Mario Brunello

In 1986 Mario Brunello was the first Italian ever to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which launched him into a stunning international career. Brunello has played with some of the most prestigious orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, London Symphony, Kioi Sinfonietta, Orchestre National de France, NHK Symphony Tokyo, Filarmonica della Scala, Accademia di Santa Cecilia, DSO Berlin. He has also collaborated with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Muti, Vladimir Jurowski, Ton Koopman, Daniele Gatti, Antonio Pappano, John Axelrod, Myung?Whun Chung, Seiji Ozawa and Claudio Abbado. Abbado has, over the years, invited Brunello several times to play with him and the Orchestra of the Lucerne Festival and the Mozart Orchestra. With both orchestras Brunello has appeared as a soloist and also as a conductor.

He often takes on the dual roles of conductor and soloist, and in 1994 he founded the Orchestra d'Archi Italiana with whom he tours intensively both in Italy and abroad. Chamber music plays an important role in his artistic life and he collaborates with artists including Gidon Kremer, Martha Argerich, Frank Peter Zimmermann, Yuri Bashmet, Maurizio Pollini, Valery Afanassiev, Andrea Lucchesini, the Borodin and the Alban Berg Quartets. Brunello also devotes much time to projects involving diverse art forms (literature, philosophy, science, theatre). Through new ways of communication he tries to attract new audiences, creating interactive performances of music, images and words. A large number of these activities take place in Antiruggine, a remodelled workshop that is ideal for these experiments.

The diverse artistic genres with which Brunello experiments are reflected in a wide ranging collection of recordings which include the Beethoven Triple Concerto conducted by Claudio Abbado (Deutsche Grammophon), the Bach Suites and Sonatas by Brahms, Beethoven and Chopin, contemporary works for solo cello, and a five?CD “Brunello Series" on Egea Records: “Odusia”, a musical Odyssey through Mediterranean culture, “Brunello and Vivaldi”, dedicated to the cello Concertos by Vivaldi, “Violoncello and” for solo cello, “Schubert e Lekeu” with the pianist Andrea Lucchesini and a double CD with the Bach Suites. This last one was awarded the prestigious Italian Critic Award 2010. The major engagements of the 2012/13 season include a tour with violinist Gilles Apap, Shostakovich Concerto nr. 2 conducted by Valery Gergiev in Paris, concerts with the Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonique de Radio?France, Tenerife and Stavanger Symphonies, and a Residency at the Gstaad Sommets Musicaux Festival. In October 2012 a new CD with Dvorak’s Concerto recorded live in Rome with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano will be released by EMI. Mario Brunello plays a precious Maggini cello from the 1600s.