Born in Rm. Valcea in 1956 the bassoon player Pavel Ionescu- Ambrosie attended the High School of Music in Brașov in 1975 with Prof. Gheorghe Ciavici and the Conservatory of Bucharest in 1982 with Prof Gheorghe Cuciureanu.
Member of the wood-wind trio "Syrinx" and of Philharmonic "Mihail Jora" Bacau since 1982 . Member of "Fagotissimo" quartett since 1998. He played with this group over 300 concerts all around Europe.
Member of "Giocoso" trio , since 1998 with an activity of more than 300 concerts.
Artistic director of "Mihail Jora" Philharmonic starting with 1998 and General manager since 2007.
He took part în several competitions with Syrinx trio who is the only Romanian wind group who won prizes in international competitions:
1983 – First prize in Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (Great Britain );
1984 – Finalist in the internațional competition “Premio Ancona” (Italy);
1985 – First absolut prize in International competition Stresa (Italy);
1985 - Second prize in International competition “Premio Ancona” (Italy);
1987 – Third Prize in International competition Martigny (Switzerland);
1988 – First absolut prize in International competition Capri (Italy);
1989 – Special Prize of the Jury, Internațional competition Tokyo.
1986 – The Prize of the Musical critics în Romania
He attended masterclasses in Italy from 1982-1985 with Antonio Bachelli and Arturo Sachetti and in Germany-Darmstadt în 1986 with Pierre Yves Artaud.
He played with Syrinx trio over 2000 concerts in Italy, France, Gibraltar, Macedonia, Spain, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Greece, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Moldova Republic, Ucraine, Norway, Cehia, Slovakia, ex-U.R.S.S. etc. and recorded for BBC, Romanian Radiotelevision, Edipan - Rome, V.D. Gallo - Switzerland, Electrecord-Bucharest
1986- Founder of the first International festival of Contemmporary music in Romania ”The weeks of contemporary music” where were played over 300 new auditions.
Artistic director of Internațional Workshops for conductors since 2005 where took part more than 160 young conductors from 40 countries and five continents.
He organized masterclasses for composition in Tescani, international meetings for soloists în Bacau Iasi, Rm. Valcea, Vidin(Bulgaria).
In the period 1986- 2017 he organized over 3000 concerts in artistic tours in S.U.A, Korea, China, Japan, Italy, Greece, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Malta, Portugal, Ucraine, Bulgaria, Holland, Macedonia, for the orchestras of Bucuresti, Arad, Cluj, Iasi, Ploiesti, Oradea, Satu-Mare, Rm.Valcea, Constanta, Botosani, Chisinau, Orchestra Radio, Operas from Bucuresti, Timisoara, Craiova.
In the last years under his organisation the Philharmonic "Mihail Jora" Bacau played on the most important scenes of the world such as Gewandhaus-Leipzig, Konzerthaus-Berlin, Gasteig-Munchen, Sala "Verdi"-Milano, Tonhalle-Zurich, Art Center- Shanghai, Beijing Hall.
President of the jury in international competitions San Bartolomeo, Valtidone, Lamporecchio, Taurisano-Italia and member of the jury in Rome, Voghera, Cantu, Barletta, Foggia, Grottamare, Tagliolo Monferrato, Peritoli, Italy, Gibraltar, Iasi.
curricula
VINCENZO BALZANI graduated with first class honours from “Verdi” conservatory of music in Milan while studying with Alberto Mozzati. Aged 14 he won the La Spezia (E.N.A.L.) and the “Förster - Ricordi” national piano competitions. Two years later he was awarded the “Liszt” prize at “Maria Canals” competition in Barcelona. In 1971 he was top prize winner in many famous competitions as: “Pozzoli” in Seregno, “Città di Treviso”, “F. P. Neglia” in Enna and “G.B. Viotti” in Vercelli. In 1975 he successfully represented RAI at the Maurice Ravel competition in Paris organized to commemorate 100 years since the birth of the French composer. As concert artist he has performed as recitalist, soloist with orchestra, member of chamber ensemble (from duet to septet) all over the world including the most prestigious Italian theatres and festivals (La Scala, San Carlo, Petruzzelli, Regio in Turin, Olimpico in Rome, Bergamo and Brescia Festival, Festival dei Due Mondi, Settembre Musica, etc.). He has recorded extensively for Radio and TV and has recorded several LPs and CDs including works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Hummel, Beethoven, Chopin (the complete etudes Op.10 and Op.25), Rossini - Liszt, Schubert - Liszt, etc. Since 1973 he has been teaching piano in music academies: he is currently Professor of piano at “Verdi” conservatory of music in Milan. He often serves as judge for many international competitions (“G.B. Viotti”, “Rina Sala Gallo”, “Pozzoli”, “London International Piano Competition”, “Concurso Internacional Compositores de España”, “Tchaikovsky junior” in Kurashiki, “Takamatsu”, “Parnassos” in Monterrey, “Hummel” in Bratislava, etc.) and also holds courses, master classes and lectures in Italy and abroad. In addition to his activities as pianist and teacher he is also artistic director of “Città di Cantù” and “Valsesia Musica” international competitions and of “Pianotalents” in Milano, “Pozzolino” in Seregno, “Monterosa - Kawai” juniores contests as well and “Tadini International Music Competition” in Lovere for chamber music and piano. He has been nominated as artistic committee member of “Pozzoli” piano competition since 2010. Since 2009 he has also been artistic director of “Pianofriends” association which he founded in Milan to organize festivals, concerts, stages and seminars. He is President of PianoIn association in Milan.
Born in Milan she completed her musical studies at the “G. Nicolini ”of Piacenza where she graduated at age 19 under the guidance of Maestro Vincenzo Balzani. A brilliant pianist with a fluid technique, he has a wide and diversified repertoire that he plays with considerable musical maturity. Since 1985 he has performed in numerous recitals for various and important concert institutions, such as "I Pomeriggi Musicali", the "Società dei Concerti", "ISU Bocconi" and the "Serate Musicali", bringing public and critical acclaim. It has established itself in various national and international piano competitions. Since 1990 he also collaborates, as a soloist, with the Romanian Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau conducted by Maestro Ovidiu Balan, with whom he performs in Italy and abroad. In addition to the solo activity, since 1992 he has formed a piano - violin duo with his brother Giorgio, who performs in Italy and abroad. Her artistic vitality pushes her not to neglect the participation in other chamber formations. He teaches the main piano at the New Music School of Cantù and holds master classes and piano teaching. Since 1995 she has been collaborating with the artistic director and is constantly on the jury as representative of the New Music School which organizes the competition and of which she is director. In 2015, upon a unanimous decision of the board, he took over the chair of the competition. In 2018 he designed the execution of the 9 Beethoven symphonies for two eight-handed pianos transcribed by Theodor Kirchner in the second half of the 1800s, a complex realization that required the participation of 23 pianists in the project. The 9 Beethoven Symphonies were performed for the first time in Italy.
The Croatian/Portuguese pianist graduated from the Zagreb Music Academyand subsequently received a scholarship from the Soviet government to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with D. A. Svetozarov, a student of the great Russian pianist Sofronitski. He continued his studies in Vienna, and the United States where, as a Fulbright scholarship recipient, he studied at the University of Kansas with renowned Portuguese/American pianist Sequeira Costa, and earned there a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano, and a Master’s degree in musicology. He has also received valuable advice from renowned pianists, such as Pierre Sancan, Rudolf Kehrer, Claude Frank, Leonid Brumberg and Peter Katin. He has performed in recitals, with orchestras, and in chamber music concerts in many European countries and also in Venezuela and the United States. He has collaborated with artists such as Artur Pizarro, Grigori Zhislin and Zakhar Bron. The piano duo with his wife, the Irish pianist HonorO’Hea, has, since 1995, met with enthusiastic response from critics and audiences alike. After teaching at the Kalamazoo College in Michigan, U. S. A., since 1993 he has been teaching at the Madeira Conservatory – Professional School of Arts, where he is at present a tenured professor of piano and head of the keyboard department. He is often invited to teach masterclasses. In 1998, he was the principal guest artist of the Amadeus Piano Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. A., with a return invitation of the University of Tulsa in 2004 and 2014. He is regularly on juries of international competitions, including Ettore Pozzoli Competition (Seregno), Sumy Competition (Ucraina), Leganés Competition (Madrid), Jean Francaix Competition (Paris), Luciano Gante Competition (Pordenone), AMA Calabria Competition, Scriabin Competition (Grosseto), Competiton Città di Barletta, Evangelia Tjiarri International (Cyprus), Louisiana Competition (USA), Vianna da Motta Competition (Lisbon). Since 1997 he has been artistic and administrative director of the Association of Friends of the Conservatory, a charity organization that helps young talented musicians of the Region and in his concert seasons continues to present internationally appreciated musicians to the Madeira public. He is the artistic director of the Madeira PianoFest festival. He was also the co-organizer of the 28th annual EPTA European conference that took place in Madeira in July 2006. Having developed an intense activity as a writer and lecturer on musical topics, he has contributed to a number of prestigious music journals, encyclopaedias, and magazines in various countries, and from 1995 to 2002 he was music critic and author of a weekly music page for the Jornal da Madeira. In 2001 the Scarecrow Press (U.S.A.) published his book on the beginnings of the scientific approach to piano technique. In 2008 he recorded a CD with piano works of Madeiran composer Victor Costa.
Antonio Tarallo attended Ennio Pastorino’s piano class at the Istituto A. Peri in Reggio Emilia, Italy and graduated under his supervison in 1987. He also studied the harpsichord and partecipated in Emilia Fadini and Vincenzo Balzani’s Masterclasses. In 2010 he was granted the D.S.A. (Master’s Degree in Music) at the Istituto Musicale Franco Vittadini in Pavia (Italy). Tarallo has performed in concerts for Amici della Musica in Arezzo, Società dei Concerti and Serate Musicali in Milan, as well as for Società del Gonfalone in Rome. His recital career has led him to important concert halls as the Manzoni Theatre and the Sala Verdi in Milan, the Romolo Valli Theatre in Reggio Emilia, the Teatro Accademico del Bibiena in Mantua and the Philarmonic Hall in Trento. In the 1991-1992 season he performed as soloist with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Rumania in Bacau and in Milan. Tarallo has been awarded prizes at important competitions, such as the International Piano Competition of the Chopin Society in Rome, the Camillo Togni Competition in Gussago and the Città di Albenga Competition. In 2004 he has founded a piano duo with Fabio Grasso. His CD recordings include live performances with the Rome’s Gonfalone Orchestra under the direction of Francesco Vizioli, a production of contemporary music with Fabio Grasso and Renato De Grandis’ Preludes in studio complete registration by Wergo. In 2016 he presented this registration in a concert and a Masterclass at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt (Germany). Tarallo has been invited to take part in the jury of the International Competition Città di Cantù, as well as the Piano Talents Competition in Milan for many years. Since 2004, he has been teaching young piano students in dedicated Masterclasses in Varallo Sesia and Lovere, sponsored by the Pianofriends Association. He is currently professor of the piano class at the Conservatorio Nicolini in Piacenza.
He is a music critic for the newspaper “La Provincia” since 1984; he has published essays and research of musicology and musical pedagogy in national magazines and in the territory. He has always been interested in the pedagogical aspects of music knowledge. He graduated in piano at the Piacenza Conservatory with Vincenzo Balzani after classical studies; he teaches in secondary school since 1980, he has been professor in the multidisciplinary course of musical Didactics University of Milan, training supervisor in the second level academic courses for teacher training at the Como Conservatory, music operator of the LAIV project - Laboratory of Interpreting Arts from Cariplo Foundation, at the Festival Giovani Scrittori BIMED in Salerno, holder of seminar for the Master of Theater History and Theater Literature at the Faculty of Science of the University of Insubria. He is part of the team of the AsLiCo Opera Education project. He holds guided listening cycles with the training sessions "Suono & Senso" for Pocket Opera Festival, Auser Canturium and Como. In 1984-1986 he was co-promoter and founder of Nuova Scuola di Musica of Cantù where he taught for more than ten years; he was secretary of the first editions of the International Competition for Piano and Orchestra "Città di Cantù". In 1996 he was among the founders of the association "1612 suoni" for the enhancement of the organ and choral and instrumental music on the territory of Brianza, of which he was president for over 15 years promoting dozens of concerts.
HUBERT STUPPNER studied piano and composition at the Conservatory of Bolzano and Lettere at the University of Padova (Degree in History of Music with a thesis on Brahms). He has attended the International Summer Courses in Darmstadt, in particular the Ligeti, Kagel, Stockhausen and Xenakis seminars. Professor at the Conservatory of Bolzano he won in 1981 a competition for the position of director of the Conservatory of Bolzano. He began his career as a composer with two important reportings earned at the same time in 1973 to the competitions of Zwolle and Bilthoven (Gaudeamus).
He has been for many years artistic director and president of the jury of the International Piano Competition “F. Busoni” as well as jury member in other national and international music competitions. He has had executions and commissions from various European festivals, “Festival di Salisburgo”, “Donaueschinger Musiktage”, Biennale di Venezia, “Wien Modern”, “Cantiere musicale Montepulciano”, German Television. Among the orchestras who have performed his works there are: Orchestra del Teatro Comunale of Firenze, Orchestra del Teatro Regio of Torino, Orchestra “Toscanini” of Parma, “Wiener Symphoniker”, Orchestra “Mozarteum” of Salzburg, Orchestra Bayerischer Rundfunk, Orchestra “Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester”, Orchestra of Radio France, Orchestra of Montpellier, Baden-Baden, Brema, Frankfurt, Opera of Stuttgart, RSO of Berlin, Teatro Colon, Chamber Opera of Warsaw, italian regional orchestras of Padova, Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan. He won prizes for his works: “Schnittger” Competition of Zwolle (1° Prize, 1976), Filarmonica Umbra Competition (1° Prize for the lyric opera Totentanz, 1978), “E. Ansermet” Competition of Ginevra (Ballet for orchestra, President of the jury G. Petrassi, 2° Prize, 1984). He received many commissions from artists and international institutions: Quartetto Kronos, Orchestra of the Austrian Radio (1° piano and orchestra Concerto), Orchestra of Baden-Baden (2° piano and orchestra Concerto), Festival “Mahler” ("Capriccio Viennese" for violin and orchestra), Festival of Salzburg, Opera House of Stuttgart.
Born in Brussels, Philippe Raskin devoted himself to music at a very early age. His performances have been illustrated as a “model of radiant authority (...), solar, generous, committed and under control (MDM, La Libre Belgique) and plays “with an impressive confidence” (JK, Mundo Clasico). Philippe began piano lessons with Aleksandr Friedland, a Russian conductor, and continued working with Bernadette Malter and Loredana Clini. He developed his artistry furthermore with Emanuel Krasovksy, Vincenzo Balzani, Ralf Gothóni, and Leon Fleisher on the piano addition with Johannes Meissl and Hatto Beyerle for chamber music. At the age of 16, he began studying at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels in the class of Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden. In the same year, he obtained his first degree with the highest honours. He then joined the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel (still with Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden) and graduated with highest honours, receiving the diploma from H.M. the Queen of Belgium. During the same period he completed his Masters degree at the Royal Conservatorium of Brussels. In 2005 he entered the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid where he worked for four years under the tutelage of Dimitri Bashkirov and Claudio Martínez Mehner. As early as the first year, he received from H.M. the Queen of Spain the Sobresaliente Prize at the Pardo Palace. In 2010, Philippe started studying at the Strasbourg Conservatory with Amy Lin for a “Diplome de Spécialisation” where he graduated with the highest honours. In 2012 & 2013, he worked with Leonel Morales. Philippe has won several national and international competitions, amongst others: the J.S. Bach Competition, the Gretry Rotary Competition, the Paris International Piano Competition, the Lions Club Competition, and the André Dumortier International Piano Competition. In 2012, he became a prizewinner at the Lyon International Piano Competition and won first prize at the “Spanish Composers” International Piano Competition in Madrid. Philippe has performed many recitals, as part of chamber groups and as a soloist with orchestras all over the world - in renowned concert halls such as the Grand Hall of Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Musikverein in Vienna or at the Philharmonie in Berlin. He was also invited by the Chopin Foundation in Warsaw to perform in the birthplace of the composer. Philippe regularly performs with orchestras, notably the Belgian National Orchestra, the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists amongst many others. His chamber music partners include artists such as Clemens Hagen, Jérôme Pernoo, Miguel Da Silva etc. Philippe also regularly performs contemporary music and has taken part in several world premieres. Many composers have dedicated works to him, including "Stringent & Tremulation" from Belgian composer Jean-Marie Rens, "Piano Sonata" from Turkish composer Serkan Gürkan and "Sonata Der Hunt" from Austrian composer Christoph Ehrenfellner. Philippe is invited each year to be a member of the jury in several international piano competitions including the International “Piano Talents” Competition Milan, the Lyon International Piano Competition and is the artistic director of the César Franck International Piano Competition and the International Music Festival Paris. He was also a jury member at the “MozArte” competition in Cologne, the “Spanish Composers” competition in Madrid and will be part of the jury in the next edition of “Città di Cantù Competition”, the Scriabin Competition and the Chopin Competition in the United States. In 2009, Philippe opened his piano school and also gives many masterclasses in Belgium and abroad. From 2016, Philippe was also the artistic director of the “Resonances Musique de Chambre” Festival in France and began teaching at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. From 2017, Philippe is also a member of the international piano faculty in Brescia.