As part of this year’s edition of Ravenna Festival, on 9th June Pala de André hosts a tribute to FRANK ZAPPA THE YELLOW SHARK, one of the musical masterpieces of the late twentieth century which mixes two distant worlds, rock and contemporary classical music.
It took Frank Zappa a lifetime to shake off the image of transgressive genius and freak that had made him a star in the annals of rock music. Only months before his death, in 1992, he secured a place in the empyrean of ‘art music’ when some twenty of his orchestral compositions, old and new, were performed as a suite at the Frankfurt Festival, which featured composers such as Cage and Stockhausen.
Bringing The Yellow Sharkback to the stage means tackling the monumental perfectionism of the composer of Cucamonga, a feat that has challenged the then-conductor Peter Rundel for years. Now the Parco della Musica Contemporary Ensemble will take up the challenge make up of extraordinary soloists.
Frank Zappa
The Yellow Shark
PMCE – Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble
Tonino Battista conductor
Marcello Nardis dramatic reading
