- So why is it then, that the songs play such a prominent role in my production? Quite simply the fact that I, like other mortals, once in mye life was highly gifted. And that gift was Love. I loved a young girl with a beautiful voice and just as beautiful a delivery. This girl became my wife and life partner to this very day. I venture to say that for me she is still the only true interpreter of my songs! My songs came about as of necessity and were all made for her... (From Griegs diary)
“Giovanna Manci has a rich voice of wide range, with a sweet phrasing and ringing high notes and poised, warm lower tones” (Josè Minervini). “Giovanna Manci confirmed her vocal and interpretative gifts. Her voice is powerful, her tone limpid, her phrasing perfectly controlled, her musical sensitivity is undisputable” (Paolo Pinto). “The excellent soprano Giovanna Manci has a lyrical voice but is extremely capable in the agility of Fanny’s difficult aria” (Andrea Merli). Culled from Giovanna Manci’s pressbook, the praises above, which refer to three different performances, describe the technical and vocal accomplishment of a lyrical soprano of great talent.
Born in Milan she studied Music and Voice with Fausta Corti Coppetti at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. She won the International Voice Competition “Città di Cagliari”. She was invited by the Rossini Foundation in Pesaro to attend the course of the Accademia Rossiniana. She took part in Peter Maag’s Workshop in Treviso about Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro.
In the opera house, after her debut in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Rome Opera as Edita Gruberova’s standin, she worked with important regisseurs and conductors such as Fassini, Samaritani, Puecher, De Bosio, Menotti, Graziella Sciutti, Beni Montresor, Scaparro, Haider, De Bernart, G.P. Sanzogno, Marco Armiliato, Peter Maag, Hickox, Giovaninetti, Fabio Biondi, tackling many roles as a protagonist both in repertory operas and in rarities, among them, besides Lucia, Gilda in “Rigoletto”, Musetta in “Bohème”, the Countess in “Nozze di Figaro”, Fanny and Madama Cortese in Rossini’s “Cambiale di Matrimonio” and “Il viaggio a Reims”, Rachelina in Paisiello’s “La Molinara”, Eugenia in Cimarosa’s “Il marito disperato”. She was also Sophie in Massenet’s “Werther”, Cornelia and Ernesto in Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Il trionfo dell’onore” and “La principessa fedele”.
Taking part in numerous Festivals, she sang, among others, Grilletta in Haydn’s “Lo speziale”, Provenzale’s “La colomba ferita” (first modern staging) , the title role in Domenico Scarlatti’s “La Dirindina”, Serpina in Pergolesi’s “La serva padrona”, Bastiana in Mozart’s “Bastiano e Bastiana”, Betly in Donizetti’s “Betly ossia la capanna svizzera”( two-act version), Merlina in Hasse’s “La fantesca” (first modern performance) La Straniera and Lucy in Menotti’s “The Consul” and “The telephone”.
Her concert activity is very intense and has brought her to tackle a very wide repertoire – from Baroque to contemporary – with many rarities (and numerous first modern performances). She cooperated with artists, musicians and ensembles such as Rockwell Blake, Fred Sherry, Charles Rosen, Peter Maag, Lü Jia, Jan Latham-Koenig, Claudio Desderi, Vittorio Parisi, Fabrizio Ventura, Ernesto Palacio, Angelo Persichilli, the Gonfalone’s Chamber Orchestra, Gloria Banditelli, Antonio Florio,Giovanni Bellucci, the Scala Strings, the Solist of Sophia, the Virtuosi of Santa Cecilia, the Solisti Aquilani, the Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, the Philharmonia Chorus of London, the Young Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.
She sang for many houses, festivals and associations, among them the Rome Opera House, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Great Hall of St. Petersburg’s Philharmonic , the Volkstheather at Rostock, Spoleto’s Festival of the Two Worlds, the Festivals of the Nations in Malta, the Orizzonti Barocchi in Palermo, the Festival Pontino, thenew Rome Auditorium – Parco della Musica, the Accademia Filarmonica and the Oratorio del Gonfalone in Rome, the RAI, the Vatican Radio.
She has taken part in many radio and TV broadcasts, and many of her interpretations, both in opera and in concert, were broadcast by RAI – Radio Televisione Italiana, by the Vatican Radio and other Radio and Television programmes.
On CD she recorded, as a world premiere, Umberto Giordano’s “La cena delle beffe” and Valentino Fioravanti’s “Le cantatrici villane” for BONGIOVANNI in Bologna, G.B. Pergolesi’s “L’Olimpiade” for ARKADIA in Milan; G.C. Menotti’s “The Consul” for CHANDOS in London (first recording in the original language); Niccolò Jommelli’s “Miserere” for NUOVA ERA in Turin (first modern performance).
Performed in KORSKIRKEN (Church of the Cross)
Korskirkeallmenningen
(150m from Tourist Information)
BERGEN CITY MAP
GRIEG'S CULINARY
SYMPHONY Before the concert, enjoy typical norwegian food at the restaurant Holberg Stuen, the menu made especially for the Grieg-audience.
