MUSIC

Society for the Performing Arts (SPA), bringing the world’s best to Houston, presents  Interpreti Veneziani, as part of the SPA Music Series. 7:30 pm, Sunday, April 11, 2010, in Wortham Center's Cullen Theater.

Sitting in a semicircle and playing music in a lively conversation, this nine-member string ensemble performs more than 350 concerts a year in Venice at the San Vidal Church, where Vivaldi used to play. Now the group sprinkles Venetian magic wherever they tour. From the Bayreuth Festival to the Tokyo Suntory Hall, audiences and critics alike have applauded the Interpreti Veneziani for the high level of their playing and their expertise as soloists and ensemble musicians. Their Houston debut program features Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Paganini’s La Campanella, Handel’s Concerto Grosso, and Preludio e Allegro by Pugnani/Kreisler.

The Interpreti Veneziani made their debut in 1987, immediately gaining a reputation for the youthful exuberance and all-Italian brio characterizing their performances. Their important achievements include appearances in the Bayruth Festival, concerts at Stockholm’s Royal Palace, participation in the World Vision telemarathon at the Kirov Theatre to mark the reinstatement of the name St. Petersburg, a concert at the Osaka Symphony Hall in live broadcast for Japanese radio, concerts at the Tokyo Suntory Hall and Kjoi Hall and appearances in glamorous concert seasons such as those of Sapporo and Yokohama during four tours of Japan.

The Interpreti Veneziani have toured Australia twice and have been invited many times to Mexico and Central and South America. They toured the U.S. for the first time in 2007, followed by tours in 2008 and 2009. For the last 20 years, the Interpreti Veneziani have performed their own season consisting of more than 200 concerts at Venice’s San Vidal Church.