Lorenzo Ferrero

Lorenzo Ferrero (born 1951 in Turin) is a contemporary Italian composer of orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal and instrumental music, with a predilection for opera. After being initially self-taught, he studied composition from 1969 to 1972 with Massimo Bruni and Enore Zaffiri at the Turin Music Conservatory, earning in 1974 a degree in aesthetics from the University of Turin with a thesis on John Cage.

His early interest in the psychology of perception and psychoacoustics led him to IMEB, the International Electroacoustic Music Institute of Bourges, France where he did research on electronic music between 1972 and 1973, IRCAM in Paris, and to the Musik/Dia/Licht/Film Galerie in Munich, Germany in 1974.

Lorenzo Ferrero has received commissions from numerous festivals and institutions, his works being constantly performed throughout Europe and North America, particularly in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and the United States. In 1986 he was awarded the "Premio Italia" for his work "La fuga di Foscolo". His most popular compositions include the operas "Marilyn", "La figlia del mago", "Salvatore Giuliano" and "La conquista", the "Piano Concerto", the "Triple Concerto" for violin, violoncello and piano, the "Capriccio" for piano and string orchestra, the set of six symphonic poems "La nueva España", "Canzoni d'amore", "Parodia", "Ostinato", "Glamorama Spies", "Tempi di quartetto" for string quartet, and the ballet "Franca Florio, regina di Palermo".

As an active opera conductor and manager of art events, he has served as artistic director of the "Festival Puccini" in Torre del Lago (1980-84), "Unione Musicale" in Turin (1983-87), "Arena di Verona" (1991-94), and the "Musica 2000" fair. In 1999 he co-founded and coordinated the "Festa della Musica", a showcase of classical, jazz and world music held in Milan, and four years later he managed the "Ravello Festival". In 2007 Lorenzo Ferrero was appointed on the board of directors of SIAE, the Italian Authors and Publishers Association.

Recently he published the "Manuale di scrittura musicale", a manual which describes the basic rules of correct and elegant music writing from the orthographic as well as the graphic point of view, and which is addressed to all composers, musicologists, teachers, students and copy-editors in need of practical advice. His music is published by Casa Ricordi, Milano.

He features in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", "Italian Opera since 1945", and "The New Penguin Opera Guide" as "a principal exponent of the neo-tonal tendencies common to a number of Italian composers of his generation, who has championed a brand of narrative music-theatre that aims to capture a wider audience than that achieved by the heirs of the modernist tradition. His idiom, highly eclectic from the start, has drawn increasingly upon popular and neo-romantic idioms." Currently, Lorenzo Ferrero is professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory.

the best kind of marilyn is the tenpenny one.

Works

In addition to the works listed below which include original orchestral, instrumental, choral, vocal, piano solo, organ and harpsichord pieces, Lorenzo Ferrero completed the orchestration of the third version of the opera "La rondine" by Giacomo Puccini, which was subsequently premiered at Teatro Regio di Torino on 22 March 1994. Furthermore, he wrote film scores, the official anthem for the Sestriere Ski World Championship opening ceremony of 1997, incidental music for stage productions, and a second Piano Concerto which is on the way to its world première in Florence at Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in February, 2009. Several performance videos can be viewed on YouTube.

Ballet

* "Invito a nozze" (1978)
* "Lotus Eaters" (1985)
* "Franca Florio, regina di Palermo" (2007)

Opera

* "Rimbaud, ou le fils du soleil" (1978) Quasi un melodramma in three acts
* "Marilyn" (1979) Scenes from the 1950s in two acts
* "La figlia del mago" (1981) Giocodramma melodioso in two acts
* "Mare nostro" (1985) Comic opera in two acts
* "Night" (1985) Opera in one act
* "Salvatore Giuliano" (1985) Opera in one act
* "Charlotte Corday" (1989) Opera in three acts
* "Le bleu-blanc-rouge et le noir" (1989) Marionette opera
* "La nascita di Orfeo" (1996) Musical action in one act
* "La conquista" (2005) Opera in two acts
* "Le piccole storie" - "ai margini delle guerre" (2007) Chamber opera in one act

Orchestral

* "Ellipse IV (Waldmusik)" (1974) for folk ensemble ad libitum
* "Romanza seconda" (1977) for basson and strings
* "Arioso" (1977) for orchestra and live electronics
* "Arioso" II (1981) for large orchestra
* "My blues" (1982) for string orchestra
* "Thema 44 (ad honorem J. Haydn)" (1982) for small orchestra
* "Ombres" (1984) for orchestra and live electronics
* "Intermezzo notturno" from "Mare nostro" (1985) for small orchestra
* "Intermezzo" "Portella della Ginestra" from "Salvatore Giuliano" (1986) for orchestra
* "Four Modern Dances" (1990) for small orchestra
* "Zaubermarsch" (1990) for small orchestra
* "Concerto for piano and orchestra" (1991)
* "Paesaggio con figura" (1994) for small orchestra
* "Concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra" (1994-95)
* "Palm Beach Overture" (1995) for orchestra
* "Capriccio" (1996) for piano and string orchestra
* "Three Baroque Buildings" (1997) for bassoon, trumpet and strings
* "Championship Suite" (1997) for large orchestra
* "Storie di neve" (1997) music for the Ski World Championship opening ceremony
* "La nueva España" (1992-99), a set of six symphonic poems
** "La ruta de Cortés" (1992)
** "La noche triste" (1996)
** "Memoria del fuego" (1998)
** "Presagios" (1999)
** "El encuentro" (1999)
** "La matanza del templo mayor" (1999)
* "Rastrelli in St. Petersburg" (2000) for oboe and string orchestra
* "Two Cathedrals in the South" (2001) for trumpet and string orchestra
* "Five Easy Pieces" (2002) transcription for orchestra
* "Guarini the Master" (2004) for violin and strings
* "DEsCH" (2006) for oboe, violin, piano and orchestra
* "Second Piano Concerto" (2006-2007)
* "Quatro variazioni su un tema di Banchieri: 2 Agosto. Prima variazione" (2008) for organ and orchestra

Chamber/Instrumental

* "Primavera che non vi rincresca" (1971) electronic tape piece
* "Ellipse III" (1974) for any 4 players/ensembles
* "Siglied" (1975) for chamber orchestra
* "Romanza senza parole" (1976) for chamber ensemble
* "Adagio cantabile" (1977) for small orchestra
* "Variazioni sulla notte" (1980) for guitar
* "Respiri" (1982) for flute and piano
* "Ellipse" (1983) for flute
* "My rock" (1985) (versions for piano and for big band)
* "Empty Stage" (1985) for 4 clarinets and piano
* "My Blues" (1986) for flute and piano
* "Passacaglia" (1986) for flute, clarinet and string quartet
* "Ostinato" (1987) for 6 violoncelli
* "Onde" (1987) for guitar
* "Parodia" (1990) for chamber ensemble
* "Discanto sulla musica sull'acqua di Handel" (1990) for flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, French horn and percussion
* "Cadenza" (1990) for clarinet and marimba
* "Movimento americano" (1992) for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, string quartet
* "Seven Seconds" (1995) for clarinet, violin and piano
* "Shadow Lines" (1995) for flute and live electronics
* "My Piece of Africa" (1996) for violin, viola, violoncello and contrabass
* "Five Easy Pieces" (1997) for flute and piano (version of a piano work)
* "Tempi di quartetto" (1996-98) for string quartet
* "Glamorama Spies" (2000) for flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano
* "Sonata" (2000) for viola and piano
* "Moonlight Sonata" (2001) for 5 percussion instruments
* "Five Aztec Gods" (2005) for string quartet
* "Fantasy Suite" (2007) for flute, violoncello and piano
* "Soleils" for harp

Piano music

* "Aivlys" (1977)
* "My Rag" (1982)
* "My Rock" (1983)
* "My Blues" (1984)
* "Rock my Tango" (1990)
* "Five Easy Pieces" (1994)
* "Seven Portraits of the Same Person" (1996)
* "Rubato"

Organ and harpsichord

* "A Red Wedding Dress" (1998) for organ
* "Ellipse II" (1975) for harpsichord/clavichord

Choral/Vocal

* "Ellipse III" (1974) for any 4 voices/choruses
* "Le neant ou l'on ne peut arriver" (1976) for solo voices, chorus and orchestra
* "Non parto, non resto" (1987) for mixed chorus
* "Introito", part of the "Requiem per le vittime della mafia" (1993) for chorus and orchestra

* "Night of the Nite" (1979) aria from "Marilyn" for soprano and piano
* "Canzoni d'amore" (1985) for voice and chamber ensemble
* "La fuga di Foscolo" (1986) for 4 soloists, speaker and small orchestra
* "Poi andro in America" (1986) aria from "Salvatore Giuliano" for voice and orchestra
* "Ninna-nanna" (1986) for tenor and piano
* "La conquista" (2006) suite sinfonico-corale

Incidental music

* "Nebbia di latte" (1980) for flutes and live electronics
* "La cena delle beffe" (1988) stage music for Carmelo Bene
* "Maschere" (1993) for "Le Massere" by C. Goldoni for string quartet

Theatre music

* "Lontano dagli occhi" (1999) for one actor, 4 voices, piano trio
* "Mozart a Recanati" (2006) for one actress, 1 voice, piano trio

Film soundtrack

* "Anemia" (1986)

Books

*Ferrero, Lorenzo (2007) "Manuale di scrittura musicale", Torino: EDT Srl

Discography

References

Baransky, Zygmunt G., West, Rebecca J. (2001) "The Cambridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture", Cambridge University Press

Boccadoro, Carlo (2007) "Lunario della musica", Einaudi

Bussotti, Sylvano (1982) "I miei teatri", Palermo: Edizioni Novecento

Enciclopedia della musica entry "Ferrero: Marilyn", 1996, Torino: UTET

Fairtile, Linda Beard (1999) "Giacomo Puccini: A Guide to Research", Routledge

Fearn, Raymond (1998) "Italian Opera since 1945", Routledge

Gerhartz, Leo Karl "Oper: Aspekte der Gattung", Laaber-Verlag

Girardi, Enrico (2000) "Il teatro musicale italiano oggi: La generazione del post-avanguardia", Torino: Paravia

Gruhn, Wilfried ed. (1989) Das Projekt Moderne und die Postmoderne: Die neue Tonalität bei Lorenzo Ferrero (by Theo Hirsbrunner), Kassel

Henck, Herbert ed. (1980-1985) "Ansätze zur Musik der Gegenwart: Lorenzo Ferrero "Marilyn" - Anmerkungen zur Oper", Vol. 3, pp 142-146

Henze, Hans Werner (1982) "Die Englische Katze", ein Arbeitsbuch 1978-82, Frankfurt: Fischer Verlag

Hirsbrunner, Theo (2001) "Musikhistoriche Dimensionen Italiens 1600 bis 2000: Lorenzo Ferrero und die Neotonalität", Verlag Dohr, Köln

Holden, Amanda ed. (2001) "The New Penguin Opera Guide", London: Penguin Books

Larousse de la musique entry "Ferrero: Rimbaud, Marilyn", Paris: Larousse

Nelson, Peter, Montague, Stephen (1992) "Live Electronics", CRC Press

Pugliaro, G. ed. (1996) Opera '96. "Annuario dell'opera lirica in Italia", EDT Srl

Russo, Marco (1988) "Moderno, post-moderno, neo-romanticismo: orientamenti di teatro musicale contemporaneo", "Il Verri", Vol. 2

Sadie, Stanley ed. (1992-2002) "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", London: Macmillan Press

Schreiber, Ulrich (2005) "Opernführer für Fortgeschrittene", Bärenreiter-Verlag

Stoïanova, Ivanka (2005) "Entre détermination et aventure: essais sur la musique de la deuxième moitié du XXème siècle", L'Hartman

Wignall, Harry James (1990) "Current Trends in Italian Opera: Perspectives of New Music", Vol. 28, No. 2, pp 312-326

External links

* [http://www.freebase.com/view/en/lorenzo_ferrero Lorenzo Ferrero at Freebase]
* [http://www.cematitalia.it/servizi/bio.php?lg=ita&cat=comp&id=101&cat=comp Lorenzo Ferrero at CEMAT]
* [http://www.ricordi.com/composers/f/lorenzo-ferrero-1/lorenzo-ferrero Lorenzo Ferrero at Casa Ricordi]
* [http://www.comitatoricordi.it/events/news-1/ferrero-and-ricordi-a-30-year-long-journey Lorenzo Ferrero at Comitato Ricordi]
* [http://www.edt.it/musica/articolo.php?id=213 Lorenzo Ferrero at EDT, Manuale di scrittura musicale]
* [http://www.edt.it/musica/leggio/articolo.php?a=341 Lorenzo Ferrero at EDT]
* [http://www.nmz.de/nmz/nmz2000/nmz10/feature-berio.shtml Lorenzo Ferrero interview with Luciano Berio]
* [http://www.classicalvoice.org/reviews/laopera_notes2007-08.htm#rondine0607 Lorenzo Ferrero at LA Opera]