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Organix Festival 2023 | Italian Arts Festival

ORGANIX FOTONE

The Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto and the Glionna Mansell Corporation present the

ITALIAN ARTS FESTIVAL

at 

Organix 2023

ORGANIX CONCERTS is a unique music festival featuring the grand pipe organ, its repertoire and the talented musicians who perform in this musical genre. The series is designed to present solo and ensemble performances of repertoire that would not normally be heard in a Toronto or region organ concert.  Concerts will be presented in Toronto and Guelph.

ORGANIX 2023

ITALIAN ARTS FESTIVAL LINEUP

MARIO CIFERRI

Wednesday, May 31 | 7:30PM EDT
Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate
28 Norfolk St | Guelph, ON

Saturday, June 3 | 4:00PM EDT
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
230 St Clair Ave W | Toronto, ON

EUGENIO MARIA FAGIANI

Thursday, June 01 | 7:30PM EDT
Basilica of Our Lady Immaculate
28 Norfolk St | Guelph, ON

Saturday, June 3 | 8:00PM EDT
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
230 St Clair Ave W | Toronto, ON

GIULIA BIAGETTI

Sunday, June 4 | 4:00PM EDT
Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
230 St Clair Ave W | Toronto, ON

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THE ITALIAN ARTS FESTIVAL

MARIO CIFERRI was born in Fermo – Italy. His extensive studies led him to receive Diplomas with brilliant results in Piano, Organ, Conducting, Harpsichord (with first-class standings) and Sacred Music (cum laude) from the “G. B. Martini” Conservatoire in Bologna, the “Saint Cecilia” Conservatoire in Rome and the “G. Rossini” Conservatoire in Pesaro, where he also studied Composition.

Mario enriched his music education by attending numerous specialization courses in Italy and abroad, which won him the approval of internationally famous music teachers such as Christopher Stembridge, Gaston Litaize, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Michael Radulescu, Roberto Marini, Arturo Sacchetti, Ton Koopman for organ and harpsichord, as well as concert-prizes; Giovanni Acciai, Marco Boschini, Piergiorgio Righele, Stephen Woodbury, Marco Berrini, Giacomo Baroffio for choral music. He is the winner of a scholarship awarded to him by the prestigious “Rossini Foundation” of Pesaro in 1993. Furthermore, he is the winner of National and International Competitions, receiving the second prize (the first one was not assigned) at the XIV National Organ Competition in Noale (Venezia) in 1990 and the second prize at the “Fratelli Bernasconi” First International Organ Competition in Olgiate Olona (Varese) in 2003. Pupil of the conductor Manlio Benzi and subsequently achieved a Diploma at the Triennial Course of High Specialization in Conducting with Donato Renzetti at the Music Academy in Pescara.

Mario Ciferri performs regularly as an organist in renowned International Organ Festivals in Italy and abroad, always to high acclaim as he performs in well-known Concert Halls and Cathedrals: France (Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier), Germany (Muenchen, Mainz, Fulda, Herford, Saarbrucken, Rheda, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim, Darmstadt, Ottobeuren, Ingolstadt, Wiesbaden, Potsdam), Austria, United Kingdom (St. Paul’s Cathedral and Temple Church in London, Lincoln, Rochester, Edinburgh), Czech Republic, Slovakia (Bratislava), Poland (Warsaw, Poznan, Wadowice, Legnica), Switzerland (Lausanne, Lugano), Denmark (Copenhagen, Odense), Finland, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Belgium (Brugge), Sweden (Lund, Malmo), Lithuania (Vilnius), Russia (Moscow Cathedral, St. Petersburgh, Ekaterinburg, Perm and Sochi Philarmonias), Siberia, Belarus (Minsk, Vitebsk), Canada (Toronto) and USA (St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Central Synagogue in New York). In 2018 he performed as a soloist the M.E. Bossi organ concerto op. 100 with the Sochi Philarmonia.

His extensive repertory includes music from Ancient to Modern consisting of the most important pieces by D. Buxtehude, J. S. Bach, F. Mendelssohn, A. G. Ritter, F. Liszt, J. Reubke, M. Reger, S. Karg-Elert, C. Franck, C.-M. Widor, L. Vierne, M. Duruflé.

Among organ concerts, there are numerous inaugurations of restored historical organs in Italy. He also presented the first modern performances of composers from the Marche region: A. Cruciani, G. B. Mastini, B. Bittoni, C. A. Cristiani, L. Vecchiotti and others. He has several times collaborated as an organist with such orchestras as The Virtuosos of Bucharest, the International Orchestra of Italy, the Chamber Orchestra of Marche and the Philarmonic Orchestra of Marche, taking part in symphonic Festivals. In 2004 he recorded a CD of the complete organ works by Luigi Vecchiotti (1804-1863) for recording label “La Bottega Discantica” in Milano as the first world recording. He also recorded a CD as organist in “Oratorio de Noël” op. 12 by C. Saint-Saëns with the Chamber Orchestra of Marche for recording label “Sheva,” and he took part in the DVD “Terra d’organi” playing on historical organs in Region Marche.

As Choir and Orchestra Conductor, he works with many famous artists and baroque ensembles, Italian orchestras and choirs performing great compositions by J. S. Bach, G. F. Händel, M. A. Charpentier, W. A. Mozart, A. Vivaldi, B. Galuppi, G. B. Pergolesi, G. Giordani, G. Fauré, and C. Saint-Säens. In 2006 A.R.CO.M. (Regional Association of Choirs in Marche) invited him to conduct the selected Regional Choir performing Requiem KV 626 by W. A. Mozart and Motets by B. Britten in several concerts, one of them was at “Teatro alle Muse” in Ancona. In 2014 he won the First Prize at “A. Guanti” International Choral Competition in Matera and the special prize for the best performance of a piece composed by an Italian contemporary author.

In 1998 he won the National Competition for exams and titles and is a teacher of Organ, Gregorian Chant and Harpsichord at the “G. B. Pergolesi” Conservatoire of Music in Fermo. He is the titular organist in St. George’s Cathedral in Porto San Giorgio, where he is also the Artistic Director of the International Organ Festival.

EUGENIO MARIA FAGIANI is internationally renowned for his impressive, enthralling and vibrant musical language, the Italian organist Eugenio Maria Fagiani performs regularly on the most important instruments in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Northern America, such as Notre Dame de Paris (F), Berlin’s Dom (D), St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York (US), Tchaikovsky’s Great Hall in Moscow (RU), the Royal Albert Hall in London (UK), Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Firenze (I). the Hofkirche St. Leodegar in Luzern (CH), the St. James Anglican Cathedral in Toronto (CDN), the Skt. Florian Stiftsbasilika (A), the Cathedral of Barcelona (Spain), the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth (IL), the National Center for the Arts Weiwuying di Kaohsiung (TWN).

Besides his activity as a soloist, he holds a long-term collaboration with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano (since 2010) and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini (since 2020) and has been directed by eminent conductors as Jeffrey Tate, Riccardo Chailly, Xian Zhang, Claus-Peter Flor, Chien Wen-pin, Patrick Fournillier, Stanislav Kochanovsky, John Axelrod, Missak Baghboudarian, Jader Bignamini, Giuseppe Grazioli, Jens Georg Bachmann and Alpesh Chauhan.

Celebrated as “the wizard of improvisation,” he’s also a fine composer. His works are now part of the repertoire of some of the most prestigious artists of our time, such as David Briggs and Stephen Tharp.

Since 2008 he has been the Organist of the Franciscan Shrine of La Verna, Arezzo (IT), and in this position, he combines that of Titular Organist of the Arezzo’s Cathedral (2022). Eugenio is the Artistic Director of the Festival Internazionale di Musica d’Organo de La Verna and the Festival Organistico “S.Donato” in the Arezzo’s Dome, and also, since 2016, the Executive Artistic Advisor of the Terra Sancta Organ Festival, across seven countries in the Middle-East region, organized by the Custody of the Holy Land. He is invited to hold masterclasses (both in Interpretation and Improvisation) and lectures for several top-class music institutions around Europe and North America, such as the Cambridge University Organ Scholar’s Forum (UK), the RCCO, and Toronto (CDN). He is also invited to serve as a juror in international competitions. He records with: VDE-Gallo, Spektral Records, Fugatto, Da Vinci Classics, Decca and Warner. These productions have received flattering reviews from major international specialized magazines.

GIULIA BIAGETTI The eleventh Festival Laurenziano ended with an explosive concert (to say the least) by Tuscan organist Giulia Biagetti. A tiny lady, like a figurine at the Tamburini console, is endowed with an extraordinary musicality, capable of raising storms of sounds. […] The program chosen by Mrs. Biagetti was one of the most stimulating we have heard in these most recent seasons of the Festival.”

Thus wrote a critic after a concert held in Perugia Cathedral by Giulia Biagetti, one of Italy’s most important organists. Foreign critics have similarly praised her programs’ originality and performances’ brilliance.

Giulia Biagetti was born in Istanbul into a family with a great musical tradition. Giulia’s mother, Sylvia von Sauer, was the granddaughter of Emil von Sauer, one of the greatest pianists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Giulia’s father was from Spoleto, Italy; he was a teacher of Italian literature and philosophy in various Italian cultural institutes outside of Italy. After travelling throughout Europe with his family, he returned to Lucca and settled in Lucca, where Giulia continued her studies. She obtained a degree in piano at the Conservatory “L. Boccherini” in Lucca and degrees in organ performance and organ composition at the Conservatory “G. Frescobaldi” in Ferrara. She studied composition with Marino Pratali and Gaetano Giani Luporini, both composers from Lucca. She participated in masterclasses with L.F. Tagliavini, M. Radulescu, H. Vogel, Michel Chapuis, Klemens Schnorr, Arturo Sacchetti, Giancarlo Parodi, R. Saorgin etc.

In 1981 Biagetti was named Assistant Organist of Lucca Cathedral, and since 1996 she has been the Titular Organist. She is also the organist of the Cathedral’s “Cappella S. Cecilia,” a choir with a prestigious choral tradition. (On the Bongiovanni label, they have recorded 18 CDs dedicated to the music of the Puccini family (all of which worked in that Cathedral) and other composers from Lucca.)

Biagetti has given many concerts in Italy and other European countries as an organ soloist. Several times she had the honour of representing Italy on special occasions such as the 900th anniversary of the Croatian Church in Zagreb in 1994 and at a festival entirely dedicated to women organists from all over the world at Passau Cathedral in 1997.

Since 1996 Biagetti has been artistic director of the Camaiore Organ Festival, where she has promoted the music of the authors of the Baroque era, particularly J.S. Bach and, in the year 2000, a series of conferences and studies about J.S. Bach and his time (“J. S. Bach 2000”). This project continued in the year 2010 with a symposium with Christoph Wolff, Felix Friedrich and others. She is also the artistic director of the Organ Vespers in Lucca’s Cathedral, artistic consultant for the “Sagra Musicale Lucchese” and for the “Cantiere della Musica,” and President of the Marco Santucci Association in Camaiore.

Biagetti has taught Organ and Gregorian chant at the Lucca Conservatory and the Lucca Diocesan School of Music and Organ at the City School of Music in Capannori. She has published various articles pertaining to organs and organ building (Informazione Organistica, Bollettino Ceciliano). She has taken part in various concerts as an accompanist and continuo player.

Biagetti’s programs are often dedicated to particular composers or specific themes. In Italy, she often presents music from the tradition of the province of Lucca.

Biagetti has recorded a CD of Romantic organ music at the Santuario in Pompeii (Bongiovanni 1991) and another dedicated to music by contemporaries of Bach (Camaiore Organ Festival Association, 2010).

A partial list of the prestigious venues where Biagetti has performed: Cathedrales of Paris (Notre-Dame), Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Arbois, Sankt Gallen, Bern, Lausanne, Brig, Freiburg im Breisgau, Eichstätt, Herford, Altenberg, Mainz, Magdeburg, Worms, Salzburg, Passau, St. Blasien, Zagreb; and in other famous church and festivals: Madrid, Sevilla, Barcelona, Igualada, San Sebastian, Zumaja, Villach, Innsbruck, Bad Aussee, Munchen, Potsdam, Bochum, Ottobeuren, Altötting, Bitburg, Naumburg (St. Wenzel), Arnstadt (Bachkirche) Altenbruch (St. Nicolai), Lüdingworth, Lüneburg (St. John), Altenburg (Schlosskirche), Hamburg (St. Jacobi), Freiberg (St. Peter ), Bad Homburg (Schlosskirche) etc.

In Italy: Arezzo, Firenze, Lucca, Viareggio, La Spezia, Pisa, Prato, Pistoia, Siena, Manciano (Gr), Livorno, Rapallo, Ventimiglia, Valsesia, Cortona, Bologna, Milano Marittima, Spoleto, Ragusa, Camaiore, Bergamo, Roma, Aosta, Valsassina, Valsugana, Como, Lecco, Pompeii, Monreale, Mistretta, Ragusa, Bari, Teramo, Fano, Ravenna, La Verna, Milano, Trento, Cava de’ Tirreni, San Giovanni Rotondo, Tivoli, Vallombrosa, Montenero (LI), Parma, Modena, Vittorio Veneto, Perugia, Città di Castello, Aprilia, etc.

  • Organized by: Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto | Glionna Mansell Corporation