Simone Fermani is conducting "Un ballo in maschera"
19.02.2013
Simone Fermani is conducting "Un ballo in maschera"
On the 4th and the 5th of September the premiere performances of "Un ballo in maschera" by G. Verdi are conducted by Simone Fermani (Italy).
Simone Fermani is the only living direct relative of Giuseppe Verdi. However, his conducting career has been developed already before this fact was known to anyone in the world, including Maestro Fermani himself. He showed his particular talent in music very soon, starting to play and study the piano when he was six years old. This commitment throughout his childhood prepared him admirably to obtain his Composition Diploma at Perugia Conservatory in only three years (the regular course lasts ten years) and to distinguish himself when gaining his Conducting Diploma at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome afterwards. Born in 1954, Simone Fermani was destined for a career in music, due also to his relatives and ancestors; in fact, his great-grandmother Luigia Fiandrini, born in 1851 at Ferrara, is the sole daughter of Giuseppe Verdi and his wifeGiuseppina Strepponi. He then embarked on advanced studies with Franco Ferrara in Rome, with Leonard Bernstein in Vienna and Rome, and with Peter Maag at Bologna, Padua, Venice and Bern. In October 1995, Maestro Fermani was awarded the Perrenoud Prize for conducting at the Fifth Vienna International Music Competition in Vienna, Austria. Simone Fermani made his opera debut conducting The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, at Opйra Marseille, giving as encore the Finale of Act II during three successive performances. He also conducted some of the other operas by Rossini, namely L’italiana in Algeri at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, The Barber of Seville at Teatro Regio, Parma, and La cambiale di matrimonio at 49th International Summer Festival of Ljubljana. He conducted Verdi's Nabucco in Parma, La Traviata at Belgrade National Opera, Serbia, and Requiem in Santa Fи, Argentina.
Maestro Fermani also conducted Suor Angelica by Puccini, La serva padrona by Pergolesi and The Telephone by G. C. Menotti. He also is a conductor of symphonic and contemporary music. As a guest conductor, he performed with the Youth Orchestra of National Academy “Santa Cecilia” of Rome, Haydn Orchester of Bolzano, Orchestra of Lyric Theatre of Cagliari, Orchestra “Capella Cracoviensis” of Krakуw, Poland, Orquesta Sinfonica de Santa Fe, Argentina, Symphony New Brunswick, Canada, Symphony Orchestra of the National Opera Theatre of Maribor, Slovenia, and with the Symphony Orchestra “Gioachino Rossini” in Pesaro, Italy. Other guest conducting performances were in Montreal, Ottawa, Bangkok, Wьrzburg, Germany, Strasbourg, Belfort, France, Neuchatel, Switzerland, Murcia, Cartagena, Santander (Palacio de Festivales) in Spain, Rome (Terme di Caracalla), Florence, Milano, Italy, and Belgrade, Serbia. In 1997, Maestro Fermani was enclosed in the Sixteenth Edition of Who’s Who in Music and Musicians’ Directory, published at Cambridge, UK, and in 2010 his name was included in the prestigious The International Who’s Who. Simone Fermani discovered from the original score and subsequently rebuilt the sistrum, an instrument designed by Gioacchino Rossini and indicated for his The Barber of Seville. This instrument disappeared after the premiere of this opera in Roma in 1816. The sistrum has been used for the first time after its re-discovering in the performances
of “Il Barbiere,” conducted by Maestro Fermani at the Opera Marseille in 1998.
In 2006, the Gioachino Rossini Foundation of Pesaro engaged Maestro Fermani to write an article, describing the rediscovery and reconstruction of the sistrum, to officially recognize the instrument. In June 2007, this article was published in the Official Bulletin of the Foundation, enclosing the photographs of the instrument. Immediately after the publication, the renowned Italian musical publisher “Ricordi” of Milano showed their high interest to sistrum, and the Italian and international press gave it a big publicity. In November 2007, Simone Fermani and the sistrum were special guests at “Unomattina”, the well-known broadcast of the Italian television RAI - Channel 1. Simone Fermani founded the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana at Ancona, Italy, being the Artistic and Musical Director from 1978 to 1980.
He was also the founder of the Symphony Orchestra of The Catholic University of Milano, Italy, being the Artistic and Musical Director from 1991 to 2001. He designed, managed and conducted 9 concert seasons of 54 symphonic performances. Among the guest soloists were Susanna Mildonian, Maxence Larrieu, Rocco Filippini, Francesco Manara, Vincenzo Balzani, and others. The orchestra went on 20 Italian, eight European (France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Slovenia) and three intercontinental tours in Thailand (twice) and in Canada. Special guest conductors were Riccardo Muti and Peter Maag. The celebrated Italian composer Niccolт Castiglioni composed the Abendlied for this orchestra. It was premiered under Simone Fermani in presence of the composer on November 20,1995. The production of "The Barber of Seville" which he has conducted at Opera Marseille, with Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara, Raul Jimenez and Luigi Roni as principal characters, has been video-recorded, also with one of the three encores of the Finale of Act II enclosed. Maestro Fermani has also recorded for the label “Recordis” - Requiem in C minor for choir and orchestra by Luigi Cherubini, conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Universitа Cattolica and the “Civici Cori” Choir of Milano.
Winner of three competitions listed by the Italian Ministry of Education to teach in the Italian Conservatories of Music, Simone Fermani has taught score reading at Conservatory of Cagliari (1999-2000) and Conservatory of Alessandria (2000-2006), and score reading and orchestral conducting at Conservatory of Music G. Cantelli of Novara (2006-2007). In November 2007, he has been appointed Professor of score reading at Conservatory of Music Giuseppe Verdi of Milan and in March 2009 Professor of orchestral and opera conducting. Since February 2010, he teaches a Master Class for Opera and Symphonic Conductors at the famous Scuola Musicale di Milano, founded in 1891. He has been invited to hold the master classes for opera conductors and singers at Conservatorio Superior de Musica of La Coruсa, Spain in 2011, Lithuanian Academy of Music of Vilnius, Lithuania in 2011, Latvian Academy of Music Jazep Vitols of Riga, Latvia in 2011 and 2012, and Conservatorio Superior de Musica of Vigo, Spain in 2012 where he conducted a selection of “The Barber of Seville”.
The performances of "Un ballo in mschera" will be held in the context of Helikon's festival "The year of Wagner and Verdi".