For the musical theatre he has subsequently writtenLes oiseaux de passage (Opéra de Lyon,Teatro Comunale di Bologna, 1998–2001)[15][12][24][25][26] and, in 2003,Il letto della Storia, with a libretto by Franco Marcoaldi and stage direction by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. For this opera, he received the Abbiati Prize from the National Association of Italian Critics for the best new work of the year.[27] The partnership with Marcoaldi has continued, bringing about such works asTerra comune (which, at the request ofLuciano Berio, inaugurated Rome's Auditorium Parco della Musica in 2002),[28][29][30]Tre Veglie commissioned by theSalzburg Festival (conducted in 2000 byIvan Fischer, withAnna Caterina Antonacci),[31] and the second opera for theTeatro alla Scala,Teneke (2007, chosen for theThat's Opera event, on the occasion of the bicentennial of Ricordi, curated byJean-Jacques Nattiez)[32] conducted byRoberto Abbado, stage direction byErmanno Olmi, with set design byArnaldo Pomodoro.[33]
Vacchi's music was again heard at theSalzburg Festival in 2006, during the celebrations of the 250th anniversary ofMozart’s birth, with a performance byVienna Philharmonic Orchestra underRiccardo Muti ofLa giusta armonia, a melologue with narrator and orchestra based on a text by the proto-socialist Franz Heinrich Ziegenhagen, who was a friend of Mozart.[34][35][36] Worthy of mention isVoci di notte (2006),[37] commissioned by the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of their conductorZubin Mehta. Mehta is one of many conductors, such asBerio,Chung, Harding,Marriner,Pappano, and, as already mentionedMuti andAbbado, who have conducted Vacchi's music a number of times.
In 2009Riccardo Chailly conducted the symphonic melologueProspero o dell’Armonia (byShakespeare, Filarmonica della Scala)[38] and in 2011 Tagebuch der Empörung (Leipzig, Gewandhaus Orchestra).[39] Both the symphonicMare che fiumi accoglie,[40] conducted byAntonio Pappano at theParco della Musica in Rome, and the operaLa madre del mostro, based on a libretto byMichele Serra, date back to 2007.[41][42]Amos Oz wrote the libretto of the operaThe Same Sea for Vacchi, from the novel of the same name, staged atTeatro Petruzzelli in Bari, with scenery byGae Aulenti, in 2011.[43] Again in collaboration with Amos Oz, he composed the melologueD’un tratto nel folto del bosco, based on a text by Michele Serra from the novel of the same name (Nestled deep in a thick forest) by the Israeli writer, for the Festival Mito (which dedicated a monograph - the first Italian - to Vacchi, in 2014)[44] of 2010.[45][46] The melologue also travelled to Paris, in 2014 and in a French version (Soudain dans la forêt profonde, Comédie française, Salle Pleyel), with a CD by the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale, designed for schools in France.[47][48][49][50] In 2015, he composed a symphonic poem,Der Walddämon, again inspired byNestled Deep in a Thick Forest by Amos Oz and commissioned by Riccardo Chailly, who conducted it at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.[51][52] In the same year, Vacchi directed the AtelierOpéra en création at theAix-en-Provence Festival, where his works were performed between 2014 and 2015, among whichDai calanchi di Sabbiuno conducted by P.Järvi in a concert dedicated to the memory of P.Chereau.[53] In 2016 his ninth opera came out,Lo specchio magico,[54] based on a text by Aldo Nove (staged at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, conducted by John Axelrod)[55] andVencidos for voice and orchestra commissioned by theFestival Internacional Cervantino, in Mexico, for theMiguel de Cervantes celebrations.[56] In 2018 theTeatro San Carlo put onEternapoli, at the request ofToni Servillo.[57] Again in 2018, after the Concerto for violoncello at Petruzzelli di Bari,[58][59][60][61][62] the Concerto for violinNatura naturans[63] had its European première at the Opera of Budapest and its American première at theCarnegie Hall in New York, (conductorBalázs Kocsár, soloist Haruka Nagao).[64] In February 2019 the Orchestra laVerdi of Milan devoted four monographic concerts to him, including the Italian première of Natura naturans.[65]
Riccardo Muti conductedDiario dello Sdegno (Teatro alla Scala, 2003), written by Vacchi in the emotional aftermath of11 September 2001 and the international conflicts that followed.[66] After its première inMilan (2002), this piece was performed inParis (2003)[67] and Bruxellels, during Italy's turn of holding the presidency of the European Union.[68] Ethical themes have great significance for Vacchi and they are evident in other compositions of his, such asIrini,Esselam,Shalom (2004) for voice, violin and orchestra, which deals with the theme of religious tolerance. Another similar piece wasDai calanchi di Sabbiuno for chamber ensemble, which was composed for the Commemoration of the 50th anniversary of theItalian Resistance (Teatro alla Scala, 1995) and which has been performed more than 100 times around the world, also in the version for full orchestra requested by Claudio Abbado.[69] Ethical themes are still central in other recent works. In 2017 the melologueVeronica Franco was performed at Teatro la Fenice in Venice, about the great Venetian poet, courtesan, and proto-feminist who defeated the Inquisition of the 16th century with her free spirit.[70] The Teatro alla Scala will be staging[needs update] in May 2020 the premiere ofMadina, Theater-Dance (whose text ofEmmanuelle de Villepin focuses on the theme of terrorism), for actor, soprano, tenor, choir, orchestra and dance troupe withRoberto Bolle étoile,[71]Was Beethoven African?, inspired by Nadine Gardimer's anti-racism novel and commissioned by thePhilharmonie de Paris and the Paris Mozart Orchestra had been performed at the Philharmonie, Paris, on 18, 19, 20 September 2020, obligatory piece in the international competitionLa Maestra.[72] The mock-heroic operaJeanne Dark, from Voltaire'sPucelle d’Orléans, that will be staged[needs update] at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, 22–26 May 2021,[73] reflects his rebellion against dogmatic thinking. Again in May 2021, the melologueBeethoven l’Africain. Lettres de Prison de Nelson Mandela, commissioned by PMO, will be performed[needs update] at Philharmonie de Paris and then at Festival Internacional Cervantino, in Mexico[74]
On a commission from Abbado, Vacchi composedBriefe Büchners,[75] a Lieder cycle which was performed by theBerliner Philharmonie in 1998.[76] For the Hilliard Ensemble and the Barrow River Art Festival, he composedMemoria italiana in 2013.[77]Luoghi immaginari were composed between 1987 and 1992 for various instrumental formations - performed many times, conducted also byDaniel Harding in Salzburg Mozarteum[78] or in the Festival of Italian Contemporary Music in Beijing -[79] and was included, along with other works by Vacchi, in the soundtrack toIl Mestiere delle Armi (The Profession of Arms) byErmanno Olmi. For this movie, Vacchi was awarded theDavid di Donatello prize in 2002. 2005 saw him honoured again at The Albo D'Oro RDC Awards, for his music inPatrice Chéreau’s film Gabrielle.[80] Also by Vacchi is the soundtrack to Olmi's latest worksOne Hundred Nails (2007),[81] andVedete, sono uno di voi (2017).[82] TheQuartetto di Cremona has performed his four String Quartets many times.[83] TheThird String Quartet (2002), written for the Tokyo String Quartet, was awarded the Annual Lully Award in 2003 for the best new work of the year performed in the United States,[84] and theFourth Quartet (2004), was commissioned by RAI Radio for the 80th anniversary of Italian radio) and asked him to write the sixth, which will be performed[needs update] at Società del Quartetto di Milano, 9 February 2021.[85]
Worthy of mention is the recentVoci di notte (2006), commissioned and performed by the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, on occasion of the 70th birthday of their conductorZubin Mehta.[86] For Beethoven celebrations of 2020, Vacchi has writtenBeethoven e la primavera ritrovata for orchestra, commissioned from Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and conducted byZubin Mehta.[87]
As Peter Korfmacher wrote in the Leipziger Volkszeitung about hisTagebuch der Empörung at Gewandhaus, focusing on the events of 11 September 2001, "Vacchi does not describe any attack, nor war. His metaphysical approach is certainly comparable to that of Gustav Mahler: very diverse material is inserted into a broad range, so that meanings which may be felt on an emotional level but not expressible with words are revealed."[89]
Claudio Abbado defines his style "complex and not derivative, and capable of reaching the listener"[90] and Jean Jacques Natties declares that his music "can furnish a sense of direction for composers in this new century. Thanks to Fabio Vacchi for having known how to chart – for the music enthusiast and the composer alike – an innovative course."[91]
So, "Vacchi’s music is characterized in particular by its quality of sound; fluid, refined and shimmering, subtly nuanced and suggestive of echoes and reverberations. The rigour of compositional procedures is tied to a concern to create a communicative idiom which takes into consideration the listener’s perceptive ability."[92]
Annual Lully Award for the best new work of the year performed in the United States, for theThird String Quartet, commissioned by theTokyo String Quartet (2002)
The Abbiati Prize from the Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali for the best new work of the year for the operaIl letto della storia (2003)
^Michelangelo Zurletti,Fanghi, alghe, amori nei Bagni d’Abano, La Repubblica, 16 November 1993; Mario Messinis,Applausi per “La Stazione termale” di Fabio Vacchi, Il Gazzettino di Venezia, 21 March 1995
^Marcoaldi creates the libretto from the homonymous novel by Yaşar Kemal. Juliet Giraldi, Teneke Fabio Vacchi, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Opera Now, January/February 2008; Paolo Isotta,Tamburi di latta all’opera, Corriere della Sera, 24 September 2007; Marilena Laterza, Teneke, monta la rivolta popolare sulla sinfonia dei tamburi di latta, il Manifesto, 30 September 2007; Lorenzo Arruga, Il Giornale, 24 September 2007
^The Second String Quartet,Movimento di Quartetto, was performed at Flick Collection, New York, in 2018: Harry Rolnick,Italian Chambers, Concertonet, The Classical Music World, New York, 11/11/2018 (https://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=13446)
