The winner of the Paganini prize will play the “Cannone”, the famous violin that belonged to the great Nicolò and considered the most precious and important musical instrument in the world. The exceptional appointment is for 5 October at the Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa and will feature Giuseppe Gibboni, the extraordinary violinist who enchanted the jury and the audience of the Prize last year, the first Italian to win the prestigious international recognition after 24 years. The young twenty-one-year-old violinist originally from Campagna, a stone’s throw from Eboli, in the Salerno area, a very pure talent, in the meantime has been the protagonist of splendid performances around Italy, with numerous episodes abroad and is awaited by a tour in the States United States and South America. Acclaimed by critics and the public for his spectacular interpretative skills, Gibboni has all the skills to become a true violin star.
After a year of silence, the “Cannone”, the legendary Guarneri del Gesù who belonged to Paganini, will therefore return to make his voice heard in public in the hands of an extraordinary musician, before a long silence due to the need for a delicate restoration work. . As part of the symphonic season, under the aegis of the Paganini Prize, Gibboni will perform the first Paganini Concerto, under the direction of Donato Renzetti (on the podium of the theater orchestra) who will complete the program with Rachmaninov’s Symphony n.2 . The initiative was illustrated in the Representation Hall of Palazzo Tursi, attended by the deputy mayor Pietro Picciocchi, the superintendent of Carlo Felice Claudio Orazi, the president of the Paganini Award Giovanni Panebianco and one of the three luthiers curators of the Cannone, Alberto Giordano.
The concert was scheduled as the inaugural appointment of the Paganini Genova Festival, the event now in its sixth edition and managed by the Amici di Paganini Association on the basis of an agreement stipulated with the Region, the Municipality, Carlo Felice, the Conservatory and the Hruby Foundation which should have taken place in the month of October in numerous places in the city. A highly anticipated event that would see the participation of important musicians, many of international fame. In recent weeks, however, the municipality has asked to postpone the Festival in spring to establish a clearer distinction between the various activities, arousing not a few discontent.
The Paganini Prize will take place in October 2023, but a program of events planned for these months will be presented in the coming weeks.