Bernstein's Forgotten Peter Pan Gets Italian Premiere at Stresa Festival

On September 9, 2018, the Stresa Festival will close with the Italian premiere of Leonard Bernstein's little-known incidental music for Peter Pan. Composed in 1950 for a Broadway production starring Boris Karloff as Captain Hook, Jean Arthur as Peter, and Marcia Henderson as Wendy, only five songs were used due to the cast's vocal limitations. The full score, rediscovered by conductor Alexander Frey in 2000 and recorded in 2005, was later completed with dialogues by Bernstein's daughter Nina. The concert version, with Italian translations, will be performed by the Filarmonica del Teatro Regio under Gianandrea Noseda, featuring bass Nicola Ulivieri as Hook, mezzo-soprano Cristina Zavalloni as Wendy, and actor Pierpaolo Preziuso as Peter. The Ars Cantica Choir, directed by Marco Berrini, also participates. Noseda describes the work as a genuinely American composition that hides complexity beneath apparent lightness, a concept shared with Italo Calvino's 'Lezioni Americane.' The festival's programming has extensively featured Bernstein's music in celebration of his centenary (born August 25, 1918).