The premiere of the Opera Rinaldo
Georg Friedrich Handel
Belgrade, January 30, 2024, Jewish Cultural Center, 8:00 p.m
Novi Sad, January 31, 2024, Synagogue, 8:00 p.m
The seventh edition of Rossi Fest has the honor to announce the premiere of the famous baroque opera Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, produced by the New Belgrade Opera, which will be held in Belgrade at the Jewish Cultural Center on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, as well as in synagogue in Novi Sad on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
This masterpiece is Handel's first opera for a London audience and represents one of the pinnacles of Baroque musical dramaturgy and art. Under the direction of Sreten Manojlović, conducted by Predrag Gosta, the ensemble New Trinity Baroque, and international soloists, participants of the Belgrade Baroque Academy will present themselves with a baroque orchestra on historical instruments.
The vocal soloists are participants of the 22nd Belgrade Baroque Academy, who, accompanied by a baroque orchestra on historical instruments, will perform this opera between January 22 and 29, with the support of mentors recognized in the world of early music - vocal coach and countertenor Nicholas Clapton from Great Britain, our conductor and harpsichordist Predrag Gosta, our acclaimed bass-baritone Sreten Manojlović, who will be the director of the show for this occasion. The orchestral accompaniment, under the direction of Predrag Gosta, is entrusted to the participants of the Baroque workshop for instrumentalists, led by violinist Adrian Butterfield from Great Britain, with the support of the great ensemble "New Trinity Baroque", which recently celebrated its 25th year.
The realization of the opera was helped by the Vojvodina Association for Early Music, Studio for Early Music Belgrade, New Belgrade Opera, Musical Youth of Novi Sad, Italian Institute in Belgrade, and Rossi-fest.
Tickets for the concert can be purchased via GIGS Tix-a.
Participants:
New Trinity Baroque Ensemble
Belgrade Baroque Academy
Rinaldo: Liang Yu (South Africa/Germany), Sofia Romanova (Russia)
Goffredo: Leo Zappitelli (Italy/Germany), Alina Sivitskaya (Bielorussia/Italy)
Almirena: Silvija Radjen Kumar (Croatia), Ida Magarašević (Serbia/Hungary)
Armida: Veronica Ruello (Russia/Switzerland), Anja Papa Peranović (Croatia)
Argante: Aleksa Jevtić (Serbia/Austria)
Conductor: Predrag Gosta
Stage ddirector: Sreten Manojlović
Vocal Coaching: Nicholas Clapton (UK) and Predrag Gosta (Serbia/Croatia/USA/UK)
Baroque Strings/Orchestra: Adrian Butterfield (UK)
Predrag Gosta, conductor and harpsichordist
Conductor and harpsichordist PREDRAG GOSTA studied in Great Britain, America, Russia, and Serbia. He has collaborated with many renowned artists and ensembles specializing in Baroque music. He has conducted with famous orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the National Philharmonic in Washington, and opera houses in Switzerland, Germany, Bulgaria, the USA, and Serbia. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the UMUS Award for Best Concert in 2017 (for the opera "L'Orfeo"). In addition to the New Trinity Baroque and the Belgrade Baroque Academy, he is the artistic director of the New Belgrade Opera and the Early Music Festival. He has recorded around 20 compact discs. Currently, he is completing research on 18th-century English opera as a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford.
Sreten Manojlović, bas-bariton
He was born in Belgrade, and he gained his vocal education at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. His interest in early music initially developed through collaboration with the Belgrade Baroque Academy, further expanding through collaboration with early music centers such as the Royaumont Foundation, the Early Music Festival in Innsbruck, the Jardin des voix project of Les Arts Florissants ensemble, etc. His performances have taken him to stages of concert halls like the Paris Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Barbican Centre in London, as well as theater stages such as Theater an der Wien, theaters in Lille, Compiegne, Nantes, Aachen, Wiesbaden, etc. Last season, he appeared as Figaro in "The Marriage of Figaro", Delone in Cesti's "Orontea" at the theater in Aachen, Polifemo in the opera of the same name by Porpora at the Theater an der Wien, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and the theater in Wiesbaden, and Euthyphron in "The Stone of Wisdom" — an opera written by a group of composers including Mozart, at the Mozart Festival in Würzburg. At the Baroque Music Festival in Bayreuth, he performed as Lotario in Handel's opera "Flavio", and with Les Arts Florissants, he interpreted the role of Simon in Joseph Haydn's "The Seasons". With this production, he also presents himself as a director.
New Trinity Baroque ensemble
Hailed by the critics as “Atlanta’s most adventurous early music ensemble” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), NEW TRINITY BAROQUE is recognized as one of the leading early music ensembles today. Founded by Predrag Gosta in London in 1998, NTB was initially established as an ensemble of international musicians, and they continue to maintain this presence through collaborations with U.S. and international artists: past soloists include soprano Evelyn Tubb, recorder player Marion Verbruggen, violinists Ingrid Matthews, Florian Deuter, Bojan Cicic and John Holloway, harpsichordist Steven Devine, and others. Each season, the ensemble presents over thirty concerts and educational events in Atlanta and other cities throughout the U.S. and in Europe, performing on period instruments of the 17th and 18th centuries. The group’s repertoire ranges from chamber to orchestral, from cantatas to operas, and its styles from Renaissance to Classical.
Belgrade Baroque academy
It was founded in 2013. To date, it has organized twenty-two master workshops for the interpretation of 17th and 18th-century music, to educate young solo singers and instrumentalists in Belgrade under the mentorship of recognized foreign and domestic experts in the historical interpretation of Baroque music. In addition to harpsichordist, baritone, and conductor Predrag Gosta, who is the conceptual founder and artistic director of the Belgrade Baroque Academy, previous mentors have included soprano Evelyn Tubb (UK), countertenor Marijana Mijanović (Switzerland), baritone Christian Hilz (Germany), Baroque violinists Adrian Butterfield (UK), Florian Deuter (Germany), Ilia Korol (Austria), Bojan Čičić (UK), Simone Pirri (Italy), Christi Park (USA), Zoran Kostadinović, and Katarina Đorđević; Baroque violist William Bauer (USA), Baroque cellists and gambists André Laurent O'Neil (USA) and Srđan Stanić, lutenist Darko Karajić, cornettists Jeremy West (England) and David Brutti (Italy), Baroque trumpeter Siegfried Koch (Austria), flutists Rachel Brown (UK), Karolina Bäter (Germany), and Meila Tomé (Brazil), oboist Isabella Mercuri (Italy), and many others. Joining this academy is countertenor Nicholas Clapton (UK).