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Stefano Severini is an Italian orchestra conductor and pianist.
In addition to his career as a piano soloist and piano accompanist, Severini has committed himself with great dedication to orchestral conducting. Training with renowned professors from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Russia, he furthered his education in conducting technique, score analysis and opera piano reduction. As a conductor, he continuously furthered his education since 2013, regularly conducting professional orchestras at final concerts of conducting master classes. Severini made his international conducting debut as a guest conductor with the Astrakhan Chamber Orchestra Philharmonic (2017) and the Bryansk Philharmonic Orchestra (2018), which was equally appreciated by audiences and critics.
It was the interplay of these experiences that shaped the person you see before you today. This is how Severini acquired his versatile expertise as well as a broad repertoire of symphonic, operatic and piano music.
As a conductor, Severini performed as guest conductor of the Bryansk Philharmonic Orchestra (2018), the Astrakhan Chamber Orchestra Philharmonic (2017), and the Hermitage Chamber Orchestra in St. Petersburg (2016). From 2014 to 2018, he regularly performed in closing concerts of conducting workshops with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the Hermitage Chamber Orchestra in St. Petersburg, the Berlin Sinfonietta, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc, and the Orchestra Regionale Filarmonia Veneta. His work experience in opera includes collaborations as a pianist with choirs, singers and schools for singing. Furthermore, he was employed as a language coach at the Bern Opera House for productions of Rossini's Barbiere di Siviglia and Puccini's Madama Butterfly. As a guest auditor and apprentice, he attended productions of Maestro Eliahu Inbal (2019) and the legendary Maestro Nello Santi (2017-2019).
As a solo pianist, Severini performed piano recitals and concerts in Russia in 2016 and 2017 at the invitation of the Kostomuksha Festival, the Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture in Moscow, the Chelyabinsk State Philharmonic, the Samara State Philharmonic, and the Makhachkala State Philharmonic. As part of the Liszt program, Severini was invited to give a recital at Goldsmiths University of London and at the Liszt Institute in Bologna for the Liszt’s first year of the Années de Pèlerinage in 2014. Since 1998 he has played for Italian concert societies including the Rossini Foundation of Pesaro, the Symphony Orchestra of Pesaro, the Festival Terra dei Teatri in Macerata, the V. Basso Theatre of Ascoli Piceno, the Municipal Theatre of Treia, Ass. Intermusica al Palazzo Barberini, the Italian Cultural Institute in Bucharest, and the Italian Cultural Institute in Zurich.
When in the recording hall, Severini presented himself with works by various prominent composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Dvorak, Bax, Vaughan-Williams, and Rendano. In 2012, he was invited by Radio Svizzera Italiana for a solo piano recording production. In 2008 he recorded a monographic CD entitled Alfonso Rendano - Opere per pianoforte, released by Tactus Label.
PIANO COLLABORATIONS
For institutions. Severini has gained a wealth of experience as a piano accompanist and repetiteur for renowned institutions since 2005, including the Bern Opera House, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, the Centro di Canto e dell'Arte di presentarsi di Lugano, the Auditorium della Radio Svizzera Italiana, the Ensemble 900 from Lugano, the Nuovo Coro Lirico Sinfonico di Roma, the Opera Masterclass at the Ass. Giovani all'Opera, the Coro Polifonico del Teatro Lirico V. Basso di Ascoli Piceno and the Coro Polifonico di Cremona.
For singers. In 2011, Severini was invited to perform for a concert series of the Hermann Hesse Museum in Lugano at a recital with the famous tenor Keith Lewis. In the years 2009 to 2011, he focused on German, French and Russian “Lieder” repertoires and collaborated with mezzo-soprano Eva Wymola at the Centro di Canto e dell'Arte di presentarsi in Lugano. With a broad and varied repertoire of thematic “Lieder” programs, the duo attracted the attention of cultural institutions and gave concerts at art exhibitions at the Museo d'Arte Moderna di Ascona and the Pinacoteca Cantonale Giovanni Züst in Mendrisio.
For chamber music. During his three-year stay in Lugano from 2008 to 2011, Severini acquired extensive knowledge of the chamber music repertoire. He collaborated with students of the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana and participated in piano trio workshops led by Bruno Giuranna, Massimo Quarta, Johannes Goritzki, Robert Cohen, David Johnson, Antonio Meneses and Pier Narciso Masi. He worked as a piano accompanist for the Fondazione Internazionale Premio Valentino Bucchi di Roma from 2005 to 2007.
PRIZES
At the International Piano Competition of the UK Liszt Society in London in 2013, Severini was awarded first prize by unanimous vote of a jury chaired by Leslie Howard. 2009 Awarded first prize from Associazione dei Membri dell'Ordine delle Palme Accademiche in Lugano, for piano trio chamber music. Severini has been a finalist in more than thirty international piano competitions since 1994, such as Stresa (1994), G.B. Pergolesi Napoli (1998), C.Vidusso Milano (1998), Università Cattolica Roma (2000), Gorizia (2001), Premio Gante Pordenone, and Premio F.Rossomandi Foggia. During his studies he received scholarships from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, the Mozarteum Summer Academy, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the Fondazione Rossini.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
As Artistic Director, Severini organised his first own cultural event, the Piano-Attivo Festival in Zürich, from 2013 to 2019. During this festival, he held fifteen concerts in various cultural venues in the city of Zürich with internationally renowned musicians. Several Swiss foundations and the city of Zürich supported his cultural project.
EDUCATION
Orchestra Conducting education. Severini has been trained in traditional European conducting techniques and culture since 2013 by renowned professors such as Prof. Lior Shambadal, Prof. Alexander Polyanichko (since 2015), Leonid Korchmar (2019, 1 semester), and Prof. Liutauras Balciunas (2013). Severini has practiced under the direction of internationally acclaimed conductors such as Johannes Wildner, Roberto Paternostro, Lior Shambadal, Sergey Stadler, Colin Metters, and Pierangelo Gelmini. He participated in masterclasses with orchestras in Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Italy.
Piano education. Severini completed the Master of Arts in Piano Pedagogy in Switzerland in 2010. He participated in individual masterclasses with Jürg Wittenbach and Vladimir Ashkenazy and performed as a soloist with orchestras in various workshops.
Severini's technical and musical education and training was significantly furthered by piano masterclasses with Leslie Howard (2007), Joaquin Achucarro (2006), David Bradshaw, and Cosmo Buono (1993).
Between 2005 and 2007 he completed three years of postgraduate private piano studies with Professor Sergio Perticaroli. From 2001 to 2002 he completed two years of postgraduate piano studies with Professor Franco Scala. From 1997 to 1998 he completed a one-year piano specialization course with Professor Sergio Fiorentino in Marotta IT.
Severini completed his piano studies in 1998 at the Conservatory G. Rossini in Pesaro.