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Marcello Panni, Alessandro Solbiati, Gabrio Taglietti, and Roberta Vacca, to write new piano compositions based on unpublished fragments by Mendelssohn.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the Berlin Philharmonie, Leipzig Gewandhaus and London Wigmore Hall), presenting more than 20 World Premieres of unpublished works by Felix Mendelssohn.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.
Associazione Mendelssohn
www.associazionemendelssohn.it
International Composition Competition "Michele Novaro"
Associazione Mendelssohn, in collaboration with Italgas, organizes the International Composition Competition "Michele Novaro". Michele Novaro (1818-1885) is the composer of Italian national hymn and the competition aims at stimulating young composers (under 30) to write a 10 minutes composition inspired by Italian cultural or artistic heritage.
The competition has been announced on November 10, 2015 at the Italian Parliament.
The Jury of the first edition, 2016, will include composers Luca Lombardi, Cristian Carrara, Giulio Castagnoli, the famous singer and composer Elio (frontman of Elio e Le Storie Tese) and pianist Roberto Prosseda.
The Competition is open to composers of all nationalities, who on 30 September 2016 are still under the age of 30. Candidates should submit to the jury a composition for Ensemble, lasting between 7 and 10 minutes, which is inspired by the values and themes of the Italian constitution. In particular, composers should focus on the theme of the “Italian landscape”, which lies at the basis of article 9 of the Constitution. The work should involve at least 7 instruments, up to a maximum of 15 (only one instrument for each type), chosen from the following: violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute and/or piccolo (one player), clarinet and/or bass clarinet (one player), bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, harp, percussion (maximum two players), piano. The deadline os September 30, 2016.
The competition will consist of two phases: the elimination phase and the final phase. In the elimination phase, which will conclude by 30 October 2016, the jury will select up to a maximum of 3 compositions which will pass into the final phase.
The works chosen for the final will be published on the site of the Competition on 31 October 2016 and the three finalist composers will be informed by email.
The final phase of the competition will consist of an evening event open to the public in Turin to be held on 2 December 2016 in the Sala Grande of the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory, during which the Ensemble di Musica Contemporanea del Conservatorio di Torino, directed by Giuseppe Ratti, will perform the selected works in a concert. After the performances the jury, who will be present in the concert hall, will meet and decide on the winner. The winning composition will be announced at the end of the evening.
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