Verdi evenings

Another giant of opera celebrates 200 years in 2013. The Proms focus of Giuseppe Verdi’s work centres on two leading Italian orchestras: the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome, who are conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano (20 July) and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi who make their Proms debut with Xian Zhang and Joseph Calleja, star of the 2012 Last Night of the Proms, in a series of Verdi’s best-loved arias (5 September).

String Quartet (arr. C. Hermann)/Ave Maria (1880)/Requiem – Libera me (original version)/Four Sacred Pieces
Maria Agresta (soprano), Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome/Sir Antonio Pappano
20 July

Willow Song/Ave Maria from Otello
Kristıne Opolais (soprano), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons Matinee
17 August

Overtures and arias
Joseph Calleja (tenor), Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi/ Xian Zhang
5 September

Nabucco - ‘Va, pensiero’ (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves)
BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop
7 September, Last Night of the Proms