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The orchestra of I Virtuosi Italiani is considered one of the most lively and qualified ensembles in the international musical scene. The orchestra, born in 1989, is to the present day on the hotspot for its artistic excellence, for its innovative musical projects and for the managing strategies it has displayed through its history. It regularly performs in the most important theatres and musical venues in Italy, while being frequently invited all around the world for performances and tours.

Among the most relevant performances of the last three years we highlight the concert for the Senate of the Republic of Italy – broadcasted live on RAI 1; the “Concert for Life and Peace” – performed in Rome, Betlehem and Jerusalem and broadcasted worldwide on RAI 1; a concert in the Sala Nervi of Vatican city in presence of the Pope; a tour around South America, in the most important concert venues and musical seasons of the continent, and the debut in the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London.

Among the most recent recordings (December 2012) there is a CD entirely dedicated to Philip Glass's compositions, for the Orange Mountain Music records, and the first worldwide release in recent times of the Cantatas by Nicolò Porpora, for Brilliant Classic records.

Being focused on philological research, I Virtuosi Italiani often performs the baroque repertoire, at times with original baroque instruments.Very versatile and always open to new collaborations, the orchestra has worked with musicians such as C. Corea, G., Bregovic, M. Nyman, L. Einaudi, F. Battiato, C. Picco, U. Caine, P. Fresu, E. Rava, A. Ruggiero, G.Trovesi and R. Galliano.

I Virtuosi Italiani are both founders and principal performers of a musical season in Verona, where the orchestra is based, today at its XVIII year, and of a season of sacred music in the beautiful church of San Fermo Maggiore in Verona.

From the year 2011 on, I Virtuosi Italiani has been the ensemble-in-residence of the musical season held in the in the church of Ospedale della Pietà in Venice.
The artistic mission sees the Konzertmeister and principal violin Alberto Martini as the key figure, while the principal conductor is Corrado Rovaris. 

Henri Demarquette, born in 1970, was thirteen when he attended the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, studying with Philippe Muller and Maurice Gendron. He was unanimously awarded a Premier Prix, and worked with Pierre Fournier and Paul Tortelier before taking lessons from Janos Starker in Bloomington, USA.

Familiar with the stage by the time he was fourteen, Demarquette made his concert debut at seventeen with a recital at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and a recording for France 3 Television with pianist Hélène Grimaud. He caught the attention of Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who invited him to play Dvorák’s Concerto in Prague and Paris with Menuhin conducting. His career has been international ever since, taking him to many capitals in the company of the greatest French and international orchestras – most recently the Orchestre National de France, the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Tokyo Symphony, the Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine, the Symphonia Varsovia, the Neue Philharmonie Westphalen – and he has appeared with his favourite piano-partners Brigitte Engerer, Michel Dalberto, Giovanni Bellucci and Boris Berezovsky.

His performance of Henri Dutilleux’s Concerto “Tout un monde lointain” with Mannheim’s Akademisches Orchester conducted by Frédéric Chaslin was filmed for France Europe Média with the aid of SACEM.

In 2011 and 2012, he performs with several orchestras : Orchestre National de France, Sinfonia Varsovia, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Hanover, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestre Français des Jeunes, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Orchestre de Cannes-Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur... He also plays at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with Brigitte Engerer, at the Salle Pleyel, Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Gaveau, Opéra de Marseille... He has also been awarded the “Prix de la Fondation Simone et Cino del Duca” by the Académie des Beaux Arts. Henri Demarquette plays “le Vaslin”, cello created by Stradivarius in 1725, on loan from LVMH - Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

Francesco Fiore, born in Rome, completed his studies at Santa Cecilia Conservatory, Rome, with Maestros Lina Lama and Massimo Paris. He subsequently improved his skills with Maestro Bruno Giuranna at the W. Stauffer Foundation in Cremona.

Winner of several prizes, he soon undertook an intense concert activity, being a regular guest of the most prestigious Associations and Festivals in Italy and abroad. As for the chamber music activity he has collaborated with artists like Salvatore Accardo, Boris Belkin, Uto Ughi, , Pierre Amoyal, Renata Scotto, Bruno Canino, Alfons Kontarskj, Alexander Mazdar, Michele Campanella, Andrea Lucchesini, Rocco Filippini, Alain Meunier, Bruno Giuranna, Franco Petracchi, Gabriele Pieranunzi, Rainer Kussmaul, Pavel Vernikov, David Lively.

He has recorded CDs for RCA, ASV, FONIT CETRA, FONÉ and MUSIKSTRASSE. 

Since 1991 he has been principal viola of the Teatro dell’Opera Orchestra in Rome; he has also played as principal viola with the Milan Teatro alla Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, the National RAI Orchestra, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and, invited by Salvatore Accardo, with the Orchestra da Camera Italiana.

He has taught in the Superior Courses at various Italian Conservatories (Rome, Latina, Fermo).

He plays a Joseph Hill viola, London 1774, and a Raffaele Fiorini viola d’amore, Bologna 1894.

Amici del Festival, ecco le parole del Sindaco di Pietrasanta Massimo Mallegni a pochi giorni dall'inizio di Pietrasanta in Concerto:

Con il Festival di musica classica “Pietrasanta in concerto” la nostra città completa la sua offerta culturale ed artistica in chiave turistica e di promozione del territorio. E’ un appuntamento che abbiamo voluto, io e Daniele Spina, molti anni fa ormai, ed avevamo ragione. Oggi celebriamo insieme al decennale, che è un traguardo importante, una crescita della rassegna che è stata graduale e poderosa da tutti i punti di vista. Pietrasanta in concerto è diventata un punto di riferimento internazionale per i più importanti solisti, orchestre e per il pubblico, sempre numeroso, e ha contribuito a proiettare il nome della nostra città nel circuito mondiale delle mete musicali più prestigiose. Siamo particolarmente orgogliosi di ospitare questa rassegna che raccoglie tutti gli elementi che, secondo noi, sono determinanti per una vera, profonda e mondiale valorizzazione del territorio. Ci tengo particolarmente a ringraziare l’amico direttore artistico Michael Guttman, ed il suo staff, che ogni anno riescono a costruire una programmazione sempre all’altezza delle aspettative e degli obiettivi che questa amministrazione si pone. La musica, al pari dell’arte contemporanea e dell’artigianato artistico di cui siamo indiscutibili leader, è uno strumento efficace per esportare la nostra Pietrasanta nel mondo.

Il Sindaco Massimo Mallegni

Born in St Petersburg in 1975, Dmitri Makhtin started his musical education at the age of 4 with his parents, both professional violinists at the St Peterburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1981 he entered the Conservatory for highly talented children. In 1989 he won the prize of the National Competition for Young Violinists in Novossibirsk, Russia.

From 1992 to 1995 he continued his musical education with professors P.Hirshborn and H.Krebbers. He won the following international competitions : Kloster Schontal violin competition, Premio Paganini and Louis Spohr, Tibor Varga, Montréal, Sibelius and Pretoria.

Dmitri Makhtin made his French debut in Paris in 1997 with Maestro Svetlanov and the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, then, his American debut in 1998, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Maestro Slatkin. From then on, he appeared with orchestras such as: Het Residentie, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, St Petersburg Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras, Sydney Radio and TV Orchestras, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Montpellier National Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam, Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonia, Solistes Européens du Luxembourg and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

He performed with conductors such as Evgeny Svetlanov, Leonard Slatkin, James de Priest, Sakari Oramo, Jiri Belohlavek, Alexander Dmitriev, Jerzy Semkow, Yuri Temirkanov, Nikolaï Alexeev, Jean-Claude Casadesus.

The Trio Boris Berezovsky, Dmitri Makhtin, Alexander Kniazev, recorded a DVD of Tchaïkovsky's Pieces for piano, violin and cello and Trio Elégiaque “A La mémoire d’un grand artiste” presented on ARTE TV Channel and NHK in Japan. They received for this DVD the 4-star Diapason award.

The CD (Warner Classics International) with B.Berezovsky and A.Kniazev, Chostakovitch's Trio n°2 and Rachmaninov's Trio Elégiaque n°2 received several highest awards like the Choc de la Musique in France, Gramophone in England, Echo Classic in Germany.

CD of Mendelssohn trios with A.Kniazev and B.Berezovsky received the « Echo » award.

His last disc recorded for Lontano is a selection of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas.

In 2011, Dmitri Makhtin was invited for a tour with the Orchestre National de Lille and Maestro Casadesus for the 25th anniversary of the orchestra, concerts at the Folle Journée de Nantes, and the Folle Journée Tokyo… He was also invited by Vadim Repin to play at his Carte Blanche.

His forthcoming projects include concerts at Folles Journées de Nantes, Tokyo, in Anvers with Andrei Korobeinikov, Moments Musicaux de La Baule with Boris Berezovsky, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Jaap van Sweden.

The Debussy String Quartet has built a reputation graced with international acclaim through their many recordings and live performances. Since its creation in 1990, they have enlivened the chamber music world with their stylish and stimulating performances. Based in Lyon and honored as Winners of the Evian International String Quartet Competition, the quartet performs about 120 concerts a year all around the world (Europe, Asia, Australia, North America...).

The quartet’s recording schedule has included the release of more than 25 CDs in 25 years with works ranging from French Music (recently, around Debussy and Caplet which enriches its collection composed of Bonnal, Ravel, Faurè, Witkowski or Lekeu) to Weber or Shostakovich with the complete string quartets recorded by Arion. It includes the acclaimed Decca label release of the landmark Mozart Requiem recording, in the 1802 transcription by Peter Lichtenthal (about which a documentary film has also been made). The quartet’s mixed chamber music repertoire includes its highly regarded CD of the Brahms and Webern clarinet quintets with clarinetist Jean Francois Verdier and a highly acclaimed collaboration with François Chaplin in several Mozart piano concertos.

Its members are the founders of “Les Cordes en Ballade” a chamber music festival and an academy of chamber music in the South of France, where they perform and teach each summer. You can learn more about The Debussy String Quartet on their website: www.quatuordebussy.com

Christophe Collette, First violin
Marc Vieillefon, Second violin
Vincent Deprecq, viola
Cédric Conchon, cello

Cho-Liang Lin was born in Taiwan. A neighbor of violin studies convinced this 5-year old boy to want the same musical toy. Thus began his musical lessons. At the age twelve, he moved to Sydney to further his studies with Robert Pikler. After playing for Itzhak Perlman in a master class, the 13-year old boy decided that he must try to study with Mr. Perlman's teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At the age fifteen, Lin traveled alone to New York and auditioned for the Juilliard School and spent the next six years working with Ms DeLay. He has since performed as soloist with virtually every major orchestra in the world. His busy schedule on stage around the world continues to this day. However, his wide ranging interests have led him into diverse endeavors. At the age of 31, his alma mater, Juilliard School, invited Lin to become faculty. In 2006, he was appointed professor at Rice University. He is currently music director of La Jolla SummerFest and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Ever so keen about education, he was music director of the Taiwan National Symphony music camp and youth orchestra for four years. In his various professional capacities, Cho-Liang Lin has championed composers of our time. His efforts to commission new works have led a diverse field of composers to write for him. The list includes John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun, John Williams, Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Joan Tower and many more. Lin performs on the 1715 Stradivari. His many concerts, recital and chamber music recordings on Sony Classical, Decca, BIS, Delos and Ondine can be heard on Spotify or Naxos.com. His albums have won Gramophone Record Of The Year, Grammy nominations and Penguin Guide Rosettes.

Of Croatian descent, Cecilia Radic is one of the most appreciated Italian cellists of her generation. She won the Premio Stradivari-Concorso Caruana International Award in 1996 and has since appeared in countless performances. Ms. Radic studied under the guidance of teachers such as Rocco Filippini, David Geringas, Mario Brunello and William Pleeth. As a soloist she toured with the Orchestra Rai (Radio) of Milan performing the Dvorak concerto as well as with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Filarmonici di Verona, Ensemble of La Scala Theatre, Balkan Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Ducale, the Italian Chamber Orchestra (as soloist with Salvatore Accardo) and I Solisti Filarmonici Italiani. Ms Radic’s extensive international experience has reached far beyond Europe, with a variety of performances in Japan, South America, Middle East and the United States, where she participated in a chamber music festival. Her chamber music collaborations include performances with musicians such as Salvatore Accardo, Isabelle Faust, David Finckel, Bruno Giuranna, Wu Han, Keller quartet. She currently plays in the Accardo Quartet and is co-founder of Estrio (piano trio). She has recorded CDs for various labels (CPO, Decca, Chandos, Stradivarius and Sipario), radio and television programs. She plays an 1837 Bernardel cello.

The Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale is one of the most famous orchestras in Italy, highly esteemed by international audiences and demanding conductors alike. The Orchestra was founded in 1928 by Vittorio Gui, under the name “Stabile Orchestrale Fiorentina.” In 1933, the Orchestra created what would become one of the oldest and most prestigious music festivals in Europe : the “Festival del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino”, giving its name to the Orchestra. Milestones in the Orchestra’s history include the resident conductorships of Riccardo Muti (1969-’81) and Zubin Mehta; Zubin Mehta has been Principal Conductor since 1985, and, season after season, leads important symphonic productions and highly-prestigious tours. In 2012, he is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his début in Florence. The Orchestra later established a special relationship with Myung-Whun Chung and Semyon Bychkov, who have been Principal Guest Conductors since 1987 and 1992 respectively.

The Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino enjoys a superb reputation throughout the music world, and in the course of its history has been conducted by some of the finest musicians of all time, such as Victor De Sabata, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Tullio Serafin, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Erich Kleiber, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti, Riccardo Chailly, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Seiji Ozawa. Famous composers have also conducted their own works in world-première performances in Florence appositely commissioned by Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; they include Richard Strauss, Pietro Mascagni, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Goffredo Petrassi, Luigi Dallapiccola, Krzysztof Penderecki and Luciano Berio.

The Orchestra has made numerous musical recordings, many of which have received prestigious radio and television awards, including the Grammy Award. The Orchestra’s most recent successes include its third tour of Japan, headed by the Honorary Conductor for Life Zubin Mehta; Warsaw, the Musikverein in Vienna, Frankfurt and Baden-Baden. On the 80th anniversary of its inauguration, the Orchestra received the Fiorino d’Oro award from the City of Florence for outstanding artistic achievement. In 2011, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino was commended by the President of the Italian Republic Ambassador for its invaluable contribution to culture and was an essential part of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy. During 2011 the Orchestra had important tournées in more than 12 countries (France, Luxemburg, Spain, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, China, India, Hungary, Russia, Austria, Switzerland). In 2012 the Festival of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is hosting its 75th edition, which has as motif the voyage from Middle Europe to South America, and is taking place during the year which celebrates Amerigo Vespucci on the 500th anniversary of his death.