The Symphony Orchestra of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet will perform for the first time at the prestigious Teatro Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna, Italy. The concert is part of the Respighi Bologna 2025 Festival, one of Europe’s most important music festivals.

The Respighi Festival is the first resident festival dedicated to Ottorino Respighi, one of Italy’s greatest 20th-century composers.

The debut on 13 October 2025 will place the Albanian orchestra in the spotlight of an international audience. Spanish conductor Sergio Alapont will lead the performance. The evening will also feature violinist Giuseppe Gibboni, one of the most acclaimed talents of his generation.

The program includes:

• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – Overture, op. 28
• Niccolò Paganini – Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor, op. 7 (soloist Giuseppe Gibboni)
• Sergei Rachmaninov / Ottorino Respighi – Cinq Études-tableaux, P 160
• Igor Stravinsky – Suite from The Firebird

Before the Italian debut, the Symphony Orchestra of the National Opera and Ballet will present the same program in Tirana on 9 October 2025. The concert is a special event, as Giuseppe Gibboni will perform right after two appearances with La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra in Milan.

Several young musicians from the Armed Forces Symphony Orchestra will also join the performances.

The festival is considered “resident” because it is dedicated to a single Italian composer, Ottorino Respighi. It takes place in his birthplace and within a cultural context inspired by his legacy.

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