Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Schumann
Lonquich, OCM

Orchestra da Camera di Mantova

Alexander Lonquich, piano and conductor

Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)

Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

Introduction and Allegro in D minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 134

Mantuan Buffet

40’ | Tickets €20

The stage in Piazza Santa Barbara hosts the closing concert of this edition of Trame Sonore, transforming listening into an immersive experience amid architecture, history, and the open sky. The Gonzaga geometries amplify the music for piano and orchestra, which here finds a rare theatrical dimension capable of enhancing the tensions of German Romanticism. The protagonists of this final event are the Festival’s two defining spirits: Alexander Lonquich, Artist in Residence, and the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, the beating heart of the festival and the driving force behind an artistic journey that for thirteen years has renewed a shared and deeply identity-forming musical experience.

The programme brings into dialogue two opposing poles of the nineteenth century. In the Piano Concerto No. 1, the young Mendelssohn conveys the radiance of his Italian journey: a musical gesture of clarity and elegance, infused with momentum and lyricism. Responding to this brightness is the psychological density of Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro, Op. 134 — a late, ambivalent work suspended between virtuosity and inner turmoil.

Within the unique setting of the Mantuan square, these two worlds do not merely stand in contrast to one another, but reflect each other: from Mendelssohn’s transparency to Schumann’s tension, the final concert of Trame Sonore becomes a single narrative arc, at once intense and luminous.

Text by Desirée Blundi