Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo

The history of the Orchestra of the Teatro di San Carlo is closely linked to that of the oldest European opera house, which opened on the 4th of November 1737 […]. Since then, the prestigious tradition of the Orchestra of San Carlo continued throughout the nineteenth century, the period during which the complex was recipient of works composed by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. The latter, on occasion of the staging of Aida, dedicated the early parts to his only String Quartet […]. Subsequently, many are the names of the great directors at the helm of the Orchestra: Toscanini (1909), Victor de Sabata (1928), and even the composers Pizzetti and Mascagni. On the 8th of January 1934, Richard Strauss gave to the ensemble of the theatre a concert entirely composed from his own music. […]

After the Second World War and the following decade, Naples and San Carlo welcomed many other famous conductors: Gui, Serafin, Santini, Gavazzeni among the Italians, and Böhm, Fricsay, Scherchen, Cluytens, Knappertsbusch and Mitropoulos among the foreigners, including, in 1958, Igor Stravinsky. The sixties saw two emerging young directors on the podium: Claudio Abbado, who made his debut in 1963, and Riccardo Muti in 1967.

Meanwhile, the complex of the the Theatre was appreciated even outside the country, thanks to a series of prestigious tours. The first Italian theater to go abroad after the Second World War, in 1946 San Carlo was at Covent Garden in London. […]

The Symphonic Orchestra of San Carlo - renewed and rejuvenated in many parts – found at its side many other famous conductors, such as Georges Prêtre, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gary Bertini (musical director in 2004-2005), Jansug Kakhidze, Jeffrey Tate[…], Gustav Kuhn and Gabriele Ferro […].

In June 2005, the Orchestra performed in the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Otsu, in two operas of Verdi, Luisa Miller and Il Trovatore, and in October 2005 it was in Pisa, with Cantate per San Gennaro (music revision by Roberto de Simone), host of the International Festival of Sacred Music "Anima Mundi". […] The Orchestra has also significantly contributed to the double conquest of the prestigious Abbiati, Award given by the Italian music critics in 2002 at Königskinder […] and, in 2004, with Elektra. […]
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