Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s piano music will be performed in New York City during Piano Italiano, a celebration of rarely heard Italian piano music that begins this weekend. Twelve concerts will be held from Friday, 25 October through Sunday 3 November 2024 at two intimate venues: BargeMusic in Dumbo and KlavierHaus in Manhattan. The series is co-produced by Italy’s Rovigo State Conservatory, as part of the Rovigo Piano Festival project, with the coordination of Roberto Prosseda and Federico Nicoletta, both internationally acclaimed pianists and professors at the Conservatory. Prosseda and Nicoletta will perform in the Festival, along with twelve young Italian pianists.
Audiences will hear works spanning four centuries, from Lodovico Giustini’s Sonata op. 1, written in 1732, to contemporary piano works composed in 2024. The concert programs include works by Clementi, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Rendano, Sgambati, Busoni, Fano, Menotti, Malipiero, Castelnuovo Tedesco, Casella, Dallapiccola, Caetani, Busoni, Omizzolo, Petrassi, Rieti, Castiglioni, Rota, Morricone. Works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco will be performed at two concerts:
Friday 25 October at 6pm at BargeMusic: Roberto Prosseda will premiere a selection of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Greeting Cards for piano:
- Lullaby on the name of Claudia, written to celebrate the birth of André Previn’s daughter Claudia. Previn studied with Castelnuovo-Tedesco in California.
- Little March on the name of Scott Harrison, written to celebrate the birth of the son of Sherman Krane, a friend and colleague of the composer’s during his time at Michigan State University.
- Angelus sul nome di Nino Rota-Rinaldi, dedicated to Mario’s lifelong friend, the composer Nino Rota.
Prosseda will also perform the delightful “Tango” and poignant “Romanza senza Parole” from Mario’s Quattro Pezzi di media difficoltà. The American premiere of Ennio Morricone’s evocative Rimembranze, Goffredo Petrassi’s Toccata and Luigi Dallapiccola’s Sonatina Canonica round out the program.
Sunday 3 November at 4 pm at BargeMusic: Adriano Murgia will perform an all-Castelnuovo-Tedesco program, featuring works written during the composer’s Italian years: Fantasia e Fuga sul nome di Ildebrando Pizzetti; Le stagioni; I naviganti; Alghe; and Piedigrotta: Fantasia Napoletana 1924.
For the complete calendar of events, please consult the websites of BargeMusic and KlavierHaus Salon Concerts.