PIC

Nic CO
ola
Ma
zza LO
nti
&A C
les ON
CER
san
dro
Vis
inti
ni
TO
S
t r a of
r c h es nto
d n O d Tre uctor
Hay ano an us cond
Bolz co Angi
Mar
PICCOLO CONCERTOS
LOWELL LIEBERMANN b.1961
Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra
Op.50
1. I. Andante comodo – Allegro –
Tempo primo 9’43
2. II. Adagio 10’54
3. III. Presto 4’15
Nicola Mazzanti Keefe piccolo
CARLO GALANTE b.1959
4. Gli Usignoli dell’Imperatore –
Piccolo concerto
per 2 ottavini, percussioni e
orchestra d'archi 15’32
Alessandro Visintini & Nicola Mazzanti
Nagahara Mini
Domenico Cagnacci percussion
Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento
Marco Angius conductor
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
1756-1791
Oboe quartet in F K.370/368b, arranged
for piccolo
5. I. Allegro 6’30
6. II. Adagio 2’38
7. III. Rondeau – Allegro 4’11
Alessandro Visintini Nagahara Mini
Stefano Ferrario violin
Gabriele Marangoni viola
Alejandro Biancotti cello
ALESSANDRO CAVICCHI b.1957
As night progresses –
8. 
for two Minis & orchestra 11’41
Nicola Mazzanti & Alessandro Visintini
Nagahara Mini
Total time: 65’45
Recording: 30 October - 3 November
2015, Haydn Orchestra Auditorium,
Bolzano/Bozen, Italy
Recording Engineer: Matteo Costa
Cover: Landscape at Ceret, by Juan Gris
p & © 2016 Brilliant Classics
This recording is inspired by the conviction that the piccolo, which is the smallest
member of the flute family, can be more than just a voice in the orchestra. Like other
instruments, it also lends itself to solo performance, because it is endowed with the
ability to communicate, captivate, move and seduce. Much has changed since the days
when the role of the piccolo was largely relegated to the sphere of military bands or the
need to conjure up the sound of birdsong. During the course of the twentieth century
important composers such as Strauss, Mahler and Shostakovich considerably widened
its expressive scope, thereby demanding of the performer the technical skills necessary
for producing new colours, timbres and dynamics. The past 40 years have also seen an
increasing number of solo compositions for the piccolo, and in this album our aim has
been to provide listeners with an overview of the new expressive reach of the instrument,
within the framework of traditional musical notation.
Lowell Liebermann: Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra Op. 50
This work is arguably the most representative of the new developments in composition
for the piccolo, to the extent that it has become parte of the repertoire of any serious
piccolo player. Liebermann, who was born in New York in 1961 and studied at the
Julliard School, is an eclectic composer who mixes polytonality and stylistic traits of
different origins within what is essentially a traditional framework. In his Concerto for
Piccolo he takes on the seminal challenge of expanding the chromatic potential of the
instrument by focusing on its more recondite hues. To this end he emphasizes not so
much the virtuoso effects and brilliance of the instrument as the sweetly intimate sound
of its lower octaves. Liebermann’s music often reveals a hint of romanticism deriving
from his use of curiously changeable harmonies. This is the salient feature of the first
two of the three movements. Unhurried as it is, the motif that opens the concerto is
unsettling and mysterious in a way that leaves a strong impression on the listener.
Constructed in 5/4 time, it is based on incomplete, plaintive quintuplets. With constantly
increasing virtuoso skill, the central Allegro continues the celebration of the number 5
with five variations on the same harmonic base. The return to the initial subject brings
the movement to a close with the melody in the third octave, which is highly unusual
and extremely demanding for the piccolo. Slightly longer than the opening movement,
the Adagio is the expressive heart of the work, a compendium of every possible timbre
that can be obtained from the instrument. In the taxing cadenza, Liebermann also puts
the onomatopoeic potential of the piccolo to good use. The final movement is a Presto
of astounding bravura, comprising echoes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the Eroica,
and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. As such, it is also a homage to Dmitri Shostakovich,
who included the same Mozartian theme in his Violin Concerto No. 2. As for the third
citation, it derives from Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, a piece which piccolo players
find as daunting as certain of Shostakovich’s solo passages.
Carlo Galante: Gli Usignoli dell’Imperatore – piccolo concerto for two piccolos,
percussion and string orchestra
There’s a famous fable that tells the tale of a distant emperor who falls deeply in love
with the enchanting voice of a nightingale living in the park surrounding his palace. Not
content with that wonderful sound, however, he also has a clockwork nightingale built
whose song he ultimately prefers to the original.
Galante’s concerto mirrors this folktale, though not literally. Since music is the
quintessential abstract art, it cannot tell a story as such. Yet it is certainly able to evoke
different worlds and atmospheres in powerful terms. Two details pertaining to the
narration made a particular impression on me: first and foremost, the classical pairing of
the song of the nightingale with the silvery, sharp, penetrating voice of the piccolo; and
secondly, the clash between what is “natural” and what is “artificial”, in other words
the conflict between the concepts of “animation” and what is “inanimate”, which is the
symbolic focus of the tale itself.
The voice of the piccolo undergoes numerous transformations, turning into the
brilliant, hard artificiality of a musical box, and then softening as it returns to innate
melodiousness. This change is emphasized by the use of the glockenspiel, followed by the
softer tones of the strings. The concerto is not classical in form, in that it is made up of
only two movements. The first part is slow and expressive, leading into a contrastingly
lively second section full of kinetic energy in which the insistent rhythm sometimes
gives way to echoes of the lyricism of the first part. The fundamental balance between
the harder, more abstract musical figures and the softer, melodious passages suddenly
dissolves towards the end of the piece, with a sequence of violent notes on the drum that
seem to tear the sound fabric of the concerto apart. At this point the music is reduced
to an empty design that soon dissolves in the pizzicato murmur of the strings. (Carlo
Galante)
Alessandro Cavicchi: As night progresses for 2 Mini and orchestra
This piece was commissioned by the Nagahara Flutes of Boston, who developed the
Nagahara Mini as an instrument. Akin in interior structure to the flute, the Mini
provides piccolo players with three extra notes in the lower register. I had already
written for this instrument and piano (“To B or not to B?”), a piece that was presented
by Nicola Mazzanti in August 2014 in Chicago, within the framework of the NFA
Convention. It was the first ever piece written for the Mini, and it gave rise to this latter
commission.
The title “As night progresses” is intended as a homage to progressive rock, which I
believe to be one of the most meaningful musical phenomena of the non-classic sphere.
The piece consists of three main sections: more lively the first and last, which contain
rhythmic and harmonic elements that can be considered elaborations of the impact made
by prog on my musical formation; and a central section, dedicated to the melodious,
expressive potential of the Mini and orchestra, in which the harmonies developed are
closer to the variegated world of jazz-ballads. In actual fact the incipit of the piece,
which is really the main subject, derives from a series consisting of a few bars conceived
for flute and piano that had been bubbling quietly on the back burner since 2009.
Perhaps they were just waiting for the creation of the right instrument… (Alessandro
Cavicchi)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe quartet in F K.370/368b, arranged for piccolo
I my activity as a piccolo player I often think about the need for new works and an
expanded repertoire that could do justice to both instrument and performer.
The present recording, which is largely devoted to works written ad hoc for the
instrument, also comprises the most important existing concerto for piccolo solo.
However, I felt it would also gain in scope with the addition of my own transcription of
Mozart’s oboe quartet, a gem of a piece that has never previously been recorded with the
piccolo, despite the fact that the lively, virtuoso score is particularly well suited to the
instrument. I believe the outcome to be extremely interesting for piccolo players intent
on broadening the available repertoire and enjoying themselves as they make music
together. (Alessandro Visintini)
The smallest member of the flute family, the piccolo first appeared in certain works by
Jean Philippe Rameau in the first half of the 1700s. It was only at the beginning of the
1800s, however, that use of the instrument began to spread, culminating in a permanent
place within the orchestra.
In construction the piccolo initially followed along the lines of earlier flutes, and it
was only towards the end of the 1800s that the Boehm bore mechanism was introduced,
becoming standard during the following century. Though present-day piccolos are
still built with the Boehm bore, they have maintained the pipe structure of the flute of
the pre-Boehm era. Largely built in wood, the head is cylindrical, whereas the body is
conical, and the lowest note is D.
What is different about the instrument used for this recording is the fact that the
pipe mirrors that of modern flutes, with a cylindrical body, a truncated cone head and
a complete mechanism extended to low B. To achieve this has meant opting for greater
thickness of wood and redesigning the construction. The outcome is an instrument
with far more harmonics, greater homogeneity of timbre and improved performance
potential.
To play an instrument of this sort suggests not only rethinking the role of the piccolo
within the orchestra, but also new perceptions of its possible role as a solo instrument. It
is thus essential to expand the specific repertoire for the instrument, and adapt existing
works written for other instruments that can at last now also be performed on the
piccolo.
© Nicola Mazzanti
Translated by Kate Singleton
L’idea che ha mosso la registrazione di questo album è che l’ottavino, la taglia piccola
del flauto non sia solo una voce orchestrale ma pure una voce solistica, uno strumento
che, al pari di tutti gli altri possa comunicare, affascinare, emozionare, sedurre. Dal
primo uso in orchestra tipicamente “militare” o “ornitologico”, l’ottavino nel corso
del XX secolo per merito di grandi compositori come Strauss, Mahler, Shostakovich
ha iniziato un percorso sempre più espressivo, allargando le possibilità strumentali e
richiedendo all’interprete una sempre maggiore capacità di gestione di nuovi colori,
timbri e dinamiche. Negli ultimi 40 anni poi stiamo assistendo ad una sempre maggiore
produzione solistica per questo strumento. In questo album abbiamo presentato quasi
una panoramica delle nuove possibilità espressive (pur rimanendo nel campo della
notazione tradizionale) dell’ottavino.
Lowell Liebermann: Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra Op.50
Il concerto per piccolo e orchestra Op.50 di Lowell Liebermann è forse l’opera che più
rappresenta questo percorso ed è entrata a far parte del repertorio di chiunque si sia
dedicato seriamente all’ottavino. Liebermann, compositore nato a New York nel 1961
e studente della Jilliard School, è eclettico e, pur rimanendo spesso in una struttura
tradizionale, mischia politonalità e stilemi di altri autori.Il suo Concerto per ottavino
affronta lo sfida più importante: utilizzare in un concerto solistico i colori meno
celebrati del piccolo. Liebermann ha deciso di sottolineare non tanto il virtuosismo e
la brillantezza quanto la tenerezza e il suono intimo delle ottave più basse.La musica
di Liebermann spesso ha un sapore dolce e romantico che fa molto uso di armonie
inaspettatamente mutevoli. Questa è la caratteristica predominante dei primi due dei
tre movimenti. L’inquietante e misterioso motivo che apre il concerto,in un comodo
tempo, è forse la cosa che rimane più impressa all’ascoltatore. Costruito in 5/4, si
avvale di elegiache quintine incomplete. L’Allegro centrale continua la celebrazione del
numero 5 con cinque variazioni sulla stessa base armonica utilizzando un virtuosismo
sempre cresscente. Il ritorno del tema iniziale fa chiudere il movimento con la melodia
in terza ottava, una difficoltà estrema e assolutamente inusuale per il piccolo.Il
movimento Adagio è leggermente più lungo del movimento di apertura ed. È il cuore
espressivo dell’opera, e utilizza davvero ogni possibilità timbrica dell’ottavino. L’aspetto
onomatopeico, al quale Liebermann non si sottrae, e utilizzato nella difficile cadenzaIl
movimento finale, Il terzo movimento, Presto, è il momento di bravura atteso. Costruito
con citazioni dalla Sinfonia Eroica di Beethoven e dalla Sinfonia n. 40 di Mozart, è
anche un omaggio a Dmitri Shostakovich, che ha citato lo stesso tema mozartiano nel
suo Secondo Concerto per violino. La terza citazione, però, è presa da Stars and Stripes
Forever di Sousa, un brano che al pari degli assolo di Shostakovich, è tra i più temuti
dagli ottavinisti.
Carlo Galante: Gli Usignoli dell’Imperatore - piccolo concerto per 2 ottavini, percussioni
e orchestra d’archi
In una famosa fiaba si racconta di un remoto imperatore perdutamente innamorato
dell’incantevole voce dell’usignolo che vive nel parco del suo palazzo, ma l’imperatore,
non pago di quell’incanto sonoro, si fa costruire un usignolo meccanico la cui voce
incomparabile finirà per essere preferita a quella del suo sosia naturale.
La suggestione letteraria di questa fiaba è l’origine della scrittura di questo concerto;
certo, non in senso letterale, la musica, arte astratta per eccellenza, non è in grado di
raccontare una storia, è capace però di evocarla in maniera potente. Due particolari,
riconducibili allo svolgersi della trama, mi hanno particolarmente colpito: il primo, più
evidente, è l’accostamento classico della voce dell’usignolo con quella nitida, argentina,
sopracuta e penetrante dell’ottavino. Il secondo, forse è più sottile, e lo scontro evocato
simbolicamente dalla fiaba tra ciò che è “naturale” con ciò che è “artificiale”, o meglio
tra il concetto di “animato” con il suo contrario “inanimato”.
La voce degli ottavini si trasforma di volta in volta nella brillante e artificiale
durezza di un carillon, complice anche l’accostamento con la sonorità tintinnante
del glockenspiel, per poi rapidamente ammorbidirsi e ritrovare la sua innata e nitida
cantabilità, alla quale la compagine degli archi aggiunge e regala ombre e qualche
inquietudine. Il concerto non ha una forma classica; si costituisce di due soli movimenti:
a una prima parte lenta (espressivo) ne segue un’altra, senza soluzione di continuità,
dal carattere opposto, assai vivace e marcata. L’energia cinetica di questo secondo
movimento incontra, nel suo implacabile percorso ritmico, alcune soste, il cui lirismo
della prima parte è rievocato, ma con discrezione. Il sostanziale equilibrio tra figure
musicali più dure e astratte con altre morbide e cantabili si spezza drammaticamente
quasi alla fine del brano con una sequenza di violenti battiti della gran cassa che
sembrano letteralmente spezzare il tessuto sonoro del concerto; la musica ormai svuotata
diventa, nelle ultime battute, puro disegno per poi spegnersi rapidamente nel brusio
pizzicato degli archi. (Carlo Galante)
Alessandro Cavicchi: As night progresses per 2 Mini e orchestra
Questo brano è stato commissionato dalla Nagahara Flutes di Boston, ideatrice dello
strumento (il Nagahara Mini) che, con una struttura interna identica al flauto, permette
agli ottavini di avere tre note in più a disposizione nel registro basso. La commissione è
scaturita dall’ascolto del primo brano da me scritto per questo strumento e pianoforte
(To B or not to B?) presentato da Nicola Mazzanti nell’agosto 2014 a Chicago
all’interno della Convention della NFA. Si trattava, in effetti, del primo brano mai scritto
in assoluto per Mini.
Il titolo As night progress vuole omaggiare una delle stagioni musicali per me
più significative nel mondo extra-colto, il progressive-rock. E quindi nel brano,
sostanzialmente tripartito, le due sezioni esterne, più movimentate, contengono spunti
ritmici e armonici che possono considerarsi elaborazioni di ciò che il prog- ha lasciato
nella mia formazione musicale. La parte centrale, dedicata alla cantabilità ed espressività
del Mini e dell’orchestra, si sviluppa invece su armonie più legate al mondo variegato
delle jazz-ballad. E pensare che l’incipit del brano, in pratica il tema principale, risale
ad una serie di poche battute, concepite per flauto e pianoforte, rimaste nel cassetto
dall’estate 2009: forse attendevano la creazione dello strumento giusto… (Alessandro
Cavicchi)
Wolfagang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe quartet in F K.370/368b, arranged for piccolo
Spesso, nella mia attività di ottavinista, mi sono fermato a pensare alla necessità di
repertori nuovi che possano rendere giustizia a strumento e strumentista.
All’interno di questa incisione, oltre ai brani scritti appositamente per l’occasione ed
al principale concerto del repertorio solistico per ottavino, ho voluto inserire come mio
contributo personale il quartetto per oboe di Mozart, piccolo capolavoro mai inciso con Born in 1960 in Bolzano, Alessandro Visintini
l’ottavino, ma che presenta una scrittura brillante e virtuosistica assolutamente adatta studied flute with Luigi Palmisano in the Bolzano
al nostro strumento. Il risultato mi sembra estremamente interessante e stimolante per Conservatoire, graduating in 1978. In 2007 he
gli ottavinisti che siano interessati ad ampliare il repertorio a disposizione ed a divertirsi was awarded a first class honours degree in Music
facendo musica assieme. (Alessandro Visintini) at Trento Conservatoire, where he studied under
Emilio Galante.
L’ottavino, chiamato anche flauto piccolo, è la più piccola taglia del flauto traverso. He has also studied with Arrigo Tassinari,
Le prime tracce dell’uso di flauti traversi all’ottava si trova in alcune opere di Jean Christian Lardé, Irena Grafenauer, Aurèle Nicolet,
Philippe Rameau nella prima metà del Settecento, ma lo strumento inizia a diffondersi, e Andreas Blau, Peter Lukas Graf, Davide Formisano
quindi ad avere un posto stabile in orchestra, solo all’inizio dell’800. and Thies Roorda.
Fino a tutto l’800 l’ottavino mantenne la costruzione del flauti precedenti, e solo alla Finalist in numerous competitions for the role
fine del secolo si iniziò a costruirlo con la meccanica Boehm, che comunque diventerà of first solo flute and piccolo in many orchestras
lo standard solo durante il ‘900. Gli ottavini attuali, sebbene siano costruiti col sistema (Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Orchestra Rai in Rome,
Boehm, hanno mantenuto la struttura del tubo del flauto precedente la riforma di Opera House in Genoa, Pomeriggi Musicali in
Boehm. La testata infatti è cilindrica mentre il corpo è conico a chiudere con nota più Milan), in 1978 he was appointed piccolo and
bassa il re. La costruzione è quasi esclusivamente in legno. tutti flute in the Orchestra Sinfonica “Haydn”
di Bolzano e Trento, performing in over 5000
La novità dello strumento utilizzato in questa registrazione è la costruzione del tubo concerts, and also playing principal flute and
alla stessa maniera dei flauti moderni, con corpo cilindrico, testata a tronco di cono piccolo solo.
(o curve assai più complesse), meccanica completa ed estensione fino al si basso. Per He has played under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Othmar Suitner, Gustav
ottenere ciò si è utilizzato uno spessore del legno molto maggiore e si è dovuta ripensare Kuhn, Helmuth Rilling, Neville Marriner, Jeffrey Tate, Yves Abel, Jesus Lopez-Cobos,
completamente la costruzione. Claudio Scimone, Alberto Zedda, Daniel Oren. He has toured throughout Italy (Rome,
Il risultato è uno strumento con molti più armonici, omogeneità di timbro e facilità di Milan, Venice, Verona, Palermo, Padua, Catania) and abroad (USA, Japan, Germany,
emissione come mai prima. Austria, Hungary, Holland), playing in famous concert halls such as the Musikverein
Avere fra le mani uno strumento simile permette di ripensare il ruolo dell’ottavino in in Vienna, Vigado in Budapest, the Great Hall at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the
orchestra ma anche di inserirlo fra gli strumenti degni di avere una vita artistica propria. Beethovenhalle in Bonn, the Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg and Bunkamura Theatre in
Da qui la necessità di avere opere scritte appositamente, che possano valorizzare le Tokyo.
caratteristiche ampliate, ma anche di “rubare” ad altri strumenti opere che oggi si può He has also played in many video and audio recordings, and has taught the flute at
finalmente pensare di eseguire anche con l’ottavino. the Music School of South Tyrol and Trento Conservatory of Music.
© Nicola Mazzanti
 Nicola Mazzanti currently master classes for flute associations and music schools in Italy and abroad. He has
serves as Solo Piccolo released three solo albums. His website is a regular destination for dedicated piccolo
in the Maggio Musicale players. His book “The Mazzanti Method” for piccolo, published in 2014 by Theodore
Fiorentino orchestra, a Presser, has been welcomed as a milestone in the teaching of this instrument.
position he has held since Mr. Mazzanti is a 1982 graduate of the “Luigi Cherubini” Conservatoire in Florence,
1988. Many composers where he studied with Sergio Giambi. He later took lessons or participated in master
have written pieces for classes given by James Galway, Aurèle Nicolet, Raymond Guiot, Emmanuel Pahud
him, for piccolo and piano and Mario Ancillotti. In 1986, he earned an additional degree in Music History with
or orchestral concerts. Honours from D.A.M.S. (University of Arts and Music).
His name is associated
with many premières. As a
soloist, he has performed The Haydn Orchestra was founded in 1960 by the provincial government and local
with orchestras such as authorities of Trento and Bolzano. It has performed in principal Italian concert venues
“I Pomeriggi Musicali” and has participated in numerous international festivals, including the Haydn Festival
of Milan, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Florence Symphony Orchestra and in Esterháza, the Bregenz Festival, the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Festival in Brescia
Akronos of Prato. and Bergamo, the Mozart Festival in Rovereto, the Settimane musicali Gustav Mahler
Mazzanti performs frequently as both a flute and piccolo soloist and in chamber in Dobbiaco, the Antonio Pedrotti Competition for Conductors in Trento, the Tiroler
ensembles in Italy and abroad. In advocating the role of the piccolo as a solo instrument, Festspiele in Erl and the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano.
he performed at the 2003 Vienna Flute Festival, the 2005 National Flute Association The Haydn Orchestra has toured in the United States, Austria, Germany, Hungary,
Convention in San Diego, California, the 2009 Convention in New York, that of 2013 the Netherlands, and Switzerland. In its nearly fifty-year-long history, it has performed a
in New Orleans, the 2006 International Convention of the British Flute Society, the first vast number of works across all musical genres, ranging from Baroque to contemporary
International Piccolo Symposium in Omaha, Nebraska (USA) in 2007, the 2009 Serbian composers, including Dallapiccola, Nono, Berio and Donatoni, who entrusted it with
Flute Festival in Belgrade, in the 2011 and 2012 Iowa Piccolo Intensive, in the 2011 the first performance of their works. The orchestra has devoted particular attention
First European Piccolo Festival in Slovenia, and in several Italian Flute Conventions. In to an often neglected repertoire, also promoting the rediscovery of precious long-
2011 and 2012 he toured in USA (California, Michigan and Iowa) teaching and playing forgotten manuscripts, such as the Dixit Dominus by Domenico Cimarosa, performed
recitals. Sir James Galway has invited him to perform at his master classes in Weggis for the first time in the modern era at the Thirtieth Festival of Sacred Music in Bolzano/
(Switzerland) every year since 2008. Trento, or the Messe solennelle by Hector Berlioz, of which it gave the first modern-
Since 2001, he has held annual piccolo courses at the “MusicArea” association in day performance. The orchestra has appeared with many great conductors, including
Florence and at the Italian Flute Academy in Rome. Since 2009 he has taught piccolo at Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti, and collaborated with distinguished soloists.
the Hochshule in Luzern, since 2011 at the Music Conservatoire in Lugano (Switzerland) In 2003 Gustav Kuhn was appointed artistic director of the orchestra. Under his
and since 2013 at the “Verdi” Conservatoire in Milan. He is frequently invited to give direction the Haydn Orchestra performed all nine Beethoven symphonies in the
season 2005/06. This cycle has also been recorded by col legno classics, meeting with
widespread critical and public acclaim. In December 2007, this success was confirmed
in Salzburg, where the orchestra performed the symphonies again. In summer 2006 the
Haydn Orchestra debuted with Torvaldo e Dorliska at the 27th Rossini Opera Festival
in Pesaro, where it was invited again in 2007 to perform in productions of La gazza
ladra, which was awarded the French Diapason d’or prize, Turco in Italia, Edipo a
Colono and Le nozze di Teti e Peleo. In August, 2008, the Haydn Orchestra performed
Maometto II and L’equivoco stravagante in Pesaro while in September it inaugurated
the 63rd Sagra Musicale Umbra Festival in Perugia with Beethoven’s Missa solemnis,
conducted by Gustav Kuhn.
In December, 2008, the Orchestra was again invited to Salzburg to perform the
four Brahms symphonies, the Missa solemnis and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the
Mozarteum, conducted by Gustav Kuhn. In August, 2009, the Orchestra performed La
scala di seta and Il viaggio a Reims in Pesaro during the 30th Rossini Opera Festival.
The Haydn Orchestra has a busy recording schedule for Agora, Arts, col legno
classics, cpo, Dynamic, Multigram, Naxos, RCA, Universal, VMC Classics and Zecchini,
and has also appeared several times on RAI (the Italian State Broadcasting Corporation),
both the radio and the TV channels.
Marco Angius met with critical acclaim conducting the world première of Studi per
l’intonazione del mare by Salvatore Sciarrino in 2000. He has appeared as guest
conductor with Ensemble Intercontemporain (Agora 2012), Tokyo Symphony, Orchestra
Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Teatro La Fenice, Orchestra del Maggio
Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro Comunale of Bologna, Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe
Verdi of Milan, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne,
I Pomeriggi Musicali, Muziekgebouw/Bimhuis in Amsterdam (Gaudeamus Music
Week), Luxembourg Philharmonie and deSingel of Antwerp, the Hermes Ensemble,
Biennale Musica of Venezia, Ars Musica of Brussels, Milano Musica, MI.TO. Festival,
Warsaw Autumn, Filature of Mulhouse, Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Romaeuropa Festival,
Traiettorie of Parma, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Teatro Lirico of Spoleto
(Orpheus Price 2007), Orchestra Sinfonica of Lecce.
He founded and is the Music Director of the ensemble Algoritmo (Amadeus
Prize 2007 for the best recording of the year for Mixtim by Ivan Fedele recorded by
Stradivarius). Since 2008 he has worked closely with the Accademia Nazionale di
Santa Cecilia, where in 2011 he conducted a new production of The Cunning Little
Vixen by Jánácek. He was Antonio Pappano’s assistant for the recording of Rossini’s
Guillaume Tell (Emi Records 2011). He holds master classes in conducting at the Music
Conservatoire in Lugano.
Marco Angius is the author of Come avvicinare il silenzio, a study of Salvatore
Sciarrino’s compositions (RAI ERI 2007), Ali di Cantor (The music of Ivan Fedele,
Suvini Zerboni 2012), as well as of several works translated into different languages
(Electa, Salzburger Festspiele, l’Harmattan). He has recorded for many labels: Euroarts
(Sciarrino Luci mie traditrici), Neos, Stradivarius, Die Schachtel, RAI Trade, Vdm
Records.
Since 2011 he has been artistic coordinator of the Ensemble Accademia Teatro
alla Scala, where he conducts works from the contemporary as well as the operatic
repertoire. Recent productions include Jakob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm, Maderna’s Don
Perlimplin at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Sciarrino’s Aspern (Venice, La Fenice),
Battistelli’s L’imbalsamatore (Milano Musica/Accademia Teatro alla Scala).
Thanks to:
Daniele Spini – Artistic Director of the Haydn Orchestra
Fondazione Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento