VIVA VERDI!:
A CELEBRATION OF THE VERDI BICENTENNIAL
YEAR 2013

Giuseppe Albanese
Recipient of the LLS 2000 Excellence in Teaching Award

DESCRIPTION: In the year 2013, the entire opera world will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the most important and beloved opera composer in the history of the genre,Giuseppe Verdi (1813-2013). Verdi scholar and specialist, Giuseppe Albanese , will mark the occasion by presenting a retrospective of the maestro’s most important and acclaimed works. Many of Verdi ‘s masterpieces will be highlighted, and each lecture will have colorful anecdotes and interesting background information about the life, times and music of this most dominant force in the magnificent world of 19th -Century opera.

EIGHT LECTURES:

1. Ernani (1844): Melodic, militant and wildly received
   
   
2. Giovanna D’Arco (1845): A rarity by any standard,but an essential early offering
   
   
3. Attila (1846): Stirring historical drama with power to spare
   
   
4. Macbeth (1847): The composer’s first attempt at Shakespeare
   
   
5. Luisa Miller (1849): A turning point away from spectacle and towards raw emotion
   
   
6. Rigoletto (1851): Begins the creative middle period
   
   
7. Il Trovatore (1853): A quintessential Bel Canto example
   
   
8. La Traviata ( 1853): Controversial work was proto-veristic in nature

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Giuseppe Albanese attended the University of Vermont and received his degree in history in 1966. In 1989, after five years of intensive study, he developed a dynamic education program entitled the Joy of Opera. For the past 20 years, he has lectured extensively on many operatic subjects and produced numerous video documentaries on opera.
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