Mandolin Venice Ensemble

The MandolinVenice Ensemble is the only plucked chamber music group in Italy composed exclusively of professionals graduated from the best Conservatories in Italy.

It aims to bring back to the general public the boundless Italian tradition of "cultured" music for plucked instruments that began in the Veneto area during the Renaissance thanks first to the Tieffenbrucker and Sellas families of luthiers, continuing in the Baroque through the magnificent mandolin concerts of Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Hasse to arrive at the "Circolo mandolinistico veneziano" of the Società Canottieri Bucintoro at the end of the 19th century.

The ensemble offers a rich repertoire ranging from Venetian Baroque to musical Romanticism up to the most immediate sounds of popular tradition and the most famous soundtracks and performs in formations ranging from duo to quartet up to the traditional plectrum orchestra.

The Ensemble, an activity of Agape Cultural Association and a natural continuation of the activity of the "Riccardo Drigo" plucked string quartet, has performed in important theatres and concert seasons including the Satta Auditorium in Syracuse, Asolo Musica, the Canneti Auditorium in Vicenza, the Galileian Academy in Padua, the "Cesare Pollini" Conservatory of Music in Padua, and the Teatro Comunale in Vicenza.

In 2021 the MandolinVenice Ensemble participated, under the artistic guidance of Maura Mazzonetto, in the creation of the CD "Carlo Graziani Walter - Al Mondo musicale!" published by VelutLuna.

Program and cast

Gioachino Cocchi (Padua, circa 1715 - Venice, 1815), Symphony in D major for two mandolins and basso continuo

Allegro, Largo, Allegro

Eduard Mezzacapo (Naples, 1832 - 1898), Le chant du gondolier

Gioachino Rossini (Pesaro, 1792 - Passy, France, 1868), The Dance (Tarantella)

Carlo Graziani-Walter (Brussels, 1851 - Florence, 1927), The Carnival of Venice

Giovanni Gioviale (Catania, 1885 - 1949), Spring Idyll

Pietro Mascagni (Livorno, 1863 - Rome 1945), Intermezzo from the Opera "Cavalleria Rusticana"

Antonio Vivaldi (Venice, 1678 - Vienna 1741), La Follia op. 1 no. 12

Riccardo Drigo (Padua, 1846 - 1930), Serenade from the ballet "Les Millions d'Arlequin"

Raffaele Calace (Naples, 1863 - 1934), Saltarello op. 79

Giacomo Puccini (Lucca 1858 - Brussels, 1924), O mio babbino caro from the Opera "Gianni Schicchi"

Amedeo Amadei (Loreto, 1866 - Turin, 1935), Suite marinaresca op. 290

The Serenade of the Naiads, The Dance of the Undines, The Song of the Sirens, The Escape of the Tritons