integrated piano workshop call for applications
TRANSCRIPT
giorni
4pianoforti
19pianisti
50ore di musica
110volontari
200
Integrated piano workshop
Call for applications
Pratovecchio Stia (AR) Italy 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 July 2016
days
4pianos
19pianists
50hours of music
110volunteers
200
The cultural association Pratoveteri of Pra-tovecchio Stia (AR) announces a call for applications for 25 young pianists, ita-lians and foreigners, to attend the Pia-no Academy, a free opportunity for stu-dying, meeting others, improving and performing in the third occasion of Na-turalmente Pianoforte, an event that will take place in Pratovecchio Stia (AR) from 21 to 24 July 2016 with the artistic direc-tor, Enzo Gentile. Piano Academy offers young pianists the possibility of parti-cipating in a three-day training course run by teachers of the highest calibre, a course for understanding and integrating different styles, genres and approaches,
and aimed at both musical and personal improvement whilst set against the back-drop of contemporaneity. In addition, candi-dates will be offered the chance to perform in the four-day event in dedicated places in the streets and town squares of Pra-tovecchio Stia, in front of a large and va-ried audience, contributing actively in this way to the development of the event itself (each performance will last 30 minutes with the chance of a repeat performance during the day. The repertoire will be varied, and discussed with the teacher according to the ability and propensity of the performer, in keeping with the spirit of Naturalmente Pianoforte).
What is the Piano Academy1
Enzo Gentile journalist, author and italian musical critic.Artistic director of Naturalmente PianoforteHe started working as a journalist in 1977, reaching professional status by 1984. He has written for numerous big newspapers and magazines, including La Repubblica, Il Mattino, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Sette-Corriere della Sera, Vanity Fair, La Stampa, Rolling Stone, Rockstar. He lectures at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan where he teaches a course in the history of pop and rock. He has worked in radio for a long time, has written fifteen books, consults and collaborates with cultural institutions in creating events.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR andCOORDINATOR of Piano Academy
Mario Mariani
Mario Mariani (born October, 1970) is an Italian avant-gar-de composer, pianist and performer strongly recognizable for his unconventional sounds. His style goes from con-temporary music to theatrical performances, film scoring (Cannes, Venice, New York and Berlin Film Festivals) and television. Mariani’s artistic core is rooted within improvi-sed music often performing with other musicians, artists, actors and performers. After creating the experimental group Broz Ensemble, Mariani approaches to film scoring, receiving public and critic acclaim for the opening themes of Venice Film Festival twice (1999-2001 and 2005-2007) as for all of Vittorio Moroni’s movies soundtracks. He also crafts advertising music for brands such as Microsoft, Toyota, Fiat. Mariani’s compositions go from orchestral music and opera to real-time performances. He won the Novaracinefestival award for Best Soundtrack with the short and internationally acclaimed movie ‘Under my garden’ by A. Lodovichetti (awarded by Spike Lee). He attracted further attention worldwide with some uncon-ventional performances, like ‘extreme artistic residence’ where he brought a grand piano in Monte Nerone’s Cave (centre of Italy) and played a concert per night for a who-le month. Mario considers his music as a purely creative activity that gives itself away and becomes fruitful discus-sions on topical issues such as respect for mankind, envi-ronment and humanitarian projects. www.mariomariani.com
The course and the staff of Piano Academy2
Arriving and accommodation in Pratovecchio Stia on the night of Thursday 21 July. The course is divided into three workshops of six hours each, spread over the days of Friday 22 July, Saturday 23 July, Sunday 24 July.
> WORKSHOP 1CLASSICAL PIANO
Interpretation, analysis, good practice and piano techni-que are the subject of study in this master class, in the repertoire proposed by the participants, in a reflection on the definition of “classical-ness”, from the view point of contemporary piano.
Instructor • Massimiliano Damerini
Italian pianist and composer Massimiliano Damerini studied in Genova with Alfredo They and Martha Del Vecchio. Considered one of most outstanding musicians of his generation, he was awarded the prestigious Abbiati Prize in 1992 in recognition of his career. Damerini has performed at some of the world’s most renowed music festivals as well as in various concert halls, such as the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, the Barbican Hall in London, the Salle Gaveau and Cité de la Mu-sique in Paris, ecc He has played with many distinguished or-chestras, such as the London Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Dutch Radio Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Cologne, the NDR Symphony Hamburg, the SWF Symphony Baden-Baden, the SDF Symphony Stuttgart, the Swiss Philharmonic, the Nice Philharmonic, ecc. He is a regular guest at international festivals, including the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Venice Biennale, Berli-ner Festwochen, Holland Festival, Wien Modern, Music Biennale in Zagreb, Festival d’Automne in Paris, ecc. Many contemporary composers, such as Ambrosini, Di Bari, Donatoni, Fellegara, Fer-neyhough, Gaslini, Gentilucci, Landini, Mosca, Porena, Sciarrino, Skrzypczak, Sotelo, Tanaka, Vacchi, have written works for him. Damerini regularly judges at international piano competitions and also gives piano and chamber music masterclasses both in Italy and abroad. In a review in The Times, Nicholas Kenyan praised him for his “complete command”, Elliott Carter (in New York, 1990) is quoted as saying of Damerini, “A concert given by him is an unforgettable experience”. After a recital in Münich in 1997, the Süddeutsches Zeitung wrote, “Damerini is one of three greatest Italian pianists of our time, together with Benedetti-Michelangeli and Pollini”.
> WORKSHOP 2MODERNAND CONTEMPORARY PIANO
The seminar proposes a short exploration of the musi-cal idioms used in the production of piano music in the last hundreds years, with the intention of demonstra-ting how “new music” introduces extreme aspects and consistently refuses to comply to any arbitrarily impo-sed rules. From the rigid structure of the first works of Boulez and Stockhausen to the prolific provocations of Cage; from the rhythmic experiments of Messiaen to the visionary discoveries in timbre of Ives, Cowell and Crumb; from the return to the modality and tonality of minimalists and neoromantics, to the current, intricate position of music. Particular emphasis will be given to new ways of producing sound and to non-conventional music notation, with accurate historical and stylistic references.
Instructor • Mario Totaro
Graduated in piano from the Conservatory “G. Rossini” in Pesaro with honours, and graduated in composition from the Conservatory “G. Verdi” in Milan with top marks. He initially devoted himself to piano and continued his studies at the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg and in Imola (“Incontri col Maestro”), with Carlo Zecchi, Gyorgy Sandor, Alexander Lonquich, Aldo Ciccolini, Nikita Magaloff and Bruno Cani-no. At nineteen Totaro became a Professor at the Conser-vatory of Pesaro, where he’s still teaching. He has been awarded prizes in several piano competitions, both natio-nally and internationally and he has given several concerts both in Italy and abroad, where he presented programs based on improvisation and “contamination” between mu-sical genres. In 1992, he was one of the founders of the Trio Diaghilev (two pianos and percussion). As a professor, Totaro has held courses in instrumental specialization and musical analysis, based on original and innovative formu-las. Totaro directs the “Laboratory of 20th Century and Contemporary Music” at the Conservatory of Pesaro, the aim of which is to study last-century masterpieces, to en-courage new musical proposals and to promote the music of the latest generations.
> WORKSHOP 3JAZZ E FREE IMPROVISATION
The objective of this workshop is to encourage perso-nal creativity and awareness of timbre and dynami-sm, exploring various strategies and methodologies of spontaneous composition in the scope of Afro-Ameri-can parlance and in that of “free music”.
Instructor • Gianni Lenoci
Pianist, composer and educator Gianni Lenoci born in Monopo-li, Italy in 1963) completed his piano diploma at the Conserva-torio “Santa Cecilia” in Rome, received a diploma in Electronic Music, as well as a Masters degree (cum laude and presenting a lecture-recital on Morton Feldman’s piano works) at Conser-vatorio “Niccolò Piccinni” in Bari. Thanks to composition studies with Giacomo Manzoni at the Accademia Musicale Pescarese and a developing contemporary attitude, Lenoci developed his own style in contemporary jazz and improvised his music by studying with jazz icons such as Mal Waldron and Paul Bley. In 1993 Lenoci was a finalist at the European Jazz Competition in Leverkusen (Germany) and in 1996 he won the Acanthes Fonda-tion prize in Paris. In 2003 his electronic composition “NOTTUR-NO FRATTALE” won the International Prize from the Società Ita-liana di Informatica Musicale. Lenoci has played with the great names of modern jazz and improvised music: Massimo Urbani, Steve Lacy, Joelle Leandre, Steve Grossman, Harold Land, Bob Mover, Enrico Rava, Glenn Ferris,Eugenio Colombo, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Don Moye, Han Bennink, Antonello Salis, Carlo Actis Dato, David Gross, Paul Lovens, Sakis Papadimitriou, Georgia Sylleou, Jean-Jacques Avenel, John Betsch, Markus Stockhau-sen, Steve Potts, Carlos Zingaro, John Tchicai, Kent Carter, Wil-liam Parker, David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell, Evan Parker, Sabir Mateen and Charles Gayle. He also collaborates with dancers, video artists and poets, while his main focus as musical inter-preter is on Morton Feldman (he recorded “For Bunita Marcus”, for Amirani Records), John Cage, Earle Brown, Sylvano Bus-sotti and the complete keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Lenoci is a performance, improvisation and composi-tion teacher in jazz courses at the Conservatorio “Nino Rota” in Monopoli, where is head of the New Music Department. He is visiting professor at Bucharest University, Corfu University, Royal Northern College of Manchester, Conservatorio Superior de Malaga, Franz Liszt Hochschule in Weimar, Conservatorio Superior de Madrid, Conservatorio Superior de Salamanca and in October 2011 he was Associated Artist (with Master Artist the legendary Roscoe Mitchell) at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna, Florida, USA. His name is included in the
Philippe Carles’ “Dictionnaire du Jazz”.
In addition to the workshops and to the possibility of performing, Piano Academy offers freely to young pia-nists selected:
Process of application and selection atPiano Academy
21 22 23 24 July 2016Pratovecchio Stia (AR) Tuscany • Italy
Even though we are referring to “young piani-sts”, there is no age limit for candidates. We believe that the concept of “young” refers more to a person’s state of mind than to their physical age. We are looking for such young pianists, cu-rious, talented and enthusiastic.To participate in Piano Academy send a com-plete application with a photo and youtube link and/or a video recording of at least two perfor-mances, by 30 April 2016 to:
Applications received will be chosen and se-lected by the staff of Piano Academy.
What we offer How to apply3 4
CONNECTING WITH GREAT PIANISTSPRESENT AT THE EVENT
FREE ENTRANCE TO ALL EVENINGCONCERTS OF NATURALMENTE PIANOFORTE
MEALS OFFERED IN THE RESTAURANT AREA OF NATURALMENTE PIANOFORTE
ACCOMMODATION WITH FAMILIESIN THE AREA OF PRATOVECCHIO STIA
Naturalmente Pianoforte is a piano festival of four days (from 21 to 24 July 2016), organized by the cultural association PratoVeteri and which will take place in Alto Casentino (the highest part of the Arno valley). In particular it will take place in the town squares and streets of the area of Pratovecchio Stia, in the province of Arezzo. Characteristic of the zone is the presence of a very rich natural environment, a large part of which falls under the “Parco Nazio-nale delle Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona e, Campigna”. Also characteristic of this zone is the presence of castles, churches, monasteries and me-dieval villages. The event was born out of the idea that this territory and the community that lives there
could represent an ideal setting for hosting piano music and for this music to resound in the air, crea-ting an experience and unique atmosphere, hard to find in other similar events. In previous occasions of the piano festival, were present (amongst others): Stefano Bollani, Danilo Rea, Sergio Cammariere, An-tonello Salis, Cesare Picco, Rita Marcotulli, Gloria Campaner, Francesco Grillo and Francesco Tristano. Alongside the piano music, Naturalmente Pianoforte will organize events and projects concerned with the promotion of the area of Pratovecchio Stia, its pro-ducts and its people: the flavours of Casentino, the various form of local craftsmanship, bicycle tourism and quality of life.
What is Naturalmente Pianoforte and where is it?
PratoVeteri Blow Up Club 70Via Roma, 1 • Pratovecchio - 52015 Pratovecchio Stia (AR) Italy