The Lady of the Camellias (1915)

From early to contemporary practice in the name of the “Neapolitan School”

A series of meetings by Gaetano Panariello

In collaboration with La.Vi.Co (Laboratorio vivo di composizione)

Direction by Gustavo Serena with Francesca Bertini

La.Vi.Co Ensemble

Project by Gino Frezza * world premiere­

LA.VI.CO. is a group of young artists who over time have trained at the school of the composer and teacher Gaetano Panariello. Coordinated in a laboratory with the significant and “Vesuvian” acronym (LAboratorio VIvo della COmposizione) they are composers and performers of their own works. The name LA.VI.CO. (lava) it’s been used since 2014, year in which the first commissions, addressed specifically to the young composers, arrived. Every composer of the group praises important performances in festivals and are winners of numerous awards and scholarships. As a “group” they are able to give life to collective compositional projects on specific themes (everyone remembers the “Galileo, la luna e le altre stelle” piece which boasts dozens of performances).

Within the “La scuola napoletana nelle contemporanea pratica” (The Neapolitan school in contemporary practice) project, launched by the Early Music Centre, LA.VI.CO. participates with two world premiere concerts.

On February 6, with the live soundtrack of Gustavo Serena’s film “The lady of the camellias” (from 1915) the young composers try their hand at a very special soundtrack for two reasons. One because the staff uses traditional acoustic instruments (flute, violin, piano, bassoon) alongside live electronic instruments. The other is of a more purely technical nature and concerns the method of composition of the musical score. Having established by mutual agreement the themes, effects and sound settings to be emphasized during the film, the composers passed among themselves the musical materials, subjecting them to their own personal reading and elaboration. The result was a varied but homogeneous sound texture, due to the presence of common melodic motif and generating rhythms. The composers avoided a so-called “oleographic” or excessively descriptive composition, focusing instead on the spirit of the actions and characters.

Composers participating in the film’s soundtrack: Mirella Giordano, Patrizia Mazzina, Giuseppe Colella, Pasquale Mosca, Antonio Annibali Corona, Antonio Somma, Fabio Micera, Guglielmo Esposito, Chiara De Sio Cesari.

Instrumental ensemble: Chiara De Sio Cesari (violin), Francesco Davide Salzano (bassoon), Antonio Somma (piano), Salvatore Della Vecchia (mandolin), Antonio Annibali Corona (electronic instrument), Catello Coppola (flute).