Danilo Rossi, viola


DISCOGRAPHY:

Danilo Rossi, Stefano Bezziccheri
Johannes Brahms – SONATE

Danilo Rossi, Stefano Bezziccheri
La viola romantica

Danilo Rossi, Stefano Bezziccheri
La viola del ‘900

Danilo Rossi, Stefano Bezziccheri
Bis, Encore!

D. Rossi, M. Brunello, A. Lucchesini
Dressed … to play

Marco Rizzi, Danilo Rossi
W.A. Mozart, B. Martinu
Duo Violino e Viola – Mozart, Martinu


BIOGRAPHY:

Danilo Rossi graduated with full distinction in 1985 and then completed and perfected his studies with Dino Asciolla, Piero Farulli and Yuri Bashmet. He was only 20 years old when Riccardo Muti choose him as first viola soloist of both the Theatre and Philharmonic Orchestras of La Scala in Milan (a position he currently still holds), so becoming the youngest ever first violist in the history of this world-famous and prestigious institution.
Winner of ten national and international competitions, including those of Vittorio Veneto, Stresa and Moscow, he was awarded for two years the Honorary Diploma from the Chigiana Academy. Danilo Rossi is regularly invited to perform at major international Festivals, as a soloist with other great musicians (Azzolini, Brandis, Bashmet, Brunello, Canino, Carmignola, Chung, Dindo, Gallois, Gerart, Ghiglia, Lucchesini, Muti, Tortelier), and with eminent formations (Arditti Quartet, Nuovo Quartetto Italiano, Trio Italiano, Vanbrugh Quartet.
For many years he was a member of the String Trio and the String Quartet of La Scala, groups with which he performed in the most prestigious international halls, in Europe (Lugano, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Bern) and overseas (Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Montreal).
His solo repertoire spans from Vivaldi’s Concerti per Viola d’amore and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos up to the twentieth century’s and contemporary music (from Hindemith to Kakhidze, from Kancely to Kurtag, at whose presence he performed the Viola Concerto, with the Turin RAI Orchestra conducted by Zoltan Peskò).
Since the beginning of the Nineties he has been performing for the major musical institutions, in duet with the pianist Stefano Bezzicheri, exploring with him all of the repertoire for viola and piano.
Many musicians composed for him: Alessandro Ferrari, Daniele Callegari, Enrico Pesce, Sante Palumbo, Jim Hall; Carlo Boccadoro dedicated to him Aschrei, for viola and sampled percussions and the viola concert I racconti della Neve, performed by the Orchestra d’Archi Italiana and the Nacquara percussion Ensemble conducted by Mario Brunello. Stefano Nanni composed for him Paesaggi dell’anima, a concert for viola, piano and strings. Roberto Molinelli composed for him Once upon a Memory, a concert for viola, piano, drums and strings orchestra.
Many are his recordings, as a solo player and with chamber formations, for Sony, Fonit-Cetra, Arcadia.
A musician of wide and versatile musical experience, he often collaborates also with jazz artists such as Sante Palumbo, Stefano Bagnoli, Renato Sellani, Bruno De Filippi, Terence Blanchard, Aaron Fletcher, Steve Winston, Jim Hall, Greg Osby, Waine Marshall, Steve La Spina, Terry Clarke and Bobby Mc Ferrin, both in concert and jam-sessions: which led to the recording of the Cd Bach in Jazz published by MAP, with the Sante Palumbo Trio and Bruno de Filippi.
With the Nanni brothers, Luciano Zadro and Massimo Moriconi, he founded the “Music Train Quintet”; the group already recorded two Cds, Did you travel at night, and L’Uccello di Fuoco.
Danilo Rossi is also a devoted teacher and holds master classes at the Pavia Academy, the Lettimi High School in Rimini and the Music School in Fiesole. Since 2009 is a viola teacher at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano.
Danilo Rossi plays the wonderful “viola Maggini” of the seventeenth century, which once belonged to the great Dino Asciolla and was kindly loaned by Valeria Mariconda Asciolla.