Omaggio a Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Omaggio a Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Duo Ravasio-Amidei
Raffaello Ravasio, guitar
Samuele Amidei, piano

Program:

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)
Fantasia per chitarra e pianoforte op.145 (1950)
– Andantino
– Vivacissimo
I naviganti op.13 (1919)
Tarantella op.87 (1936) 
Passatempi, 5 piccoli Walzer op.54 (piano solo – 1928) 
– un poco mosso 
– un poco burlesco 
– un po’ malinconico 
– serenamente, quasi cantabile 
– con brio, alla Viennese

Giovanni Scapecchi (b. 1977)
Cinque danze sulle crete (2018)**
– Allemande
– Courante
– Sarabande
– Menuet
– Gigue

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)
Capriccio diabolico [homage to Paganini] (1935)
Le stagioni (1924)
– I. Inverno: Andantino
– II. Primavera: rapido e leggero
– III. Estate: vivo e luminoso
– IV. Autunno: tranquillo e ondulato
– V. Epilogo: con malinconia, quasi recitativo
Tonadilla op.170 Sur le nom de Andrés Segovia (1954)

Fabio Mengozzi (b. 1980)
Fantasia per chitarra e pianoforte (2018)*

* Composed in homage to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and dedicated to the Duo Ravasio-Amidei
** Composed for “Omaggio a Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco” and dedicated to the Duo Ravasio-Amidei

Raffaello Ravasio began the study of the guitar with Abramo Comandini in Rimini, winning at a young age for two years in a row the first prize at the Rassegna Musicale Internazionale in Urbino, also the first prize at the Trofeo Internazionale Città di Casarza Ligure, and other second and third place prizes in national and international competitions. He continued his musical studies with Maurizio Cerqua at the Istituto Musicale Parreggiato “Lettimi” in Rimini, then graduating with the highest marks from the Conservatory of Bologna under the guidance of Piero Bonaguri. He later completed the Diploma Accademico di II livello with honors at the Istituto Musicale Pareggiato di Rimini and, in duo with the flautist Rossana Fani, took advanced courses in chamber music at the Scuola di Musica in Fiesole. He has frequented masterclasses even to this day with guitarists like Alfonso Borghese, Aldo Vianello, Leo Witoszynskyj and Piero Bonaguri. He has recorded pieces by Villa-Lobos for the Vatican radio and has been soloist with several orchestras between Arezzo and Rimini. He performs both as soloist and in chamber music groups, and recently was invited to Dubai to hold a solo guitar concert at the Philharmonic Music Center. Of his performances and musicality, it has been written that he “gives ‘voice’ to the Iberian soul of the guitar, in all its unsurpassing poetry and expression, giving the gift of emotions difficult to express with words.” Side by side with the study of the guitar he studied musicology, graduating in Discipline delle Arti Musica e Spettacolo (DAMS) at the University of Bologna, publishing an article on didactics for the specialised magazine Pedagogia e Didattica. For years he has been dedicated to teaching guitar in the Italian state school system and now teaches at the Liceo Musicale “Petrarca” in Arezzo. Every summer he teaches masterclasses on guitar at the Festival Savinese in Tuscany. Some contemporary composers have dedicated solo guitar pieces for him, among them: Marco Reghezza, Roberto Tagliamacco, Paolo Ugoletti, and Andrea Vezzoli. A publication for Ut Orpheus editor in Bologna has recently been released including pieces he edited. He also recently recorded an album for Aldebaran Edition of Brescia in which he plays an anthology of music by Paolo Ugoletti.

Samuele Amidei completed his musical studies at the Conservatory of Music “Arrigo Boito” in Parma, where he earned his diploma in piano under the guidance of Roberto Cappello. He also studied with Franco Rossi, Piermarciso Masi, Lovro Pogorelich, Malcolm Bilson and Bart van Oort. For over 10 years he continued his studies in piano and chamber music with the Russian pianist Konstantin Bogino at the Accademia Angelica Costantiniana and the Arts Academy in Rome and La Scuola di Musica Santa Cecilia in Bergamo. He is the winner, as a soloist and piano duo, of numerous first prizes in national and international competitions: he was awarded, among others, the 1st prize and prize for the best performance of music by J. S. Bach at the international competition Esecuzione Pianistica di Meta, the 1st prize at the 9th European edition of the “Città di Barletta” competition and the 1st prize at the 2nd edition of the “Città di Castiglion F.no” competition. He was conferred a master’s level degree with honors (Laurea specialistica in piano performance) at the Conservatory of Music in Perugia studying with Luigi Tanganelli. He has held the advanced study piano course at the Corsi Internazionali di Perfezionamento Musicale “Lucca Estate” organized by the Scuola di Musica Sinfonia and he taught piano at the advanced courses held by the Festival Musicale Savinese since 2009. He was recently invited by the City College of Fresno – California (USA) to conduct a masterclass and he performed a piano recital in the “O. A. B. Auditorium”, and was invited to return in February 2018. He earned his teaching license with the highest marks and is professor of piano at the Liceo Musicale “F. Petrarca” in Arezzo.