Liederabend: Fathers and Sons

Alessandro Cortello, tenor

Ralph Woodward, piano

music by L., W.A. and F.X. Mozart, Schubert, Loewe, Mahler, Wolf, Ghezzi

The relationship between a father and his son, a fundamental element in the growth of every human being, has always interested artists and writers. We have collected some Lieder that, in various ways, deal with fathers and sons: from Wolf's Storchenbotschaft, which recounts the amusing moment when a pastor receives a visit from two storks announcing the birth of twins, to the magical moment when the parent cradles the little one in his arms; from the prayer of thanksgiving to God the Father, to the tragic moments of separation (the poignant Lieder of Mahler and the two Erlkönig by Schubert and Loewe). We could not leave out a tribute to one of the most famous musical dynasties of all time, the Mozarts: we have then grandfather Leopold, the child prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus, and the grandson Franz Xaver, who surely deserves to be freed from the overwhelming shadow of his father. The concert is enriched by a piece written specifically to be included in this program by the composer from Parma, Emilio Ghezzi, who took on the challenge of bringing new music to the scene that had inspired Schubert, of the father who lulls his son to sleep in his arms.

This concert is organised with the support of the Wong family

The Italian tenor Alessandro Cortello started his vocal training with Alfredo Mariotti and later studied with Claude Thiolas and Luciana D'Intino. He graduated in Piano at the Conservatorio Frescobaldi in Ferrara and in Singing at the Conservatorio Tomadini in Udine. He also studied Composition. He won two editions of the Concorso Cameristico C.A.Seghizzi in Gorizia: in 2005 in the Sacred Music category, and in 2007 in Chamber Singing category.

As an opera singer he has performed the following roles: Alfredo (Traviata, Verdi), Count Almaviva (Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini) Ernesto (Don Pasquale, Donizetti), Nemorino (Elisir d’Amore, Donizetti), Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly, Puccini), Pong (Turandot, Puccini), Rodolfo (Bohéme, Puccini), Jacopo Foscari (I due Foscari, Verdi), Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti), Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Offenbach). He took part in the Rai Italian Television productions of Rigoletto conducted by Zubin Mehta with Placido Domingo in the title-role and Cenerentola, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.

As a chamber music singer he performed Schubert's and Schumann's most important Lieder cycles, besides songs by Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Liszt, Mahler, Strauss, Berg, Fauré, Duparc, Ravel, Poulenc, Rachmaninov, Britten and Copland, in duo with several pianists and with Trio di Parma. As a concert singer he performed the solo roles in Requiem by Mozart (with Orchestra Filarmonica della Fenice, Venice, conducted by Enrico Bronzi), Liszt (with Orchestra of Teatro Verdi, Trieste), Dvořak and Verdi, in Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli (conducted by Antonio Ballista), Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, Beethoven's Mass in C (Trinity College Chapel, Cambridge, conducted by Ralph Woodward) and in Orff's Carmina Burana.

Alessandro sang in many Italian houses and halls, and in Austria, Croatia, UK, Greece, Czech Republic, Russia, and in Dublin for Bloomsday 2019, when he performed at the National Library of Ireland and at Áras an Uachtaráin for President Higgins.

Ralph Woodward grew up in Durham, and studied Music as Organ Scholar at Queens’ College, Cambridge. He is now Musical Director of the Fairhaven Singers, Full Score and Orchestral Score and Acting Assistant Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge. He has played concertos on three instruments, worked in 20 Cambridge College Chapels, 20 UK cathedrals, six US states, and over 25 countries, and conducted the London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, The Parley of Instruments, English Chamber Orchestra, and Britten Sinfonia. He carries out a wide range of editorial tasks for Oxford University Press and a number of the country’s leading composers. His choral arrangements have been performed all round Europe and on Radio 4’s PM programme. Past projects have included work with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emma Johnson, Iestyn Davies and Cradle of Filth, and an appearance on ITV’s Grantchester. In addition to his musical interests, Ralph manages a cricket team, plays badminton enthusiastically, gives presentations on the assassination of JFK, and spends as much time as possible eating and drinking in foreign countries.

Host or Publisher Alessandro Cortello