New Philharmonic opens its 50th season with "Musica Italiana Dolce"

By Natalia Dagenhart

"If the landscape of human emotion were to exist in a country, it would be in Italy," said American author Lisa Fantino. New Philharmonic and renowned Maestro Kirk Muspratt are happy to demonstrate a spectrum of human emotion in a concert program inspired by Italy. The orchestra opens its 50th anniversary season with a concert program called "Musica Italiana Dolce" that will take place at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 27, at McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn.

Subscribe

New Philharmonic, the professional orchestra in residence at the McAninch Arts Center, has been proud to call the College of DuPage home for 50 years. The orchestra is famous for combining extraordinary talent with moving musical pieces that ignite the stage and leave audiences raving.

This time, Maestro Muspratt and the New Philharmonic prepared for their audience something extremely unique - a musical ticket to Italy without the airfare! They will show you Italy through Italian-inspired orchestral works, operatic pieces, and famous film themes.

"This season is a landmark for New Philharmonic as the organization turns 50," said New Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Kirk Muspratt. "To celebrate that, we wanted to open the season with something special and are excited to offer three performances of a must-see program for every Italophile or anyone wanting to lose themselves in two hours of extraordinary music performed by a symphony orchestra of some of the Chicago area's most highly skilled artists and musicians."

This concert program will feature tenor Jesse Donner, who was last seen in New Philharmonic's 2020 production of Franz Lehár's operetta "The Merry Widow" and in "A Night of Broadway and Opera" in 2021. Chicago Classical Review calls his voice "vibrant," while Chicago Tribune considers it to be "fresh and juicy." He was an artist in residence at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and also performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Union Avenue Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, the Louisville Orchestra, Toledo Opera and the Chicago Philharmonic. Donner's awards and honors include a Luminarts Fellowship and the Bel Canto Foundation grand prize, a special encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions, and first place in the Michigan Friends of Opera Competition.

Donner will be showcased in one of the best known tenor arias in all of opera "Nessun Dorma" ("Let No One Sleep") from the final act of the opera "Turandot" by Giacomo Puccini, in the traditional Neapolitan song "O Sole Mio" by Eduardo di Capua, in the Italian art song, "Mattinata" in D major by Ruggero Leoncavallo, and in the timeless pop hit "Come Fly with Me" with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jimmy Van Heusen, written specifically for Frank Sinatra, who initially recorded it in 1957.

And here is the list of famous orchestral works that will be featured at "Musica Italiana Dolce":

• The majestic 4th movement, "I pini della via Appia" ("The Pines of the Appian Way") from Ottorino Respighi's tone poem, "Pines of Rome"

• The overture to "Barber of Seville," composed by Gioachino Rossini and considered by many to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music

• Intermezzo from "Cavalleria rusticana" ("Rustic Chivalry"), composed by Pietro Mascagni and widely used in films including "Raging Bull" and "The Godfather Part III"

• The 4th movement from Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, a work inspired by his travels in Italy with a finale often interpreted as an expression of the country's vitality, color, and festive spirit

• "Napoli" by cornet virtuoso Hermann Bellstedt, an arranger for American conductor and composer John Philip Sousa, a work that will feature Jhoan Garcia, former principal trumpet of the Bogotá Symphony Orchestra

• "Funiculi, Funicula" by Luigi Denza, which commemorated the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius and has become synonymous with Italian culture

New Philharmonic will also perform these cinematic classics:

• The overture to the Grammy Award-winning score for the epic film "The Godfather," composed by Nino Rota

• Themes from the Academy Award-winning score for "Il Postino," composed by Luis Enríquez Bacalov

• The theme from the 1976 Academy Award-winner "Rocky," composed by Bill Conti

• The main theme from the 1989 Academy Award-winning film "Cinema Paradiso," composed by Ennio Morricone and Andrea Morricone

• A selection from the Main Theme from the cult western "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," composed by Ennio Morricone

Don't miss your chance to enjoy soaring operatic pieces, beloved movie themes, and Italian favorites. Celebrate Italy, one of the most romantic countries in the world, with the New Philharmonic and Maestro Muspratt!

Tickets are $58; $10 tickets are available to students (subject to availability). For tickets or more information, visit AtTheMAC.org or call the MAC box office at 630-942-4000.

Free MAC Chats will precede each concert one hour prior to concert time.

Natalia Dagenhart