Dec. 10 - "Divagaciones Rossinianas" is the Spanish title of a book by Alberto Zedda (published by Ricordi in Italy). The volume, published by Turner in Spain, will be presented on December 17 (at 7pm) at the Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid. Zedda, conductor and musicologist who has performed with major orchestras around the world, currently directs the Festival of Pesaro. The presentation of the book will include a discussion with the author, alongside musicologist and former director of the Italian Cultural Carmelo Di Gennaro, and Juan Ángel Vela del Campo, music critic for El País. The "divagaciones" collect Zedda's heterogeneous reflections; a musician who, after fortuitously meeting Rossini, was impressed enough to dedicate much of his energy and life to studying the genius and art of the Master. The book is neither a biography nor an analysis of Rossini’s technical and artistic production; it’s a story written by an enthusiastic composer, fruit of his prolonged experience with Rossini’s material. (Red)

THE AUTHOR

Italian conductor and musicologist Alberto Zedda was born in Milan in 1928. After studying at the Conservatory of Milan, he began working as an Orchestra Director in 1956. He is considered one of the greatest scholars of Rossini’s repertoire, of which he has written authoritative critical editions for the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro. Zedda has been Artistic director of the Rossini Opera Festival (1981-92) and the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa (1992). In 1992, he became a part of the artistic direction of the Teatro alla Scala. And in 2007, he was awarded the honorary degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Macerata. (Source: Treccani)