Besides his concert activity, Roberto Prosseda frequently serves as artistic advisor, creating innovative cultural projects. He is one of the most active musicians in the promotion of new music. In 2006 he commissioned several composers, including Carlo Boccadoro, Nicola Campogrande, Paolo Castaldi, Aldo Clementi, Luca Lombardi, Marcello Panni, Alessandro Solbiati, Gabrio Taglietti, and Roberta Vacca, to write new piano compositions based on unpublished fragments by Mendelssohn. He also commissioned the reconstructions of some of Mendelssohn's unfinished works, like the Piano Concerto No. 3, completed in 2006 by Marcello Bufalini and performed more than 50 times with several top orchestras (London Philharmonic, Gewandhaus, Residentie Orkest, Santa Cecilia). In 2012, after his debut at the pedal piano, Prosseda commissioned and performed many new compositions for pedal piano, written for him by Michael Bakrnčev, Nimrod Borenstein, Nicola Campogrande, Cristian Carrara, Giuseppe Lupis, Ennio Morricone, and Michael Glenn Williams. Since 1997, Roberto Prosseda has collaborated with the Festival Pontino in Sermoneta as artistic advisor, also conceiving new formats, like the Concerti d'Inverno in 2006 and 2007, the Mendelssohniana project within the Festival Pontino 2009 and the round tables and concerts about "Musical Restoration" in 2010. In 2006 Prosseda planned and realized the "Mendelssohn Discovery Tour", a cycle of recitals in important European concert halls (including the Berlin Philharmonie, Leipzig Gewandhaus and London Wigmore Hall), presenting more than 20 World Premieres of unpublished works by Felix Mendelssohn. In 2008 he was the co-founder, with Maurizio Cantore, of "Donatori di Musica", a series of particular concert seasons in Italian hospitals, based on an idea by Gian Andrea Lodovici. Donatori di Musica is currently active in many Italian hospitals. The history of this project is narrated in the book "Donatori di Musica" (Curci editore, 2015). In 2009 Roberto Prosseda founded the Associazione Mendelssohn (www.associazionemendelssohn.it), of which he is currently president and artistic director. Associazione Mendelssohn realized seven CD productions for Decca dedicated to Mendelssohn's music and co-produced the documentary "Mendelssohn Unknown", in collaboration with Rai Educational, now released on DVD by Euroarts. In 2012 he conceived the innovative format "Robot Pianist Vs. Human Pianist", with the robot pianist TeoTronico, to help the audience to acquire a more conscious and perceptive listening. More than 20 shows have been staged, also at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Ankara Festival and in two sold-out concerts at the Beijing Concert Hall and at the Kinghai Symphony Hall in Guangzhou. In 2014 Prosseda conceived the "Ghost Concert", presented as the opening event of the Pianocity Festival in Naples. In this multimedia show, Sergej Rachmaninoff appears on stage as a ghost, giving a piano recital, based on his own piano rolls, played "live" on a Yamaha Disklavier piano, synchronized with Rachmaninoff's moving image. Prosseda also conceived and produced "iMendelssohn", realized by Ubyweb&Multimedia. It is the first app for iPhone and Android dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn, providing a full list of his works, a wide bigliography and discography, several letters and original manuscripts and a comprehensive media section. Since 2014 Roberto Prosseda is artistic advisor at Cremona Mondomusica and Cremona Pianoforte International Exhibitions and since 2018 he has been appointed artistic coordinator.
What is Donatori di Musica Why Donatori di Musica?From musician's point of view
From musician's point of view
Often I wonder whether I haven’t been too selfish in investing thirty years of my life to studying music and piano. It is obviously restrictive to refer just to “studying”, given that music is more than that: music is a way of watching, understanding and being fond of life, the world, the reality surrounding us; music is a way of communicating with others and a way of looking into ourselves. Nevertheless, I cannot prevent myself from thinking that I could have made better use of the time I devoted to music, comitting myself directly to others with more concretely useful occupations: for example, practising medicine. A doctor can rescue thousands of lives. What about a musician? Thanks to the “Donors of Music” experience and thanks to the concerts I had the privilege to perform at the cancer wards in Carrara and Bolzano hospitals, today I can state that also a musician can offer her/his professional experience and artistic sensibility and “donate” it effectively to those who need it most. To play for patients affected by cancer is a strong and intense experience that helps both patients and musicians. Thanks to those extraordinary concerts I found the answer to my dilemma on the benefit of music. To donate emotions, to convey the talent of the greatest composers to such an extraordinary audience eager for beauty – despite the difficulties related to health conditions – is one of the highest rewards that a musician can anticipate. For this reason I’m especially grateful to that “extraordinary” audience. I believe that the strength of the performance “donated” in these peculiar concerts is hard to repeat elsewhere. I strongly recommend all my colleagues to undergo such an intense human and artistic experience.
Roberto Prosseda
