The Italian duo of cellist Dario Destefano and pianist Maurizio Barbaro will perform the final Piano Series concert of the year on Sunday [MARCH 9] at East Central University.
Part of the Scissortal Series, the concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Dorothy Summers Theatre. Admission is free.
Dario Destefano is artistic coordinator of the Associazione "Concertante" of Turin and cello teacher at the G. Verdi Conservatory of Turin. He and Barbaro have recorded the Brahms, Franck, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Kabalevski Sonatas.
Destefano has performed on tours in Japan as a soloist and in chamber ensembles with prestigious soloists of the Berliner Philharmoniker and American orchestras, also performing at the Fuji Festival and the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo.
With two other soloists (Massimo Marin, violin, and Francesco Cipolletta, piano), the Trio ArchP was formed for the purpose of playing important chamber works composed for such an ensemble. After numerous concerts, the Trio ArchP recorded Tchaikovsky's Trio as well as Ravel's.
Destefano, who plays a "Santagiuliana" cello, Vicenza 1821, also has recorded the complete chamber works of Chopin and music by Dvorak, Rubinstein, Shostakovich and Smetana.
He received a diploma with full marks at the G. Verdi Conservatory of Turin and at the R. Schumann Hochschule in Dusseldorf, Germany.
In 1987, at age 22, he already played (first cello) in the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale, Bologna, subsequently collaborating with the Teatro Regio in Turin, also as first cello. In 1990 he won first prize for chamber music in the Viotti Competition in Vercelli, second prize in Japan in the Osaka Chamber Music Competition and in 1995, second prize in the Trapani Chamber Music Competition.
Maurizio Barboro completed his artistic education at the "Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia" in Rome. Since 1970 he has combined an intense career in Italy and the major cultural centers in Europe, Asia and North America, collaborating with famous conductors and prestigious orchestras.
He has been an artist in residence and permanent soloist of the Dumitrescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Valcea (Romania) since 1996.
He made his debut in the United States in 1999 and periodically holds master classes at various schools. In 2000 he inaugurated the symphonic season of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts with Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto. In 2001 he played Shostakovich's Second Concerto, accompanied by the prestigious Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bucharest Ateneu Hall. During 2004 and 2005 concert seasons he played with the Longwood Orchestra in Boston.
Barboro also performs in such distinguished chamber music ensembles as Nuovo Quartetto Pianistico Italiano (two pianos, eight hands), with the violinists Aiman Musakhodzhaeva and Gernot Winischhofer, the flutists Maxence Larrieu and Giuseppe Nova and cellist Dario Destefano.
He has undertaken several recordings of works by Italian composers for national TV and radio networks in both Western and Eastern Europe. Other notable CD recordings include the complete works for two pianos, eight hands, the works of the Italian contemporary composer Mario Panatero, the complete collection of Shostakovich's Piano Concertos (with the Belarus National Philharmonic Orchestra), and the Brahms, Franck, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Kabalevsky Sonatas for Cello and Piano.
Barboro holds the chair of piano at the Antonio Vivaldi State Conservatory in Alessandria and at the international summer courses in Bergolo. He is a member of the jury of several international contests, art director of the CittB di Ovada International Competition and the Alfredo Casella Music Association and president of the CittB di Racconigi - Schubert Prize Contest.
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