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INTRODUCTION
Today’s climate for musicians is full of opportunities, but also challenges. It is certainly the case for composers of classical music, who have the freedom of “wandering” into new territories, making use of and integrating various elements into their music, from experimenting with new composing techniques to using new timbres, rendered by electronic means, or by new instruments, everything in expressing one’s own aesthetic mark. We talked to composer and professor Salvatore Frega about this, about the challenges a composer faces today in developing their career, as well as the relationship between being a composer and a professor, all in this interview.
BIOGRAPHY
Salvatore Frega was born to Arbëreshë parents from Firmo, a small village in the province of Cosenza, and, thanks to the intuition of his parents, he approached the piano at the tender age of four. He participates in various national and European competitions, collecting 7 first places. He was the guest of honor, in 2004, at just 15 years old, at Palazzo Galeotta in Taranto with a concert entirely based on the romantic repertoire. He attended master's and specialization courses with M. Aldo Ciccolini and M. Cristiano Burato. He graduated in Piano at the “Stanislao Giacomantonio” Conservatory in Cosenza under the guidance of M. Grazia Amato. He studied composition at the same Conservatory under the guidance of M. Pasquale De Rosa, then moved to the Fiesole School of Music. During his years of study in composition, he was appointed assistant of the DMC - Contemporary Music Department of the Fiesole School of Music. He graduated in Composition at the Fiesole School of Music under the guidance of Maestro Andrea Portera as well as obtaining the High Specialization Diploma at the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia in Rome under the guidance of Maestro Ivan Fedele. He also studied and perfected his composition skills with Salvatore Sciarrino and Giacomo Manzoni. He was the winner of the Absolute First Prize of the European Composition Competition “Antonio Vivaldi” City of Taranto, winner of the First Absolute Prize of the European Composition Competition “Musical European Competition GB PERGOLESI City of Taranto”, finalist of the National Composition Competition “Rosolino Toscano” Pescara and winner of the “Veretti” Composition Competition of the Fiesole School of Music.He has collaborated with musicians and conductors such as Franco Battiato, Steven Loy, Andrea Vitello, Simone Ori, Pasquale Menchise, Henry Cheng, Anastasios Symeonidis, Sigmund Thorp, Mauro Ceccanti, Pavel Kachnov, Evgeny Bushkov, Caro Rizzari, Fabrizio da Ros, Marco Angius, Beatrice Venezi, with the pianist and composer Francesco Libetta, the pianist M. Gerd Rosinsky, the flautist and orchestra director M. Mario Ancillotti, the actor Paolo Hendel and others. He has had performances with ensembles such as: Ensemble dell'Accademia Teatro alla Scala, DmC Ensemble, Tangram Chamber Project, Ensemble BIOS, Quintetto SLOWIND, Ensemble Nuovo Contrappunto, NMH Sinfonietta, Contempoartensemble, New Made Ensemble, Dedalo Ensemble, Ensemble 900 and others. Various performances with orchestras such as Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, Galilei Orchestra of the Fiesole Music School, I Piccoli Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, Orchestra of the S. Giacomantonio Conservatory of Cosenza, Florentine Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, The Kazakh Soloists, Eskisehir Philharmonic Orchestra, Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento and others. Winner, in September 2018, of the Silver Medal in the Global Music Awards in California with the composition “unAnimes”, performed as a world premiere by the Contempoartensemble. He was appointed composer in residence by the New Made Ensemble in 2017 and by the Dedalo Ensemble in 2018 and by the Puccini Festival of Torre del Lago for the years 2022-2023. He was a guest at the Italian Senate - XXV Christmas Concert, live on Rai 1, in the presence of high state officials. His composition “Omaggio a Mogol” was performed by the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento conducted by Maestro Beatrice Venezi. He is a teacher of Composition at the Versilia Music Academy and has been a teacher of the "Operation of the Music Production Sector" at the CaMu of Arezzo and "Musical Self-Entrepreneurship" at the Fiesole School of Music. He is currently Professor of Theory of Harmony and Analysis at the S. Giacomantonio Conservatory in Cosenza.In April 2022 he was invited as a Guest Lecturer at the European University of Rome to illustrate the topic of Digital Communication and Online Music Business in the Faculty of Economics. Publisher of the newspaper TGmusic.it, led by the company “Accademia Musicale della Versilia Srls” and founder of Delta Social Media, communications agency for musicians, artists and film productions. His compositions are published with the “Sconfinarte” publishing house of Milan, with Ries&Erler of Berlin, with Impronta Edition of Berlin and with Edizioni Curci – Milan and distributed by ADA Music Italy by Warner Music Italy.
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INTERVIEW
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Since 2018 she has been studying Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.
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Currently, she is an LL.M. in Business Law at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University in Iași.
Oana Zamfir is a second year MA student at the “George Enescu” National University of Arts, at the Department of Musicology.
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