Scala as Carmen. She will also appear as Amneris in Aidaat the Rome Opera She made herSalzburg Festival this season in their Easter Festival appearing in the Verdi Requiem under the direction of Christian Thielemann.