2018 – 2019 EDITIONS, TEACHER:

GÜNTER NEUHOLD

Günter Neuhold was born in Graz, Austria, in 1947. In 1969 he completed his studies at the Graz Conservatoire with a masters degree. He then followed advanced courses in Rome with Franco Ferrara and in Vienna with Prof. Hans Swarowsky. Between 1972 and 1980 he was engaged at various German opera houses, a period he closed as first Kapellmeister in Hannover and Dortmund.

After winning several competitions (Florence 1st prize 1976; San Remo „Marinuzzi“ 1st prize 1976; Vienna „Swarowsky“ 2nd prize 1977; Salzburg „Böhm“ 1st prize, 1977 Milan, „Cantelli“ 3rd prize 1977), he began an international career. From 1981 to 1986 he was Music Director at the Teatro Regio di Parma, where he devoted most of his time to Verdi operas and Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica „Arturo Toscanini“. From 1986 to 1990 he was Chief Conductor and Musical Director of the Koninklijk Filharmonisch Orkest van Vlaanderen in Antwerp, which achieved an international reputation during this period and toured in Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France. Günter Neuhold was General Music Director at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe from 1989 to 1995. In Karlsruhe he performed a Richard-Strauss-Zyklus and the „Ring des Nibelungen“. From 1995 to 2002 he was General Music Director and Artistic Director at the Theater der Freien Hansestadt Bremen. From 2008 to 2014 he was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao.

Beside his permanent engagements he conducted the following orchestras: Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia Orch., Orchestre National de France, WDR Köln, mdr Leipzig, NDR Hamburg und Hannover, SWF Baden Baden, SDR Stuttgart, RSO Berlin, Gürzenich-Köln, HNPO Budapest, ORF, RAI, Orch. Sinf. Naz. Torino, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orch. Teatro Mass. Palermo, Orch. Sinf. Siciliana, La Fenice Venezia, BBC-Cardiff, Capitole Toulouse, Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre Philharmonic de Nice, Orch. Philh. Monte Carlo, RTVE Madrid, Real Orqu. Sinf. de Sevilla, Liceu Barcelona, Orqu. Sinf. de Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Granada, Gulbenkian, Malmö S.O., Singapore Symphony, Qatar, Malaysian, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Incheon, Masan, Changwon, Busan, Tokyo Philharmonic, Metropolitan, Yomiuri, Orqu. Natcional Argentina, Orqu. Filarmonica TeatroColón, Córdoba, Orqu. Sinf. de São Paulo, Sinf.Brasileira RJ, Orqu. Sinf.Nacional, OFUNAM Mexico City, Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Radio-TV-Tchaikovksy Moskau, Canadian B.C. Vancouver, Ontario Phil, ABC Australia Melbourne, Auckland.

He has conducted operas at the Wiener Staatsoper, Scala Milano, Opernhaus Zürich, Staatsoper Dresden, Nationaltheater München, Berliner Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Komische Oper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, State Opera Budapest, Teatro Real Madrid, Opéra Monte Carlo, Chatelet, Opera National de Paris, Teatro Colon B.A., Grand Théatre de Genéve, Bordeaux, Capitole Toulouse, Opera Nat. du Rhin Strasbourg, Den Norske Opera Oslo, Göteborgs Operan, Teatro Sao Carlos Lisboa, Opera Roma, Teatro Com. Bologna, Genova, Teatro Mass. Palermo, Catania, Philadelphia Opera, NNTTokyo, Tours in USA, Japan and Russia. Festivals: Salzburger Festspiele 78, 80, 83, 86, Festival de Radio France-Montpellier, Vlaanderen Festival, Biennale Venice, Enescu Festival Bucarest 98 Musikfestspiele and Intern.Strauss Festival Dresden,.Colorado Music-Festival 99. Granada Festival 2000, Festival de Santander

2015 – 2016 – 2017 EDITIONS, TEACHER: MASSIMILIANO CALDI

Principal Conductor of the Polish Baltic “F. Chopin” Philharmonic in Gdansk/Danzig Principal Conductor and Artistic Consultant of Koszalin Philarmonic “S. Moniuszko”

With a big experience in the fields of symphonic music, opera, operetta and ballet, an attention on contemporary opera and on the revival of the 19th century opera and a bright and linear directorial style, Massimiliano Caldi stands out for his high professional preparation and for his interpretation transmitted to him by his teachers Gallini, Bellugi, Acél, Renzetti, Gatti, Chung e Temirkanov. He’s also loved by orchestras all over the world for his musical taste and also for his human qualities. Winner of the first prize at the sixth Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Orchestral Conducting, in Katowice in 1999, he won the first prize from the jury, the orchestra and the public. Principal Conductor of Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra from 1998 to 2009, from 2006 to 2010 he had been also Artistic Director of the Silesian Chamber Orchestra. In 2012 Massimiliano Caldi had been appointed Principal Conductor of the Polish Baltic “F. Chopin” Philharmonic in Danzig and in 2014 he was appointed as Principal Conductor and Artistic Consultant of Koszalin Philarmonic “S. Moniuszko”. From 2016 Massimiliano Caldi has also increased the collaboration with the “A.Malawski”  Podkarpacka Philharmonic of Rzeszów and with the “A.Rubinstein” Philharmonic  of Lódz. Born in Milan, Massimiliano Caldi has a strong relation with his city that allowed him, thanks to the wide range of music that it has and thank to the frequentation, when Caldi was a child, of the Teatro alla Scala and Conservatory, to live his passion for music. Passion that has led him to decide to pursue a conducting career after the study of piano and composition made at the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan. In Milan he works with Accademia Teatro alla Scala of which he conducted symphony orchestra in  an opera galà at Royal Opera House of Muscat in Oman, I Virtuosi del Teatro alla Scala which he conducted in a concert at Warsaw’s Royal Castle, the orchestra of the I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano Foundation, the Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico di Milano Giuseppe Verdi Foundation and Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra. In Italy he works regularly with Opera di Firenze/Maggio Musicale Fiorentino the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, the Turin Teatro Regio, the Palermo Teatro Massimo and the Fondazione Arena di Verona. He conducted at Milan Conservatory Verdi’s Hall, at Torino Lingotto Auditorium, at Genova Carlo Felice Theater, at Verona Filharmonic theater, at Parma Paganini Auditorium and at Busseto Giuseppe Verdi Theater, at Teatro Politeama di Palermo, al Teatro Politeama Greco di Lecce. Amongst Italian orchestras, he has conducted the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari, the Fondazione “Arturo Toscanini” Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Giovanile del Piemonte, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Regionale di Roma e del Lazio, Torino Filharmonic Orchestra, the “Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese” Orchestra, the “Filarmonia Veneta” Orchestra, the Magna Grecia Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonica “Tito Schipa” of Lecce. In Poland he regularly conducts concerts with the most important Philarmonic and opera productions with the major opera houses and he has taken part in some of the most famous Polish festivals. He has conducted the Warsaw Polish Radio Symphonic Orchestra and the “Sinfonia Iuventus” Orchestra at the hall of the National Philharmonic in Warsaw. Also in Warsaw he conducted the “F. Chopin” Symphony Orchestra of the University of Music. Amongst other orchestras he conducted the Szymanowski Philharmonic Orchestra of Krakow, the Beethoven Accademy Symphony Orchestra of Krakow, the Sinfonietta Cracovia, the Katowice Polish Radio National Symphonic Orchestra  and the Karlowicz Philharmonic Orchestra of Stettin. In Europe he has performed at the Konzerthaus of Vienna, at the Brucknerhaus of Linz, at the Beethoven Halle of Bonn, at the Jarhunderthalle Hoechst of Frankfurt, at the Franz Liszt of Budapest, at the Rudolfinum  of Prague, at the Festspielhaus of Baden-Baden, at the Rosengarten of Mannheim and in the cities of Amsterdam, Munch, Szeged, Biel, Murten and in Extremadura Spanish region.  In Russia in 2016, he performed at the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and, under the invitation of Yuri Temirkanov, he debuted in St. Petersburgwith the Philharmonic Orchestra in the legendary “Great Hall”, in a program dedicated to the most famous Italian composers. In Israel he has conducted the Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva Orchestra and in Brasil the Santo André Symphonic Orchestra and in Chile the Symphonic Orchestra of Chile. In January and February 2016 he took a tournée in U.S.A. with his Polish Baltic “F.Chopin” Philharmonic Orchestra. In the Season 2016-2017 Caldi will conduct the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra. The works he has conducted from 1991 on include Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck, La Bohème by Puccini, Salomé by Strauss, Nabucco, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Il Trovatore by Verdi, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflote, Le Nozze di Figaro and La finta semplice  by Mozart, Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni, Rapsodia Satanica and Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni, Il barbiere di Siviglia by Rossini, Norma by Bellini, I Due timidi and La notte di un nevrastenico by Rota and La serva padrona by Pergolesi. Among his upcoming appointments Massimiliano Caldi will conduct Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Verdi’s Nabucco at the Teatro Grande in Poznan (January-February 2017, with recovery in May 2017), a selection of Puccini’s La Rondine in the year of the centenary of the first performance at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw for the XXI edition of the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival and Carmina Burana by Orff (June 2017) at the Philharmonic in Gdansk. Caldi has worked on the revival of the 19th century opera Il Macco by Ferdinando Ranuzzi conducted at Teatro Guardassoni, Bologna in 2006, Don Bucefalo and Re Lear by Antonio Cagnoni conducting them in 2008 and in 2009 at Valle d’Itria Festival in Martina Franca. During the Cracow Polish Music Festival, edition 2011, he has also conducted the first performance in modern times of Pierre de Medicis by Jozef Poniatowski. He has also turned his attention to contemporary opera. Over the years, he has conducted the world premieres of Peter Uncino by Tutino, Nevebianca by Betta and La zingara guerriera by Nicolini. On April 2017 Caldi will conduct Notte per me luminosa (world premiere) by Marco Betta at Teatro Municipale of Piacenza. The work is dedicated to the Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto. He also performed first premiere like, among the others, Limen and Midrash Temurah by Carlo Alessandro Landini, Pentalogon Quintett by Ivan Fedele, 1260, North Wetherly Drive by Carlo Boccadoro, Chatrang Ouverture by Ludovico Einaudi, Invano morte desio by Carlo Galante, Ego Alter for string orchestra by Federico Biscione, 5 Racconti orientali by Luca Mosca, Trio Concerto by Mikolaj Gòrecki and Divertimento for strings by Nicola Campogrande. In opera field Massimiliano Caldi recorded the follwing CDs: Re Lear and Don Bucefalo by Antonio Cagnoni and Salome by Richard Strauss for Dynamic; a selection from the “Grand Opera Pierre De ‘Medici” by Józef Poniatowski for Polish Music Festival in Krakow. In symphonic field Massimiliano Caldi recorded with the Silesian Chamber Orchestra the CDs Little Big Music with music by Britten, Holst, Lutoslawski and Kilar for DUX and with the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra the CDs Orchestral Works by Carlo Alessandro Landini for Tactus, Concertos and Symphonies by Alessandro Rolla for Dynamic and Da Ponte faceva … da ponte. Le avventure musicali di un poeta viaggiatore with Mozart’s music for Rugginenti. For Tadeusz Wronski Violin Foundation of Warsaw Massimiliano Caldi recorded in Katowice (2007) the piece Variations on the theme of Cinderella by Rossini by Karol Józef Lipinski, for the realization of the CD The Power of Polish violin, with the violinist Slawomir Tomasik and the Katowice Polish Radio National Symphonic Orchestra. Stradivarius has pubblished the CD Chamber Music & Orchestral Works by Carlo Alessandro Landini (2013) with Limen for sixteen strings conducted by Massimiliano Caldi. With the Polish Baltic “F. Chopin” Philharmonic Caldi recorded the live CD Harmoniques – Zbigniew Kruczek (2015) and the pieces Divertimento for strings by Bacewicz and the Concerto n.1 for violin and orchestra by Shostakovich with the violinist Alena Baeva.