On Saturday 22 February at 5:30 pm , the Auditorium of the city Conservatory, in Piazza del Suffragio, will host the traditional concert in homage to Luigi Boccherini, on the anniversary of his birth. An event of great importance promoted by the Associazione Musicale Lucchese which over the years has seen the participation of famous musicians of the calibre of Giovanni Sollima, Enrico Bronzi, Giovanni Gnocchi and Enrico Dindo.

The protagonist of the event, together with the Orchestra of the “Boccherini” Conservatory conducted by Maestro Pablo Varela , will be the very young and extraordinary cellist Ettore Pagano, established on the international scene and protagonist, among other things, of the latest edition of the concert on June 2nd at the Quirinale, broadcast live on Rai. Pagano returns to Lucca to pay homage to Boccherini with a performance that promises to be unmissable. Gifted with a rare talent, he plays with a virtuosity that critics have well defined as “visceral, almost wild”.

The concert opens with the music of the composer from Lucca and his Symphony in D major, G. 490, originally an overture for The Confederation of the Sabines in Rome , then reused in other works; followed by, again by Boccherini, the Concerto no. 9 in B flat major for cello and orchestra, G. 482, considered a pillar of cello literature. Also on the programme are the Introduction and Variations on the theme “Dal tuo stellato soglio” by  Niccolò Paganini: based on a theme from Rossini's Mosè in Egitto , it is a highly virtuosic piece, with variations that explore the extreme possibilities of the violin and in this case the cello, for which it was transcribed. The last two pieces of the concert are Mozart's Symphony No. 29 in A major, K1 201 (K6 186a) and Boccherini's very famous Musica notturno delle strade di Madrid, G. 324 . BUY TICKETS