AIDA, VERDI
SYDNEY, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE
JUNE 2021
"Credit goes to Italian conductor Lorenzo Passerini for his supervision of this large musical enterprise, but even more so for the brisk efficiency of his storytelling. Rest assured the sound was often gripping in the massed ensembles. The stage may have been on the small size but the compact mass of sound coming out into the auditorium and six fanfare trumpets in upper side balconies during the March, contributed in no small way to the production’s epic quality. Opera Australia’s Orchestra with too many fine players to list also perfectly conveyed the contrasting luxuriousness of desert nights."
operawire.com – Gordon Williams | https://operawire.com/opera-australia-2021-review-aida/
"Finally, where would we be without a great orchestra? Opera Australia imported Italian Lorenzo Passerini to conduct our local musicians. His enthusiasm and control were clearly on display as our much-improved orchestra did full justice to the superb score."
jwire.com – Victor Grynberg | https://www.jwire.com.au/aida-tragic-love-story-is-operatic-triumph-an-opera-review-by-victor-grynberg/
"If it were at all possible to add more "horsepower and octane" to Verdi's Aida, Opera Australia’s rendition has found a way. Director Davide Livermore and Conductor Lorenzo Passerini have risen to the challenge of supercharging one of history’s most-loved and oft-performed operas."
theplusones.com – Jeffrey Tripp | https://theplusones.com/sydney/2021/06/23/aida-operatic-overdrive/
"Conductor Lorenzo Passerini adopted unrushed tempos at the start, drawing out magisterial moments of drama [...]."
The Sydney Morning Herald - Peter McCallum | https://www.smh.com.au/culture/opera/it-s-opera-but-not-as-you-know-it-20210624-p583wd.html
"Under Conductor Lorenzo Passerini, a huge orchestra plays Verdi’s massive work with style and grace, even putting six trumpeters in the audience for a great rendition of the best-known tune."
stagewhispere.com - Frank Hatherley | https://www.stagewhispers.com.au/reviews/aida-7
LA CENERENTOLA, ROSSINI
LAS PALMAS, PEREZ GALDOZ THEATER
APRIL 2021
"An opera [...] very well served musically by the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra, masterfully conducted by Maestro Lorenzo Passerini, which reminded me of the demanding Rossini Festival in Pesaro."
Jose Antonio Godoy Rodriguez
"The Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra [...] was brilliant, starting with an overture which to its credit is part of the orchestra repertoire. To the well-known quality of the musicians was added the brilliant direction of Lorenzo Passerini, full of nuances, sparkling, and at the service of the scene, when needed. "
Cayetano Sánchez, Canarias7
"Rossini's orchestration is more substantial than that of other bel canto composers, from the overture […] to the fall of the curtain. Lorenzo Passerini conducts the performance with the Gran Canaria Orchestra, working with truly reputable precision."
Giullermo García-Alcalde, The Province
"Young Lorenzo Passerini with the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra gives the whole [the show] a harmonious Rossinian touch."
Klaus Billand, Orpheus Magazin
FAUST, GOUNOD
SYDNEY, OPERA HOUSE
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2020
"Conductor Lorenzo Passerini led the Opera Australia Orchestra achieving a full and well-blended brass tone, allowing the wind and wind string solos to blossom like flowers."
Peter McCallum - THE SYDNEY MORING HERALD (11.02.20)
"The conductor Lorenzo Passerini and the elegant, refined and balanced accompaniments of the orchestra lingered lovingly on the numerous lyrical passages without ever underestimating the moments of dramatic intensity."
Murray Black - THE AUSTRALIAN (12.02.20)
"Director Lorenzo Passerini showed energy, flair and a keen judgment on time and momentum, making sure this three and a half hour journey never dragged on."
Steve Moffatt - THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (12.02.2020)
"The Orchestra had a long and difficult score to deal with, but skilfully led by Lorenzo Passerini it played in tune and with enthusiasm."
Victor Grynberg - JWIRE.COM.AU (13.02.2020)
“The whole opera was swept away by the brilliant orchestra under the direction of Lorenzo Passerini. I turned around and enjoyed watching him direct on the reporting monitors (which are placed for the benefit of the cast).
A nice finishing touch was the choir entering the audience to sing from the top seats of the balconies, left and right of the theater. Maestro Passerini had to direct by leaning his neck back in order to be seen by the cast. It was a work really stretched to the limit. "
David Spicer - STAGEWHISPERS.COM.AU (13.02.2020)
"The musicians under the direction of Lorenzo Passerini were exceptional, both in the many solos and in the sparkling tutti they played at the beginning of the fifth act."
David Larkin - BACHTRACK.COM (13.02.2020)
"If this production has taught us anything, it is that the Opera Australia Chorus and the Opera Australia Orchestra, conducted by Lorenzo Passerini and led by first violin Jun Yin Ma, should be declared national treasures. There is ample symphonic material that it makes the instrumentalists shine, and the orchestra excels at many solo moments, supporting both the dancers and the singers. "
Shamistha de Soysa - SOUNDSLIKESYDNEY (13.02.2020)
"The conductor, Lorenzo Passerini, was in absolute control. He managed to convince the entire cast - orchestra, choir and soloists - to perform with dynamic variations, musicality and compelling emotional contrasts. It is no exaggeration to say that the his orchestral interpretation of Gounod's disturbing opera is one of the best of Opera Australia's last years. Bravo! "
Priscilla Issa - THEATRETRAVELS.ORG (12.02.2020)
"The orchestra of Opera Australia, under the expressive direction of Lorenzo Passerini, played with great finesse."
Nicholas Routley - AUSTRALIANSTAGE (16.02.2020)
"On his Australian operatic debut, flamboyant Italian conductor Lorenzo Passerini maintained impressive control of his resources from the first ominous chord of the overture. While leaving his soloists the space to shade the interpretation, he achieved dynamics. and exciting balances from the orchestra and huge choirs, especially at the end of the opera, where the choir was positioned in the theater, on the third level balconies, high above the audience. "
CANBERRA CRITICS CIRCLE (17.02.2020)
"Lorenzo Passerini conducts the ever refined orchestra of Opera Australia with energetic expression."
Alicia Tripp - THE PLUS ONES (18.02.2020)
TOSCA, PUCCINI
TORINO, TEATRO REGIO
OCTOBER 2019
The strength of tradition
Turin: at the Teatro Regio, for Tosca, the promising baton of Lorenzo Passerini and an excellent cast
"[...] The same attention to detail is perceived in another of the strengths of this Tosca from Turin, which revealed the young, indeed very young baton of Lorenzo Passerini, collaborator of Nicola Luisotti, who arrived for the first four performances of ten in billboard to replace the planned Daniel Oren. At the head of an orchestra in resplendent form (the choir instructed by Andrea Secchi is also excellent, as well as that of the white voices of the Regio and the Conservatory of Turin prepared by Claudio Fenoglio), his direction immediately imposes itself for a dense orchestral cut but not overwhelming. It is certainly benefited by voices of considerable tonnage, which can bear the weight of a concertation of evident symphonic breath, but with well-detailed attention, sometimes even precious, of the details. Already from the attack of the orchestral chords at the opening of the opera you can feel how Passerini has a Tosca in his head that is vivid in sound and at the same time rich in colors, even when the orchestral arches become softer and more sensual in the duet between Tosca and Cavaradossi, when at Te Deum is given a grandiose and at the same time solemnly cutting breath, when the climate of authoritarian oppression of the second act is managed with pressing tension and when at the Roman dawn of the last act the vaporousness of sound that the moment is not lacking in the right dose. requires. In short, a directorial talent to be followed with great interest and, given his young age, he amazes so much maturity of purpose.
Alessandro Mormile - THE OPERA (November 2019)
Turin, Teatro Regio 15 October 2019
"[...] Finally, unreserved praise goes to the twenty-eight year old Lorenzo Passerini, who, catapulted on the podium at the last minute in place of Daniel Oren, well supported by orchestra and choir, firmly ruled the ensemble, with character and talent worthy of attention future. "
Giorgio Rampone - MUSIC (November 2019)
Tosca enrolls in Turin in the purest Italian tradition
"[...] Finally, completing this picture, the conducting of the young Lorenzo Passerini is equally exemplary [...] and adapts to the drama and the singers in a never intrusive way."
Paul Fourier - Toute La Culture (22 October 2019 - translation from French)
An agile and generous Tosca that does not betray Puccini
“[…] So this Tosca is agile, sheltered from veristic excesses, reaching out in the clear and infallible direction of Puccini's dramaturgy. Also thanks to the conductor Lorenzo Passerini, who conducts the orchestra and choir of the regio with clarity, flexibility and transparency. "
Paolo Gallarati - La Stampa (23 October 2019)
Turin: Tosca - Giacomo Puccini, 15 October 2019
“[…] Excellent orchestral and choir rehearsals, this one entrusted to the care of Andrea Secchi and very interesting the direction of the young Lorenzo Passerini who replaced the indisposed Daniel Oren. Some dynamic excesses can be attributed to the vehemence of an enthusiastic and exciting direction, where the richness of the palette of colors, the exaltation of the most lyrical phrases and an excellent support for the reasons for singing are added to the fast pace. We hope to find him again on the podium! "
Andrea Merli - ÓPERA ACTUAL and Impiccione viag-giatore, the theaters of the east ... and beyond (http://impiccioneviaggiatore.iteatridellest.com/) (26 October 2019)
Tosca at the Teatro Regio
"[...] He accompanies with vehement dynamism the orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Passerini, fiery and brilliant, capable of amplifying the drama of many scenes (think of Scarpia's death, the culmination of the second act, in which the play of light and shadow rises a protagonist) and to dampen the points of greatest feeling. "
Carlotta Rubatto - MusiDams Turin (31 October 2019)