Nazzareno Carusi

Nazzareno Carusi
Background information
Born	(1968-11-09) 9 November 1968 (age 55) Celano, Italy
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Pianist, Artistic director and Cultural manager
Instrument(s)	Piano

Nazzareno Carusi (born 9 November 1968) is an Italian pianist. A pupil of Alexis Weissenberg and Victor Merzhanov, he also studied with Lucia Passaglia and Adriano Vendramelli. The classical studies with Ugo Maria Palanza and Vittoriano Esposito and the meetings with the Dominican theologian F. Innocenzo Colosio, pupil of Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and Isaac Stern were decisive for his formation. ^[1]

He is considered among the piano virtuosos in which, however, strong elements of musical research go beyond the mere domain of the keyboard ^[2] and his pianism has been described either as a synthesis between the Russian school of Gilels and Richter and the German tradition of Claudio Arrau, ^[3] or as the personal expression of a sovereign musical freedom. ^[4]

Biography

Riccardo Muti called him "a superlative pianist and a musician of the highest value". ^[5] In his early twenties, he won the national competition for chairs in the Italian Music Conservatories (1990) and became their youngest professor of "Chamber music". ^[6] He won also the Réncontres Internationales de Piano in Paris (1999) and the Alexis Weissenberg Prize, awarded by the legendary pianist Alexis Weissenberg himself (1995). He collaborated with Eleonora Buratto, ^[7] the Philharmonische Camerata Berlin and Mischa Maisky, ^[8] the Fine Arts Quartet. ^[9] His live recordings from Teatro alla Scala, from Teatro Colon and from the Jewel Box Series at Northeastern Illinois University of Chicago were released by EMI.

At the turn of the 10s, he was the first classical pianist to sign an exclusive with a main commercial television: Mediaset [10]. He participated with very high ratings in popular programs [11] and the critics recognized him that, despite the "lightness" of these occasions, he gave up nothing of the rigor of the classical artist [12]. He conducted a popular column for Mattino Cinque, some excerpts of which were collected in the album "Petrolio", and he also played with Italian pop and jazz stars like Lucio Dalla, Simona Molinari and Sergio Cammariere. He conceived the melologues "Notturno a Shakespeare" with Pietrangelo Buttafuoco [14] and "Discorso a due" with Vittorio Sgarbi. Finally, he collaborated weekly with the magazine Panorama, the all-news tv channel Tgcom24 and the newspaper Libero. For this commitments he was awarded the Special Mention of the "Giustiniano Prize" in Ravenna in 2013 [16].

In 2018, the consequences of three vertebral fractures forced him to retire from concert activity ^[10] and it was the former Secretary of the Italian Council of Ministers Gianni Letta who understood his institutional capacities too and since then started him on the management and artistic direction career. ^[11]

On February 10, 2021, it was his initiative that led the world of performing arts, for the first time in the history of the Italian Republic, to consultations for the formation of the new government by the appointed Prime Minister Mario Draghi. ^[12] Today, he is a notable cultural manager, holding the positions of Board Member of the Teatro alla Scala, President of the "Alfredo Casella" Conservatory of L'Aquila, Vice President of the Foundation "Orchestra Regionale Toscana" of Florence. Since May 2022 he is the artistic director Paganini Competition, considered one of the top famous violin competitions in the world, which under his direction has recorded the highest ever subscribers' number since its foundation. ^[13]

He has three children and a step-child: Francesco Carusi (2005), Émilie Carusi (2008), Elisabetta Carusi (2013) and Riccardo Scala (2001). ^[14]

Recordings

• Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Nazzareno Carusi Live at Teatro Colon - EMI
• Domenico Scarlatti: Nine Sonatas - Nazzareno Carusi Live in Chicago - EMI
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Kegelstatt Trio K.498 / Robert Schumann: Three Romances for Oboe and Piano op.94, Märchenerzählungen op.132 - Nazzareno Carusi, Fabrizio Meloni, Danilo Rossi and Francesco Di Rosa Live at Teatro alla Scala - EMI
• Johannes Brahms: Clarinet Sonatas op. 120 - Nazzareno Carusi and Fabrizio Meloni - Amadeus
• Camille Saint-Saëns: Cello Sonata n. 2 in F major op. 123 Luigi Piovano and Nazzareno Carusi - Eloquentia
• "Notturno" - Nazzareno Carusi feat. Sergio Cammariere, Fabrizio Bosso, Karine - EMI
• "Petrolio" - Nazzareno Carusi feat. Fabrizio Meloni, Francesco Di Rosa, Lucio Dalla, Simona Molinari, Fabrizio Bosso - Carosello

Bibliography

• Paolo Isotta, La virtù dell'elefante, Marsilio Editori, Italia, 2014, pp. 131–132,262,455,581, ISBN 978-88-317-1939-1
• Paolo Isotta, Altri canti di Marte, Marsilio Editori, Italia, 2015, pp. 45–48,50-55,89,101-102,105-106,130,236,277, ISBN 978-88-317-2181-3
• Luca Beatrice, Per i ladri e le puttane sono Gesù Bambino. Vita e opere di Lucio Dalla, Baldini & Castoldi, 2016, p. 207, ISBN 978-88-685-2938-3
• Giorgio Dell'Arti, Biografia di Nazzareno Carusi, Cinquantamila - La storia raccontata da Giorgio Dell'Arti, Italia, 2017
• Luca Ciammarughi, Da Benedetti Michelangeli alla Argerich. Trent'anni con i Grandi Pianisti, Zecchini Editore, Italia, 2017, p. 214, ISBN 978-88-654-0187-3
• Luca Ciammarughi, Soviet Piano. I pianisti dalla Rivoluzione d'Ottobre alla Guerra Fredda, Zecchini Editore, Italia, 2018, p. 159, ISBN 978-88-654-0197-2
• Sergio Cammariere, Libero nell'aria, Rizzoli, Italia, 2021, p. 295, ISBN 978-88-171-5509-0

Notes

1. Isotta, Paolo (2013). La virtù dell'elefante. Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori. pp. 131–132. ISBN   978-88-317-1939-1.
2. Ciammarughi, Luca (2017). Da Benedetti Michelangeli alla Argerich. Trent'anni con i Grandi Pianisti. Varese, Italy: Zecchini Editore. p. 214. ISBN   978-88-654-0187-3.
3. Isotta, Paolo (2015). Altri canti di Marte. Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori. pp. 47–54. ISBN   978-88-317-2181-3.
4. Kohan, Pablo (November 16, 2016). "Un pianista en el reino de las libertades" (in Spanish). La Nación.
5. Dell'Arti, Giorgio (February 13, 2013). "Biografia di Nazzareno Carusi" (in Italian). Cinquantamila.it La storia raccontata da Giorgio Dell'Arti.
6. Marini, Luigi (December 17, 1994). "I successi di N. Carusi" (in Italian). Il Tempo. p. Abruzzo III.
7. Doran, Amanda-Jane (October 10, 2016). "Eleonora Buratto & Nazzareno Carusi at Wigmore Hall". Classicalsource.com.
8. Purelli, Eva (July 15, 2005). "Carusi, Maisky e la Philharmonische Camerata Berlin" (in Italian). Il Giornale di Vicenza. p. 30.
9. "Fine Arts Quartet w/ Nazzareno Carusi". Fine Arts Quartet - Official Website. March 29, 2009.
10. Burioni, Roberto (January 29, 2019). "Patto Trasversale per la Scienza: firmano due Premi Nobel grazie alla mediazione del pianista Nazzareno Carusi" (in Italian). MedicalFacts.it.
11. Gianni Letta: «Carusi is a glory of Abruzzo, due to his biography, his high sense of institutions and his profound capacity of cultural vision». Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (June 28, 2020). "Carusi nuovo direttore del settore musica della Società Riccitelli" (in Italian). AGI.it.
12. Carlo Fontana: «It has been Nazzareno Carusi, with his artistic authority and sensitivity, who propitiated for the first time in the history of the Italian Republic the meeting of the performing art's world with the appointed Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Maestro Carusi has had a precious and spontaneous gesture and we must give him great thankfulness for this. On behalf of the Italian General Association of Performing Arts (AGIS), all our gratitude and appreciation goes to him». Federico Spadoni (February 19, 2021). "Intervista a Carlo Fontana" (in Italian). Corriere di Romagna.
13. Rai Cultura (March 24, 2023). "Record number of entries at the 57^ edition of Paganini Competition" (in Italian).
14. Isotta, Paolo (2015). Altri canti di Marte. Venice, Italy: Marsilio Editori. p. 47. ISBN   978-88-317-2181-3.

External links

• Porter, Cecelia. "Classical Music. Nazzareno Carusi & I Solisti della Scala". The Washington Post.
• Kohan, Pablo. "Nazzareno Carusi. Un pianista en el reino de las libertades" (in Spanish). La Nación.