The 2009-2010 Concert Season at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari continues with the seventh appointment, Friday 22nd January at 8.30pm (session A) and Saturday 23rd January at 7pm (session B); Maurizio Benini conducts the Teatro Lirico Orchestra. Exceptional soloist, the cellist, Gautier Capuçon, returns to the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari after two years (March 2008). His performances are always a sell-out and are met with the critics praise [«(...) il violoncello di Capuçon plana con estrema dolcezza, vibra in sfumature, impennate e smorzature del suono, si fa argenteo nel registro acuto, scuro e avvolgente nei bassi.» (Paolo Gallarati, “La Stampa”)].

The musical programme includes: Sinfonia concertante in E minor for cello and orchestra op. 125 by Sergej Prokof’ev; Shéhérazade, Symphonic suite op. 35 by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov.

Sergej Prokof’ev (Sonzovka, Ekaterinoslav, 1891 – Moscow, 1953) composed the Sinfonia concertante, between 1950 and 1952 which was first performed, with the original heading, Second Concerto for cello on 18th February 1952, conducted by Sviatoslav Richter with the cello soloist Mstislav Rostropovich, to whom the piece is dedicated. The second part of the evening is dedicated entirely to Shéhérazade; the Symphonic suite by Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakov (Tikhvin, Novgorod, 1844 – Ljubensk, Petersburg, 1908), written in 1888. It is a magnificent musical fresco of brilliant inventive ability, which intermixes the exotic and fairy tale atmosphere with the refined origins of Russian folklore creating magnificent orchestral results.