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Bicentenary Gala Dinner 10th October 2013

The Montegrappa Verdi Bicentenary Concert was held on the 10th of October to celebrate the great opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born on the same day 200 years ago (10th October 1813).

This event was sponsored by Rivoli, and supported by Dubai Culture and the Verdi 200 organisation in Italy who have been promoting Verdi productions all over the world this year to mark the composer’s bicentenary.

Verdi is without doubt the most prolific opera composer, with his operas being the most popular in the world, both by number of productions as well as by audience attendance. His most famous operas are La Traviata and Rigoletto.

Montegrappa also used this occasion to launch their latest pen, the Rigoletto limited edition. This follows the launch of the Giuseppe Verdi tribute pen that was launched earlier this year as part of the Verdi 200 celebrations, and the La Traviata pen that was launched several years ago.

The Montegrappa Verdi Bicentenary concert featured performances by the Emirates Opera Project, a group of professional opera performers living in the UAE and trying to promote local productions of classical music and opera. They were supported by the Sharq Orchestra and conducted by Martyn Bagnall, a well known British conductor who earlier in the year conducted a local production of Verdi’s Requiem. All the musicians and singers involved in this event are resident in the UAE, which shows the amazing talent pool that this country has attracted, and proves that amazing musical productions can be made locally.

As this concert took place on the actual date of Verdi’s birthday, a birthday cake bearing the composer’s iconic image, with 200 candles was wheeled out to the sound of Aida’s Triumphal March to the delight of all the guests.

The event was attended by Jean Alesi, the formula 1 ex champion, whose family has links to the Verdi family. He was invited with Giuseppe Aquila, CEO of Montegrappa, to cut the birthday cake. Each guest received a piece of the cake to take home with them at the end of the night.

The concert featured performances of ‘La Donna è Mobile’ the famous tenor aria from Rigoletto, and ‘Brindisi, Libiamo’, the famous song from La Traviata.

To complete the evening, the last song of the night was the iconic ‘Va Pensiero’, the well known chorus from the opera ‘Nabucco’ in which the conductor invited the audience to participate. This was the song that Arturo Toscanini conducted at Verdi’s funeral in 1901 and was sung by a choir of 800 people to bid farewell to this great giant of Italian culture. It is touching and fitting that the evening would end on this emotional note.

The performers received a standing ovation lasting several minutes, with many guests commenting on the wonderful evening.

‘In our 20 years of living in Dubai, this evening was, by a long way, the best cultural event we have ever attended’, said one guest.

‘It was so pleasing to be part of Verdi’s 200th birthday party! I haven’t enjoyed a concert like this in quite some time. The musicians were top class, I would be more than grateful to attend more events like this, as we don’t normally get to enjoy this sort of quality production in this part of the world.’

The evening also included a silent auction, with the sale of a limited edition La Traviata pen in a frame signed by renowned international conductor, Valery Gergiev. The funds raised will be used to support musical education at the Rashid Paediatric Therapy Centre in Dubai.

Original language: English