ITALIANA Sinfonia Toronto Concert

Friday, April 11, 2025, 8 pm, Trinity St-Paul's Centre, 427 Bloor Street West

ITALIANA ~ Soaring Strings ~ A superb new violin concerto composed for a young Canadian star and a warm Mediterranean serenade with an Italian maestro

SINFONIA TORONTO ~ GIULIO MARAZIA Conductor

CHRISTINA BOUEY Violinist

Program

RESPIGHI Ancient Aires and Dances Suite No. 3

MACDONALD Violin Concerto (world premiere)

WOLF-FERRARI Serenade

BIOGRAPHIES

Giulio Marazia, Conductor has conducted at festivals and concerts throughout Italy and abroad in numerous theaters and concert halls. From 2015 to 2016 he was assistant conductor at the Teatro Verdi in Salerno and at the Opera Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium. He has recorded with the Campana Philharmonic and the Pergolesi Orchestra of Milan for the 'NovaRecords label.

Among the orchestras he has conducted are Orchestra Alfaterna, Orchestra Sinfonica Ensemble Contemporaneo, Valle del Sarno Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Orchestra Sinfonica del Conservatorio di Milano, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra of New York, Opera Royal de Wallonie di Liège, Venice Chamber Orchestra, Pugliese Philharmonic Orchestra, Pergolesi Orchestra of Milan, Castelbuono Classica Symphony Orchestra, Israeli Moshavot Chamber Orchestra of Tel Aviv, Asti Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Foggia, Orquestra Simfonica Julia Carbonell de Lleida (Spain), Kodaly Philarmonic (Hungary), Pazardzhik Symphony (Bulgaria), Orquestra Sinfonica National do Teatro Claudio Santoro of Brasilia. During the 2023/2024 season he conducted the Abruzzo Sinfonic Institution, the Orchestra Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu (Romania) and the Filharmonii Dolnośląskiej w Jeleniej Górze Orchestra (Poland).

Maestro Marazia has served as Artistic Director of the Collegium Vocale Salernitano (2006-2012), of the Contemporary Ensemble (2006-2013), Pergolesi Orchestra of Milan (2018-2020) and of the Teatro S. Alfonso of Pagani (2019-2021). He is currently artistic and musical director of the Campana Philharmonic. With this orchestra he has toured China in 2019 with 28 concerts dedicated to Italian opera in some of the most prestigious theaters and concert halls.

Canadian/American violinist, Christina Bouey, is hailed by the New York Times for playing “beautifully,” the New York Post, “When violinist Christina Bouey spun out that shimmering tune, I thought I died and went to heaven,” and by Opera News, for playing “with exquisite, quivering beauty.”

Christina most recently won 1st prize at the Waldo Mayo Violin Competition which resulted in her concerto debut at Carnegie Hall. Other prizes include the Grand Prize at the Vietnam International Chamber Competition, 1st Prize at the Schoenfeld International String Competition in the chamber division, Grand Prize at the Fischoff Competition, 1st place in the American Prize, and 2nd prize at the Osaka International Chamber Competition. Among her other top awards include Canadian National Music Festival, Queens Concerto Competition, and the Balsam Duo Competition.

She has performed as soloist with the Greenwich Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Salina Symphony, River Cities Symphony, Symphony of the Mountains, Tonkünstler Ensemble, Metro Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Symphony, Prince Edward Island Symphony, Ithaca College Orchestra and the Banff Orchestra to name a few. Her solo and chamber highlights in the United States include Carnegie Hall- Weill and Zankel Halls, Alice Tully Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Gilder Lehrman Hall, Schneider Series, Rockefeller Tri Noon Series, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, Merkin Concert Hall, National Gallery of Art in DC, Jordan Hall, Dame Myra Hess series, La Jolla SummerFest, Kneisel Hall Festival, Highlands-Cashiers Music Festival, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem, Eastman School of Music, Westchester Chamber Music Society, Mayfest at Cornell University, and the Kansas International Music Festival. Christina has also been invited to perform internationally in the Esterházy Palace in Austria, Taiwan National Recital Hall, Harbin Grand Theatre, Wigmore Hall, Fundacion Juan March in Madrid, Sociedad Filarmonica de Bilbao, Ciclo De Camara y Solistas in Salamanca, Sociedad Filarmonica de Vigo, Picasso Museum in Malaga, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, Vietnam Connection Music Festival, Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama, Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy, Teatro Mayor Julio Santo Domingo in Bogota, Sala Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico City, Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul, Winnipeg Virtuosi Concerts, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, Montreal Chamber Festival, Kelowna Community Concert Association and the Under The Spire Music Festival. She toured as a soloist for Prairie Debut during the 2021-22 season and Debut Atlantic during the 2017-18 season with pianist Pierre-Andre Doucet.

Christina graduated from Manhattan School of Music (2013) with a Professional Studies Certificate in Orchestral Performance, studying with Glenn Dicterow and Lisa Kim as a full scholarship student, (2012) with a Professional Studies Certificate, studying with Laurie Smukler, and in 2011 she received a Master of Music, while studying with Nicholas Mann. Her Bachelor of Music is from the Boston Conservatory where she studied with Irina Muresanu as a full-scholarship student. She plays a 1790 Storioni violin on generous loan from a private donor.

Sinfonia Toronto now in its 26th season, has toured twice in Europe, in the US, South America and China, receiving glowing reviews. It has released four CD’s, including a JUNO Award winner, and performs in many Ontario cities. Its extensive repertoire includes all the major string orchestra works of the 18th through 21st centuries, and it has premiered many new works. Under the baton of Nurhan Arman the orchestra’s performances present outstanding international guest artists and prominent Canadian musicians.

Maestro Nurhan Arman has conducted throughout Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and the US, returning regularly to many orchestras in Europe. Among the orchestras Maestro Arman has conducted are the Moscow Philharmonic, Deutsches Kammerorchester Frankfurt, Filarmonica Italiana, St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, Orchestre Regional d’Ile de France, Hungarian Symphony, Arpeggione Kammerorchester, Milano Classica and Belgrade Philharmonic.

Host or Publisher Sinfonia Toronto