Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Encyclopedia
The Accademia Musicale Chigiana (English: Chigiana Musical Academy) is a music institute in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition. During the summer months a series of concerts are held under the title of Estate Musicale Chigiana.

In 1983 the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Fulvia Casella Nicolodi and Guido Turchi created an International Composition Competition named after Alfredo Casella
Alfredo Casella
Alfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...

, for the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. The International Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize has been assigned, and among the winners’ names are some of the most famous ones in international concert circles: the violinists Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...

 (1982), Shlomo Mintz
Shlomo Mintz
Shlomo Mintz is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music concerts around the world.- Awards :...

 (1984), Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch...

 (1986), Viktoria Mullova
Viktoria Mullova
Viktoria Yurievna Mullova is a Russian violinist. She is best known for her performances and recordings of a number of violin concerti, compositions by J.S. Bach, and her innovative interpretations of popular and jazz compositions by Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, The Beatles, and...

 (1988), Frank Peter Zimmermann
Frank Peter Zimmermann
Frank Peter Zimmermann is a German violinist.He was born in Duisburg, Germany, and started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10....

 (1990), Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham
-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...

 (1992), Maxim Vengerov
Maxim Vengerov
Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov is a violinist, violist, and conductor who was born in the Soviet Union.-Youth:Born on 20 August 1974 in Novosibirsk, Russia, to a family with musical tradition....

 (1995), Julian Rachlin
Julian Rachlin
Julian Rachlin is a Lithuanian-born violinist and violist.-Background and early life:Born in Vilnius, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien and studied violin in the Soviet tradition with Boris Kuschnir, while also receiving private...

 (2000), Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn is an American violinist.Hahn was born in Lexington, Virginia. Beginning her studies when she was three years old at Baltimore's Peabody Institute, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age ten, and in 1991, made her major orchestral debut with the...

 (2002) and Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang
Sarah Chang is a Korean American violinist. Her debut came in 1989 with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shortly thereafter, Chang was recognized as a child prodigy. She enrolled at Juilliard School to study music, graduating in 1999 and continuing university studies...

 (2005), the pianists Peter Serkin
Peter Serkin
-Biography:He was born in New York City and is the son of pianist Rudolf Serkin, and grandson of the influential violinist Adolf Busch, whose daughter Irene had married Rudolf Serkin...

 (1983), Krystian Zimerman
Krystian Zimerman
Krystian Zimerman is a Polish classical pianist who is widely regarded as one of the finest living pianists.-Biography:...

 (1985), Andras Schiff
András Schiff
András Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist, who has won a number of awards including the Grammy and made numerous recordings.- Biography :...

 (1987), Andrei Gavrilov
Andrei Gavrilov
Andrei Vladimirovich Gavrilov is a Russian pianist.- Life :Gavrilov was born into a multinational family of artists in Moscow. His father was Vladimir Gavrilov , one of the leading Russian painters of the middle of the 20th century, through whom Gavrilov also has German ancestors...

 (1989), Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.-Biography:Kissin was born in Moscow to...

 (1991), Andrea Lucchesini (1994), Lilya Zilberstein
Lilya Zilberstein
-Biography:Born in Moscow on April 19, 1965, and educated at the Gnessin State Musical College , she rose to prominence after winning the 1987 Concorso Busoni. This triumph opened up the Italian halls to her, and as soon as she graduated she embarked on a tour, debuting in the Maggio Musicale...

 (1998), Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes
Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist and an ardent champion of the works of Edvard Grieg.-Biography:He studied with Jiří Hlinka at the Bergen Music Conservatory and made his debut in Oslo in 1987, in Britain at the Edinburgh Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic in 1989, and in the United States...

 (2001) and Arcadi Volodos
Arcadi Volodos
Arcadi Volodos is a Russian pianist. His first name is sometimes transliterated Arcady or Arkady. Volodos is renowned both for his technical mastery of the instrument's virtuosic repertoire and for his notoriously technically difficult arrangements of...

 (2003), as well as the orchestral conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.-Early career:...

 (1993), the Hagen Quartet
Hagen Quartet
The Hagen Quartet was founded in 1981 by four siblings, Lukas, Angelika , Veronika and Clemens, in Salzburg, Austria.Its current members are:* Lukas Hagen, violin...

 (1996) and the Artemis Quartet (2004), the violist Tabea Zimmermann
Tabea Zimmermann
Tabea Zimmermann, born on October 8, 1966 in Lahr, , is a German violist.She began learning to play the viola at the age of three, and commenced piano studies at age five...

 (1997) and the violoncellist Matt Haimovitz
Matt Haimovitz
Matt Haimovitz is an Israeli-born cellist now based in the United States and Canada. He mainly plays a cello made by Matteo Gofriller in 1710.-Family, musical education and early career:...

 (1999). These names join the history of the Accademia Chigiana, already studded with illustrious presences. In (2006) the Prize has been assigned to the pianist Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis (pianist)
Paul Lewis is an English classical pianist. His father worked at the Liverpool docks and his mother was a local council worker; there were no musicians in his family background....

. The 2010 Prize goes to Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz.

The list of distinguished pupils includes:
  • Daniel Barenboim
    Daniel Barenboim
    Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

  • Carlo Maria Giulini
    Carlo Maria Giulini
    Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...

  • Roberto Carnevale
    Roberto Carnevale
    Roberto Carnevale is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Biography and career :Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena...

  • Zubin Mehta
    Zubin Mehta
    Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...

  • Claudio Abbado
    Claudio Abbado
    Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...

  • Daniel Oren
    Daniel Oren
    -Biography:Daniel Oren was born in Israel. When he was 13 years old, Oren was chosen by Leonard Bernstein to perform the boy solo part in Chichester Psalms. In 1975 he won first prize in the first Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition.-Music career:...

  • Roman Vlad
    Roman Vlad
    Roman Vlad is an Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist of Romanian birth. He studied with Titus Tarnawski and Liviu Russu in Romania earning a piano diploma. He moved to Rome in 1938 to study at the University of Rome and later the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia...

  • Salvatore Accardo
    Salvatore Accardo
    Salvatore Accardo is an Italian violin virtuoso and conductor.He is highly regarded for his interpretations of Paganini, J. S. Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, contemporary works, chamber music, and opera conducting....

  • Uto Ughi
    Uto Ughi
    Diodato "Uto" Ughi is an Italian violinist and conductor. He was the music director of l'Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from 1992-1997...

  • Mario Lamberto
    Mario Lamberto
    Mario Lamberto is an Italian conductor.- Biography :He graduated in composition, conducting, piano, choral music and choral conducting, with full marks and honours....

  • Domenico Nordio
    Domenico Nordio
    Domenico Nordio is an Italian violinist, who was born in Venice .Nordio studied violin with Corrado Romano and Michèle Auclair. He began his concert career very young, winning the Vercelli "Viotti" International Competition at the age of 16, with Yehudi Menuhin as President of the panel of judges...

  • Alirio Diaz
    Alirio Diaz
    Alirio Díaz is a Venezuelan classical guitarist.The eighth of eleven children, Díaz was born in Caserio La Candelaria, a small village near Carora in western Venezuela. From childhood he showed a great interest in music. At age 16 he ran away from home to Carora, where he sought better schooling...

  • Gaspar Cassadó
    Gaspar Cassadó
    Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu was a Spanish cellist and composer of the early 20th century. He was born in Barcelona to a church musician father and began taking cello lessons at age seven. When he was nine, he played in a recital where Pablo Casals was in the audience; Casals immediately offered to...

  • John Williams
    John Williams
    John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...

  • Marcin Dylla
    Marcin Dylla
    Marcin Dylla is a Polish classical guitarist. He was born on June 6, 1976 in Chorzów. Between 1995 - 2000 he studied at the State Academy of Music in Katowice with Wanda Palacz. He continued his education abroad in the Musical Academy in Basel, Switzerland with Ocar Ghiglia, at the Musical Academy...

  • Adam Fischer
    Ádám Fischer
    Ádám Fischer is a Hungarian conductor of Jewish family origin. He is the general music director of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, with which he has recorded the complete Haydn symphonies for the Nimbus label, the first digital recording of the cycle...

  • Giuseppe Sinopoli
    Giuseppe Sinopoli
    -Biography:Sinopoli was born in Venice, Italy, and later studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice under Ernesto Rubin de Cervin and at Darmstadt, including being mentored in composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen...

  • Riccardo Chailly
    Riccardo Chailly
    Riccardo Chailly, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor. He started his career as an opera conductor and gradually extended his repertoire to encompass symphonic music.-Biography:...

  • Aldo Ceccato
    Aldo Ceccato
    Aldo Ceccato is an Italian conductor. He has worked as assistant to Sergiu Celibidache and was music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1973 until 1977. He was music director of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 until 1990...



The Quintetto Chigiano
Quintetto Chigiano
The Quintetto Chigiano was an Italian musical ensemble comprising a string quartet with pianoforte, and was especially active during the 1940s-1960s.- Personnel :The personnel of the Quintet were made up as follows:1st violin: Riccardo Brengola...

 took its name from this Academy: its leader, Riccardo Brengola
Riccardo Brengola
Riccardo Brengola was an Italian violinist.Brengola was born in Naples. A child prodigy, he made his first studies with his father, and got his violin diploma in the Casablanca Conservatory at the early age of 11. returning to Italy, he studied violin with Arrigo Serato and orchestral conducting...

, was Professor Emeritus at the Accademia for 64 years.

The Academy occupies the 14th-century Palazzo Chigi-Saracini
Palazzo Chigi-Saracini
The Palazzo Chigi-Lucarini-Saracini is a historical palaces in Siena, central Italy. It houses the Accademia Musicale Chigiana.It was the house of Count Galgano Lucarini Saracini and then it became property of Fabio Chigi Lucarini Saracini....

and contains an important library of musical and literary works of over 70,000 volumes as well as The Chigi Saracini Art Collection and The Musical Instrument Museum.
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