A Bridge Connecting Europe: The Roots & Branches of Neapolitan Music

Programme

Giovanni Paisiello (1740 – 1816)

Ouverture from La serva padrona

Niccolò Jommelli (1714 – 1774)

Periodical Overture in E flat major 

Allegro di molto

Chaconne. Andante

Johann Adolf Hasse (1699 – 1783)

Symphony in G minor Op. 5 n. 6

Allegro

Andante

Allegro

Marianna Martinez (1744 – 1812)

Overture in C major 

Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli 

Milanese Symphony n. 3 in F major

Allegro

Larghetto amoroso

Allegro

Johann Christian Bach (1735 – 1782)

Symphony in G minor Op. 6 n. 6, W.C 12

Allegro 

Andante, più tosto Adagio

Allegro molto

Performers

Arianna Art Ensemble

Giacomo Biagi, conductor

Violins

Gabriele Pro

Karla Bocaz

Raffaele Nicoletti

Domenico Scicchitano

Gabriele Politi

Sara Meloni

Violas

Giorgio Chinnici

Sara Bagnati

Cellos

Andrea Rigano

Valeria Brunelli 

Double bass

Marco lo Cicero

Horns

Ermes Pecchinini

Sara Nashed

Oboes

Gregorio Carraro

Rei Iscizaka

Bassoon

Alessandro Nasello

Harpsichord

Cinzia Guarino

Programme Notes

This symphonic programme takes the listener on a journey through the Neapolitan School of the eighteenth century and its European ramifications, weaving together common roots and divergent paths.

It opens with Paisiello, whose celebrated La serva padrona was written for the Russian court and embodies the brilliance of Neapolitan theatre. 

Jommelli follows: from Naples he moved to London, where his Symphony was published in the “Periodical Symphonies” collection, showing the tastes of England. 

The itinerary continues to Vienna with Marianna Martinez, a remarkable and original voice in the city’s musical life. Trained in the Neapolitan style by Porpora and later by Haydn, Martinez reinterpreted Italian models in a Viennese idiom, bridging two cultures with elegance and imagination.

From there the path leads back to Italy with Zingarelli’s Sinfonia milanese, a work that reflects the meeting of Neapolitan traditions with the instrumental style of northern Italy. 

Hasse exemplifies the cosmopolitan spirit of the age, distilling the Neapolitan idiom into a dramatic and intensely expressive language. 

Johann Christian Bach, the “Milanese Bach,” similarly absorbed the Neapolitan style during his Italian years before carrying it into the cosmopolitan world of London.

Together these works reveal how eighteenth-century music — from Neapolitan theatre to Viennese salons and London concert halls — was sustained by a vibrant network of exchanges and influences, with Naples as one of its essential driving forces.

Biographies 

Giacomo Biagi 

Italian conductor Giacomo Biagi, born in Genova, Italy in 1991, made his operatic debut in the 2022 season of the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, conducting the world premiere of Il Conte di Kevenhüller by Riccardo Dapelo. In the same year he began a close collaboration with Giulio Prandi as assistant conductor, taking part in major operatic and symphonic projects with institutions such as the Opéra de Saint-Étienne, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Valletta Early Opera Festival, the Fondazione Pergolesi-Spontini in Jesi, and the Opéra Grand Avignon.

Since 2024 he has served as Artistic Coordinator of GhislieriMusica. In 2025 he made his debut at the Teatro Fraschini in Pavia, inaugurating the newly formed Orchestra Giovanile Pavese.

His education reflects a continuous dialogue between music and thought. He holds degrees in conducting, cello, composition, baroque performance practice, electronic music, and philosophy. His artistic focus ranges from historically informed performance—particularly the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century repertoire—to twentieth-century and contemporary works. 

Arianna Art Ensemble

Arianna Art Ensemble, founded in 2007 by lutenist and composer Paolo Rigano and harpsichordist Cinzia Guarino, is dedicated to promoting Renaissance and Baroque vocal and instrumental repertoire through performances on period instruments, adherence to historically informed performance practices, and the rediscovery of unpublished manuscripts. Thanks to the versatility of its members, the ensemble can adapt to a wide range of configurations, from chamber music settings to small opera orchestras.

The ensemble also embraces experimentation and the performance of contemporary music using historical instruments. Its members have recorded for various labels, receiving praise from critics. Arianna Art Ensemble has won numerous awards in prestigious competitions, including first prize in the “Ancient Instruments” category at the 7th edition of the National Arts Award organized by the Italian Ministry of Higher Artistic Education in 2010.

To date, Arianna Art Ensemble has performed in some of Italy’s most important concert seasons and at various festivals and events across Europe. The group collaborates regularly with renowned artists such as Enrico Onofri, Giovanni Sollima, Dmitry Sinkovsky, and Fabio Biondi. In partnership with the MusicaMente Association of Palermo, the ensemble is actively involved in the production of the International Festival of Early Music in Gratteri, now in its 18th edition. It has also been promoting a concert season dedicated to early and Baroque music in Palermo for the past 13 years, featuring acclaimed musicians of both national and international renown.

In collaboration with Giovanni Sollima, the ensemble recorded the Sonatas and Symphonies by Giovanni Battista Costanzi for the Glossa label. In 2017, the ensemble brought to light previously unpublished manuscripts of sacred works by Antonino Reggio, an 18th-century harpsichordist and composer born in Aci Catena. In 2021, it released the album Cimbalu d’Amuri with Almendra Music, inspired by 17th-century Sicily. In 2022, with the Tactus label, the ensemble recorded Musiche per arciliuto, chitarra e clavicembalo, which received a five-star review from AMADEUS magazine. The set was designed by Anthony Bonnici for EBEJER BONNICI, with project lead Toni Garcés.