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The Italian composer, conductor, and pianist, Marcello Abbado, came from a musical family. He was the son of violinist Michelangelo Abbado, the brother of conductor Claudio Abbado, and the father of conductor Roberto Abbado. He studied the piano privately with Gianandrea Gavazzeni before entering the Milan Conservatory.
As a pianist Marcello Abbado appeared in Europe, America, Africa and Asia on such stages as La Scala, Milan, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Bolshoi Hall in the Conservatory Tchaikovsky of Moscow, the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires and the principal arenas of London, Montreal, New York, Peking, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Marcello Abbado worked with many acclaimed musicians, including Paul Hindemith and conductors Wolfgang Sawallisch and Guido Cantelli. He enjoys a particularly close working relationship with Wiener Philharmoniker, with which he performed and conducted all of W.A. Mozart's 27 piano concertos. After 9 tours in South America, he commemorated J.S. Bach and Scarlatti by executing monographical programs, as well Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev by carrying out some concertos for piano and orchestra, including the concerto for the left hand and the entire piano work of Debussy. He also held master-classes in Europe, Central Asia, China, Japan and USA.
After performing for several years as a concert pianist, Marcello Abbado took the position of director of the Conservatory "Giuseppe Nicolini" in Piacenza in 1958. He left there in 1966 to become the director of the Conservatory "Gioacchino Rossini" in Pesaro (1966 to 1972), after which he served as director of the Conservatorio "Giuseppe Verdi" of Milan (1972 to 1996). He was also composition's teacher during twelve years in the conservatory of Bologna, Parma and Piacenza.
Marcello Abbado composed for a wide variety of ensembles, including works for violin soloist, orchestra, and percussion ensembles, as well as chamber music and ballet scores, and , numerous pieces for solo piano. His compositions are published by Carisch, Curci, Ricordi and Suvini Zerboni of Milan. In Moscow and in USA. symphonic programs were dedicated entirely to his music and in Japan programs entirely to his chamber music. He collaborated on several compositions with Roberto Goitre. Marcello Abbado was a member of the jury for many international competitions for chamber music, composition, conducting, singing, violin and piano.
In 1993 he co-founded along with Vladimir Delman the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. The executive director of the "TCU-Cliburn Piano Institute" invited him to be part of the "TCU-Cliburn Piano Institute" in USA and he was the only Italian pianist honorary member of the "PTNA-Japan piano teachers Association" of Tokyo. Marcello Abbado was composition's professor and director of the section of the Music in the new Academy of Sciences of Arts and of the Spectacle in Catanzaro city, Italy and since 2005 he was the honorary President of Camerata Europæa in Berlin. In 1989 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Meritorious Culture and Art (Medaglia d'oro ai benemeriti della cultura e dell'arte) by the Government of Italy. |
