The Jury – Michelangelo Festival

Michelangelo

Luca Benucci – Italy

Luca Benucci’s vast performing and didactic career spans over 30 years and has left an indelible mark on the international music scene. Championing all genres of music under the batons of the most notable Orchestral Directors of our time, developing unique and varied Jazz, Chamber and Solo programs collaborating closely with Jazz and Classical Virtuosi and Pop/Rock stars alike, and by innovating new pedagogical approaches to performance and practice methodology, Mr. Benucci has positively influenced and enriched the lives of numerous professionals, amateurs, students, and audience members throughout the world. Mr. Benucci has been invited to play as Guest Principal Horn in many prestigious Orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Solisten Berlin, Super World Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, World Master Orchestra and ConcertGebouw in Amsterdam. He still holds the full-time position of Principal Horn in the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra since 1995, under the direction of Zubin Mehta. When he isn’t working in the Orchestra, many of his other projects are done in collaboration with artists and musicians in chamber groups such as the Nuovo Quintetto Italiano, Italian Brass Ensemble, the Brass Dimension Ensemble and he is member of the Italian Wonder Brass. In addition to his musical work, Mr. Benucci founded and acts as Artistic Director of the Italian Brass Week, an annual International brass Symposium and Festival now in its 18th season, and the World Brass Association in order to provide easily accessible world-class education to students from both Italy and around the globe. He has also established musical organisations and groups such as the Italian Chamber Orchestra, Mimesis Formazione, Maggio Formazione, Sardinia Brass Festival, Santa Fiora in Musica, Note di Viaggio, and Meet the Soloists – a project that brings Principal players and Soloists from the All over the world together for intimate and informal concerts and lectures. As a highly sought after instructor, Mr. Benucci has held masterclasses in the most acclaimed Universities and Conservatories in the world, including Boston University, Roosevelt University, Juilliard School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Boston Conservatory, Indiana University, Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Ankara University, Ionian University of Corfu, Maastricht Conservatory, Barcelona Conservatory, Valencia and Madrid Conservatories, Tel-Aviv and Jaffa Universities, Musashino Music College of Tokyo, and the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatory, Singapore University, Manaus University, Puebla (Mexico) and Danzig University. He has also been invited as a guest soloists and teacher to international Brass Festivals in Japan, Cina, Costa Rica, Spain, USA, Mexico, Brasil, Uruguay, Germany, Austria, Swiss and many others. In his spare time, Luca is an avid chef and gastronome and loves to spend time with his two sons, Giacomo and Niccolò.


Andrea Portera – Italy

Andrea PorteraIts catalog of over 140 titles, the Andrea Portera’s scores explores the universe of sound through an anthropological perspective, especially in the connections that music generates with the emotion and the human unconscious: a production sui generis, where the creative process is expressed through an identity “intuitive” even before “stylistic.” Andrea Portera is responsible for Research & Development PERLART, the To section Lab (Laboratory of Psychology, Emotions & Research – spin-off of the University of Florence in partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) that deals with emotional intelligence, art and creativity. Portera is a promoter of the Cultural Manifesto Emotional Intelligence Renaissance (EIR). His compositions have received acclaim and recognition from prestigious names in the world of music: awarded by Berio, Fedele, Noseda, Rhim, Morricone, Nishimura, Corghi, Bussotti, Solbiati, Halfter, Vacchi, Sciarrino, Abbado, Osokawa, Luis De Pablo etc. Among the many awards he has received include Portera:

– First Prize at the II International Competition “Arturo Duo Vital Award” (Foundation Botin)
– First Prize at the IV International “Stresa Festival Award”
– First Prize in the International “Instruments of Peace”
– First Prize at the IV International “Camillo Togni Award”
– First Prize at the VII International “Evangelisti Award”
– First Prize in the International “Valentino Bucchi Award”
– First Prize at the International “G. Viotti Award ”
– First Prize at the III International “Ciani Award ”
– International Award “Alexander Moyzes”
– First Prize at the VII International “Carella Award”
– First in the IX ° International “Romulado Marenco Award”
– First Prize at the XXIV ° International “Castelli di Belveglio Award”
– First Prize at the II International “A.Gi.Mus” Varenna
– First Prize at the IV National “Rosolino Toscano Award”
– Second Prize at the International “Toru Takemitsu Award”
– Lutoslawski Award (Poland)
– Lepo Sumera International (Estonia)
– Franz Schubert Und Die Musik Der Moderne (Austria)
– Dutilleux Competition (France)
– TICCS (Thailand International Competition for Saxophone)
– Fondazione Guido d’Arezzo (Italy)
– in 2001 he received from the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi the Silver Medal;
– in 2006 he received by the Department of Cultural Heritage of Brescia the Gold Medal;
– In 2011 he received by the Culture of the city of Prato “Gigliato Silver”;
– in 2012 he receives for the second time the Medal of the President Of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.

His works have been performed by leading orchestras, in particular: Tokyo Philharmonic, RAI Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Symphonic Orchestra of the Slovak Radio, Estonian National Orchestra, National Orchestra of Greece, Orchestra Regionale Toscana (ORT), SPCO Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, the “Musical Afternoons “Milan, Vivaldi Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Florence etc. and important chamber ensembles, including the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Daedalus, Stresa Festival Ensemble, MDI Ensemble, Ensemble Laboratorium, New Counterpoint Ensemble, ContempoArte Ensemble, Academy Quartet, Gaudeamus Ensemble, Ensemble “August 2”, The Searchers, GAMO, Ned Ensemble, Ascanio Quartet, Quartet Aphrodite, etc. His works were directed by Noseda, Rustioni, Kawka, Iwamura, Gazon, Logiadis, Carrasco, Peleggi, Boccadoro, Montanari, Guttman, etc. The works of Andrea Portera are commissioned by major theaters and festivals, including the 57th Venice Biennale, the Stresa Festival (2009 and 2012), the 62nd International Festival of Santander, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Foundation, the 32nd season of ‘ Orchestra della Toscana, Sounds Reflections, Composium 2007 Tokyo Opera City, Rebus at the Teatro Dal Verme, ITU MIAM-Center for Advanced Studies in music in Istanbul, Antalya Piano Festival, etc. In 2008 the Fiesole School of Music dedicated to the composer event monographic Music and Culture, dedicated, above, to Kurtag, Berio, Sciarrino, Fedele, Vacchi, Bussotti, Andriessen. For the theater he has collaborated with various artists, actors, choreographers, writing music for Stefano Massini, Sandro Lombardo, Michele Placido, Ottavia Piccolo, Milena Vukotic, Maddalena Crippa; with choreographers Marga Nativo and Keith Ferrone has developed, in collaboration with the Adi Da Samraji Foundation, the music for the ballet Not Two Is Peace. Just forty is regularly invited to juries of international competitions (Arturo Duo Vital International, International Carella, Luigi Nono competition, Call For International Scores, Music for Peace for the visit of the Dalai Lama in Italy, Morricone Awards, Florence International Choir Competition etc. ) and as a teacher of master classes in composition (European Academy of the Quartet, Mill Artes, Geneva Conservatory, Univesità of Architecture in Genoa, Italian Academy Youth Orchestra, the Lyon Superior Conservatory etc.). Portera has an intense teaching at the Fiesole School of Music, where he teaches composition at the university course, and promotes the work of many talented young composers, which are followed in the academic world and introduced to professional path, especially through competition composition “Veretti”, devised by himself. His works have been published by Suvini Zerboni, RaiTrade, Eurarte, Bucchi Award, Le Monnier, Fondazione Guido d’Arezzo, Hudobne Centrum Slovakia, Botin Foundation. Since 2010 he is an author of the publishing house Sconfinarte. He is also author of the manual Musical Contexts (Mondadori & Le Monnier) for secondary schools. Portera is Composer in Residence of the festival Suoni Riflessi.


Leonardo Sagliocca – Italy

Leonardo Sagliocca is an italian bass-baritone. He was born in Florence. After an audition with the world famous baritone Gino Bechi, he was encouraged by him to begin the Opera singing career and began singing studies in the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole under Elio Lippi, Donatella Debolini and Gianni Fabbrini. This school of music was founded by the world famous viola player of the “Quartetto Italiano”, Piero Farulli. After that, Leonardo Sagliocca continued his formation in the University of Music of Florence, the “Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini” under the scottish soprano Kate Lafferty Gamberucci. At the age of 23 he was noticed by the world famous italian baritone Rolando Panerai who immediately invited him to join his class of international singers and engaged him for the operas “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” by Gioachino Rossini, “La Traviata” by Giuseppe Verdi and “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini. In 1996 he was invited also by the great baritone Leo Nucci to sing beside him in Verdi’s “La Traviata” and to join his class. Leonardo Sagliocca won the 1998 edition of international competition “William Walton – the actor-singer”,sponsored by The Prince of Wales, Charles, which gave him the chance to improve his acting and singing talents with world famous artists like James Lockhart, Graziella Sciutti, Jonathan Papp (Royal Academy of Music, London), Harriet Lawson (Rossini Opera Festival), Corradina Caporello (Juillard School, New York) and perform the opera “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini in front of the Prince. During this Master Class Leonardo Sagliocca was invited for a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music of London. Other peaks of his career: In 1999 he was singing in the Dome of Genova (Genua, Italy) with the Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice, the main theater in Genua, under Herbert Handt. The same year he was invited by the great specialist of Rossini’s Operas, Luis Alva, to sing the role of Mustafa in the Opera “L’Italiana in Algeri” of G.Rossini in Lima, Peru. Also in 1999 he was invited in Lucca by the american former tenor and conductor Herbert Handt to sing world premiere of works by eminent composers. The most famous one,winner of the Academy Award for his career, Ennio Morricone, author of many unforgettable soundtracks of famous movies like “Days of Heaven”, “The Mission”, “The Untouchables”, “Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”. Ennio Morricone was present at the rehearsals and at the concerts,cooperating with Leonardo Sagliocca and the other musicians. In 2005 Leonardo Sagliocca is invited at a very important season, The South Bank Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the season of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Following, a “resumé” of the entire career of Leonardo Sagliocca: He began the soloist career in 1993 in Italy and all over the world, in the fields of symphonic, oratorial, operatic music and from the middle age music to the contemporary. He performed as soloist with the following Associations and Musical Institutions: Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence main theatre and one of the oldest Festivals of the world), Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto (Umbria), Sagra Musicale Umbra (Perugia), Festival Puccini di Torre del Lago (where Giacomo Puccini composed many of his masterpieces), Ravenna Festival (organized by the wife of the great italian conductor Riccardo Muti), Nuova Cappella di Palazzo (Lucca), Associazione Musicale Lucchese (Lucca), Amici della Musica Firenze (Florence), Centro Busoni (Empoli), Festival Internazionale di San Gimignano (San Gimignano,Siena), Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina (Florence), Centro Internazionale di Musica Antica (CIMA,Rome), Tuscia Opera Festival (Viterbo, Italy), Orchestra della Toscana (ORT,Florence), Estate Regina (Montecatini Terme), South Bank Centre (London Philharmonic Orchestra Festival, London), Jeszienny Salon Muszyczny, Szceczin (Poland), Musiksommer Loisachtal (Germany). He performed together with world famous artists like: Gino Bechi, Rolando Panerai, Leo Nucci, Luis Alva, Gennaro Sica, Susanna Rigacci, Victor Micallef, Giorgio Casciarri, Duccio Dal Monte, Marina Comparato, Barbara Di Castri, Filippo Adami, Leonardo De Lisi, Alfie Boe etc. He performed with the following conductors: Salvatore Accardo, Claudio Scimone, Alberto Veronesi, Lu Jia, James Lockhart, Massimo De Bernart, Jeffrey Tate, Vinko Globokar, Claudio Desderi, Filippo Maria Bressan, Herbert Handt, Alessandro Pinzauti, Marco Balderi, Jonathan Brandani, Elisabetta Maschio, Riccardo Cirri, Giuseppe Lanzetta, Federico Bardazzi, Fabio Neri, Riccardo Martinini, Federico Sardelli, Sergio Siminovich, Marco Severi, Augusto Vismara, Giovan Battista Varoli, Piero Papini, Carlo Moreno Volpini, Franz Schottky etc. He performed with the following directors: Paolo Miccichè, Luciano Alberti, Aldo Tarabella, Luca Ferraris, Riccardo Diana, Gennaro Sica, Graziella Sciutti etc. He sang for the first time in the world works by Ennio Morricone, Luca Lombardi, Franco Mannino, Fabio Cifariello Ciardi, Riccardo Riccardi always in front of the composers and under their supervision. He has also performed many recitals with piano players, small vocal groups, small orchestras and big orchestras in cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Munchen, Frankfurt, Koln, Kassel, Sczeczin, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Zurich, Lugano, New Zealand, Australia and regularly in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Niigata). He is permanent member of high level Ensembles like the “Ensemble San Felice” of Florence,Italy, the “Nuova Cappella di Palazzo” of Lucca,Italy and the “Cappella Musicale di Santo Stefano” of Prato, Italy. He is co-founder of the “Ensemble San Felice”, a vocal and instrumental group specialized in early music, with original instruments. With the Ensemble he performed, among others, “Vespro della Beata Vergine” of C. Monteverdi, Haendel’s “Messiah” and “The Fairy Queen” by H. Purcell. He cooperated as talent scout, teacher and soloist singer with the “Maggio Fiorentino Formazione”, the formation agency of the main theater in Florence and one of the more historical and important festivals in Italy, the “Maggio Musicale Fiorentino”. He recorded actually 8 cd’s published and sold all over the world for the following labels (Tactus, Bongiovanni, Kicco Classic, Clavis, Brilliant Classics). He is also co-founder of the “Florence International Choir Festival” and invited as member of the jury in important Festivals like The Singing World in Saint Petersburg, the Choral Festivals in Bratislava, the Credo Festival in Tallinn, the Nederlands Koor Festival in Haarlem, the Mozart Festival in Prague, the Juozas Naujalis and Kaunas Cantat Festivals in Kaunas, the Monteverdi Choral Competition in Venice, the Mundus Cantat Festival in Sopot, the Silver Bells Festival in Daugavpils. He is also regularly invited as member of committee in official auditions. He was invited, in August 2014, as lecturer in the 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul, South Korea. In May 2015 has been invited for masterclasses on opera repertoire for soloists in China in very important institutions like Peking University (PKU), Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing and Xi’an Conservatory of Music (XACOM). Last June 2016 he has been invited to give masterclasses in China in important institutions such as: East China Normal University, Shanghai International Studies University, Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Zhongshan University, South China Normal University. Recently he performed concerts in USA in important Festivals and halls such as Castelton Festival, founded by Lorin Maazel and Strathmore. Leonardo Sagliocca is also the creator of the season “A Night at the Opera in Florence”, Italian Opera & Baroque. Young talents and international acclaimed singers from all over the world.


Andrea Angelini – Italy

Born in Bologna, Italy, AndreAndrea_PassoPordoia Angelini began his piano studies as a child, at the Rimini Lettimi School. He later earned a Doctorate of Music (Piano) at Ferrara’s Frescobaldi Conservatory. After earning a Master in Choral Conducting he studied music therapy with Professor Cremaschi of Milan University. His interests led him to the choral field, and he earned a Bachelor studying at the International Art Academy in Rome with Fulvio Angius. He also studied organ at Pesaro’s Conservatory of Music. Finally he got his PHD in Choral Music at the Cesena Conservatoire of Music. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the professional group Musica Ficta Vocal Ensemble that frequently performs in important Festivals in Italy and abroad. For many years, Andrea Angelini has conducted concerts with the choir Carla Amori, in Italy and abroad. Named Director of the Rimini Community Choir, Alessandro Grandi, he led this choir in several performances, including in important venues such as St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome – where he was able to personally meet Pope John Paul II – and in Milan’s Cathedral. He has also conducted the Belarusian National Capella Choir, the Lithuanian Jauna Muzika Choir, the Latvian Ave Sol, the Ukrainian Ave Musica, the Russian Domestik and the Tudor Consort from New Zealand. Dr. Angelini is the Artistic Director of the Choral Festival Voci nei Chiostri held annually in Rimini each spring. He has been member of the Jury at many International Choir’s Competitions in Italy, Europe and Asia. He frequently leads choral workshops in Italy and abroad. Recently his Masterclass about the “Venetian Renaissance choral music” has been presented to the students of the prestigious Liszt Music Academy of Budapest and in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) for the Young Choral Academy. He has led similar workshops in Romania, Russia, Belarus, Moldavia and China too. He is the artistic director and one of the tutors at the Rimini International Choral Workshop, where he teaches with Peter Phillips, director of the Tallis Scholars. Mr. Angelini is also the artistic director of the Rimini International Choral Competition, of the Claudio Monteverdi Choral Competition and of the Queen of the Adriatic Sea Choral Festival and Competition and of the Liviu Borlan Choral Festival. He is the Editor of the International Choral Bulletin (ICB), the membership magazine of the IFCM (International Federation for Choral Music). He has written numerous transcriptions and arrangements for choirs and chamber ensembles. His transcription of Faure’s Requiem is published by Gelber Hund Verlag of Berlin. For the American CanticaNOVA Publication, he has prepared transcriptions of important Renaissance Motets. He has published his composition with Eurarte and Ferrimontana. He is a member for Italy of the World Choir Council. Actually he is the President of AERCO, the Emilia-Romagna Regional Association of Choirs.


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