Room notes May 28, 2026
In the heart of Baroque Rome, amidst sixteenth-century frescoes and the extraordinary acoustics of the Oratorio del Gonfalone, the concert "The Sound of Vivaldi: A Journey of Elegance and Passion" brings the 2025–2026 Concert Season to a close. The program is entirely dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi, an emblematic figure of the European musical eighteenth century and one of the greatest innovators in the history of the instrumental concerto. The choice to entrust the closing concert to the music of the "Red Priest" carries profound symbolic value: indeed, few repertoires can capture the splendor, theatrical energy, and expressive refinement of the Italian Baroque with such force—a musical language that finds one of its most natural and evocative settings in the Oratorio del Gonfalone.
With this final evening, the season seems to guide the audience back to the very core of the Gonfalone’s musical identity: a space where architecture, painting, and sound have conversed in perfect harmony for centuries. Within this context, Vivaldi’s music emerges not merely as concert repertoire, but as a total aesthetic experience, capable of evoking the magnificence of Italian Baroque civilization and its conception of music as wonder, eloquence, and shared emotion.
Priest, violinist, theatrical impresario, and a composer of boundless imagination, Antonio Vivaldi revolutionized the European musical landscape. He established a new model for the concerto based on the contrast between the orchestral tutti and the soloist's voice, driven by rhythmic energy and a deeply theatrical approach to instrumental writing. His influence extended far beyond Venice, reaching across Europe and leaving a decisive imprint even on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. In his musical universe, the violin is not a mere vehicle for virtuosity; it becomes a human voice, a song, a dramatic gesture, a lyrical breath.
The Program: An Emotional Journey
The evening’s program traverses the diverse facets of Vivaldi’s artistry, offering an emotional journey through momentum, elegance, and contemplation.
The Concerto for Strings in C minor, RV 118 opens the evening with intense and dramatic writing, driven by a continuous rhythmic fervor and a tightly-woven contrapuntal texture. Here, Vivaldi demonstrates his ability to transform the string orchestra into a sonic engine of extraordinary vitality, where energy and theatrical tension merge into a cohesive and sweeping discourse.
* Exhibiting a brighter character, the Violin Concerto in E-flat major, RV 253 features a dialogue between the solo violin and the orchestra that takes on an almost aristocratic grace. The rapid violin figurations, the brilliance of the modulations, and the natural lyricism of the melodic line reveal the extraordinary communicative immediacy that made Vivaldi famous throughout Europe.
* In the Concerto in D major, RV 230, the most spectacular dimension of Vivaldi’s violin writing comes to the fore: the soloist navigates passages of dazzling technical brilliance with virtuosic audacity, supported by an ever-pulsating, dynamic orchestra.
* In contrast to this exuberance stands the more intimate **Concerto for Strings in D minor, RV 127**, a piece of rigorous elegance where the absence of a soloist shifts the focus entirely to orchestral color and the internal tension of the composition.
* Particulating evocative is the **Concerto in A minor, RV 356**, known by the title. In this composition, time seems to slow down to the point of suspension: the central *Largo* unfolds a contemplative dimension of rare delicacy, where the violin sings with an almost meditative purity. It stands as one of the finest testaments to Vivaldi’s ability to transform the instrumental concerto into an authentic *"theater of the affects"* (*teatro degli affetti*), where every musical gesture evokes emotions, imagery, and inner states of mind.
The Grand Finale
Bringing the 2025–2026 Season to its conclusion is the Concerto for Violin and Strings in E major RV 265, a work of luminous elegance and extraordinary instrumental vitality. In this concerto, Vivaldi unfolds the full brilliance of his violinistic language: the soloist emerges with virtuosic momentum within an orchestral texture that is agile, transparent, and richly animated by rhythmic drive. The balance between melodic cantabilità and instrumental dynamism reveals that uniquely Vivaldian ability to unite expressive immediacy with refined formal construction.
The central movement, more intimate and lyrical in character, introduces a dimension of emotional suspension that contrasts with the energy of the outer movements, creating a particularly compelling interplay of sonic chiaroscuro. It is precisely within this continuous alternation between impetuosity and restraint, theatricality and introspection, that one of the most authentic aspects of Vivaldi’s art is revealed.
To entrust the closing concert of the 2025–2026 Season to the music of the Venetian master therefore means celebrating not only one of the supreme achievements of the Italian Baroque, but also a conception of music as movement, light, and eloquent expression. In a place such as the Oratorio del Gonfalone, where time itself seems still to preserve the echo of that extraordinary age, these pages recover all their original authenticity, transforming the final concert of the season into an ideal homage to the magnificence of the Italian musical tradition.
DOMENICO NORDIO, violinist
DOMENICO NORDIO is one of the most acclaimed musicians of our time. He has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues (including Carnegie Hall in New York, Salle Pleyel in Paris, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Barbican Centre in London, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo) alongside leading orchestras such as the London Symphony, the Orchestre National de France, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, the George Enescu Philharmonic, the Simón Bolívar Symphony, the RAI National Symphony, the SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, and the Moscow State Symphony. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Claus Peter Flor, Pinchas Steinberg, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Fabio Luisi, Alexander Lazarev, and Gürer Aykal.
His recent international tours have taken him to the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Enescu Philharmonic in Bucharest, the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Zorlu Center in Istanbul, the Auditorium di Milano, the Kyiv Philharmonic, the Sala São Paulo, the Sala Nezahualcóyotl in Mexico City, the Teatro Solís in Montevideo, the Sala Bolívar in Caracas, and the RAI Auditorium in Turin.
Domenico Nordio is a Sony Classical recording artist. His recent discography includes Respighi and Dallapiccola with Muhai Tang and the Filarmonica Toscanini of Parma (released internationally in March 2013); Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Casella with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Tito Ceccherini (released internationally in January 2015); and Busoni and Malipiero with the Orchestra Verdi of Milan and Tito Ceccherini (released in 2017).
Born in Venice in 1971, Domenico Nordio studied under Corrado Romano and Michèle Auclair. A former child prodigy, he gave his first recital at the age of ten. At sixteen, he won the "Viotti" International Music Competition in Vercelli, where the legendary Yehudi Menuhin served as President of the Jury. Following further successes at the Thibaud Competition in Paris, the Sigall Competition in Viña del Mar, and the Francescatti Competition in Marseille, his international career was definitively launched in 1988 when he won the Eurovision Grand Prix. To this day, Nordio remains the only Italian winner in the history of this prestigious competition.
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The Orchestra da Camera del Gonfalone
Widely considered the flagship ensemble of the Oratorio del Gonfalone’s Concert Season, the Orchestra da Camera del Gonfalone was re-established in 2020 by artistic director Romolo Balzani, with the aim of restoring continuity and breathing new vitality into a historic Roman musical institution. The orchestra had previously enjoyed a period of intense activity during the 1970s and 1980s under the artistic direction of Gastone Tosato, before undergoing a prolonged hiatus. The newly reformed ensemble is established as a permanent orchestra, driven by a commitment to combining technical excellence, stylistic rigor, and interpretive vitality.
The Orchestra da Camera del Gonfalone masterfully tackles a broad chamber repertoire, with a particular focus on 17th- and 18th-century Italian music, approached through meticulous philological research and a contemporary expressive sensibility. Its members maintain active careers in performance and pedagogy both in Italy and abroad, hailing from some of the nation's most prestigious musical institutions. These include the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Accademia Filarmonica della Scala, the Orchestra Verdi and I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, the Orchestra Toscanini in Parma, the RAI Symphony Orchestras of Rome and Turin, the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Orchestra di Roma e del Lazio, and the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese. Each musician completed advanced studies under internationally renowned masters, and many hold individual awards and extensive discographies.
Alongside its concert activities, the Orchestra da Camera del Gonfalone runs a comprehensive training and professional placement program for young instrumentalists. Since 2022, selected young musicians have been progressively integrated into the ensemble, participating directly in productions, concerts, and tours.
Throughout its tenure, the orchestra has collaborated with soloists of renowned international prestige. In the 2025–2026 season, the closing concert on May 28 will feature a collaboration with the acclaimed violinist Domenico Nordio. Under the direction of Romolo Balzani, the orchestra has completed the performance of the complete *Concerti Grossi* by Giovanni Lorenzo Gregori and is currently engaged in projects dedicated to Charles Avison, the Italian *Concerto Grosso* tradition, and the revival of the 18th-century Neapolitan School, featuring modern-era premieres. Building upon these foundations, the orchestra is expanding its repertoire into the Classical, Romantic, and 20th-century periods. This expansion has recently included works by Respighi, Warlock, Beliczay, and Tchaikovsky, performed since May 7, 2026, confirming the ensemble's status as a dynamic artistic force dedicated both to preserving musical heritage and exploring new horizons.