British conductor Alexander Soddy will lead the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia’s symphonic season in three concerts at Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica. The performances are scheduled for November 5 at 7:30 p.m., November 6 at 8 p.m. and November 7 at 6 p.m.
Soddy will conduct the orchestra and the choir, prepared by Andrea Secchi, in a programme featuring Paul Dukas’s “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a symphonic scherzo inspired by Goethe’s ballad; Francis Poulenc’s “Gloria” for solo soprano, choir and orchestra, with French singer Elsa Benoit as soloist; and Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.
Prokofiev composed the symphony in the summer of 1944, as the end of the Second World War appeared near.
Born in Oxford, Soddy studied at the Royal Academy of Music, the University of Cambridge and London’s National Opera Studio. From 2016 to 2022, he was General Music Director of the National Theatre Mannheim, where he focused on major German and Italian opera repertoire. He also served as artistic director of the theatre’s Akademiekonzerte series, whose programme centred on symphonic works by Bruckner and other Romantic composers.
Soddy is also set to make his concert debut at Teatro alla Scala in January 2027, opening the Filarmonica della Scala’s symphonic season.
Sources: ANSA Cultura.