(8 December 2025) A review by Sosa Battaglia.
“At the heart of that design, underpinning it from start to finish, her guiding presence naturally came to the fore: Beatrice Venezi, the true linchpin of the gala’s most profound segment. Beatrice Venezi: the backbone of a musical ceremony. Nothing we heard would have achieved such clarity without Venezi’s presence; her conducting, at once firm and flexible, served as the backbone of the entire first half. It was she who unified the energy of the stable ensembles, who organised the musical material, who expanded every internal tension and who provided that long—almost ritualistic—breath that transformed the celebration into a major artistic event. Under her baton, *Alexander Nevsky* took on a ceremonial character: precision without rigidity, epic grandeur without bombast, transparency without hollowness. Venezi worked from the internal architecture, from the colour and from a dramatic awareness that rarely comes together with such clarity in a concert hall. The Permanent Orchestra and the Permanent Choir responded with admirable cohesion, driven by an interpretation that breathed and contracted with an almost theatrical organicity. A Nevsky that advances like a perfectly well-oiled historical machine. The conductor avoided all the clichés of the Soviet repertoire. No heavy masses, no shapeless density. Instead: internal lines taut as steel, timbral contrasts delineated with microscopic precision, and a treatment of colour that revealed nuances usually submerged beneath the surface. From the «Song to Alexander Nevsky”, Venezi traced a broad, almost cinematic narrative arc. The strings built a vibrant foundation from which the brass emerged with understated nobility, without any stridency. Everything progressed with perfect internal logic: each section found its purpose; each episode unfolded as cause and effect. Nothing ornamental: only meaning. The Battle on the Ice — Rhythmic choreography and surgical precision This section marked one of the evening’s highlights. Venezi achieved remarkable textural clarity: percussion, low strings and brass came together like the cogs of a single rhythmic mechanism. Rather than overwhelming the audience with sheer volume, the conductor chose to emphasise a sense of forward momentum and drive: as if a collective force — a musical army — were emerging from the orchestra pit and advancing towards the audience. A refined, calibrated sonic intensity that never lost control. The Permanent Orchestra responded with an outstanding performance, almost surpassing itself. The Permanent Choir: the centenary’s wall of sound Whilst the Orchestra shone with precision, the Permanent Choir quite simply stood as a wall of sound. Compact intonation, controlled power, impeccable uniformity. Venezi conducted them with authority and sensitivity, modulating the tension and building crescendos from the heart of the sound rather than through mere physical projection. Their performance reaffirmed why this ensemble is one of the Teatro Colón’s artistic hallmarks. Under the baton of Beatrice Venezi, they delivered an interpretation of *Alexander Nevsky* that will remain in the theatre’s collective memory.”