Simone Di Crescenzo

Phd candidate at the Department of the Arts, University of Bologna, he was visiting researcher at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge in 2024. He conducts his research in the fields of music history, music dramaturgy, and music pedagogy. In particular, his interests are in the history of the performance practice of melodrama in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, vocal and instrumental didactics between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the history of rendition. He collaborates with research institutes and foundations of international relevance.

Education and Training

After obtaining the Master of Arts – Diploma in music performance – Piano at the “L. D'Annunzio” Conservatory of Pescara in 2007, he attended specialization courses with some of the most eminent piano masters in Italy, including Piero Rattalino, Antonio Ballista, Paolo Bordoni and Bruno Canino. In 2008, he graduated with merit at the Academy of the Teatro alla Scala. In the opera field, as a master trainer and vocal coach, he trained with some of the greatest singers of the 20^th century, such as Leyla Gencer, Mirella Freni and Renata Scotto, and with the pianist Leone Magiera. He studied Composition at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory of Milan, and Musicology at the Faculty of Musicology of University of Pavia’s Cremona branch. In 2022, he obtained a Master's Degree in Musicology and History of Music with highest honors from the Department of Letters and modern Cultures at the "La Sapienza" University of Rome, discussing a thesis entitled: "Quel cantar che nell'anima si sente”. Prassi esecutiva, didattica del canto e prospettive di genere in duecento anni di performance rossiniana.

Scientific activity

He has been engaged for more than ten years in research and experimentation in the field of music, with a particular focus on vocal and instrumental performance practice between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His interests extend to different areas: the relationship between piano and vocal techniques from Classicism to Early Romanticism; the evolution of vocal didactics from the Baroque to the twentieth century; the aesthetics of bel canto and its historical-interpretational implications. He is the author of essays and articles published in specialized magazines and periodicals and has been the curator of theatre notes and listening guides in collaboration with the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Teatro Ponchielli (Cremona), the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti IUC (Rome), the Toscanini Foundation (Parma), the Teatro Rossini (Pesaro), the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation (Jesi), the Teatro della Fortuna (Fano), the Teatro dal Verme (Milan) and the Teatro Lauro Rossi (Macerata).

He is regularly invited to hold courses, seminars and lectures at numerous international institutions, including: Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, University of Torino, University of Bologna, University of Bolzano, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, University of Parma, Fondazione Rossini in Pesaro, Società Letteraria di Verona, «Il Saggiatore musicale», Istituto Nazionale Tostiano, Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Conservatorio “San Pietro a Majella” in Naples, Conservatorio "Guido Cantelli" in Novara, Conservatorio “Luisa D’Annunzio” in Pescara. He is a member of the Saggiatore musicale, of the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini e of Athena Musica. He was the principal investigator of the research project conducted on the complete Leidesdorf editions of Rossini's operas on behalf of the Deutsche Rossini Gesellschaft. He collaborates with the "Paolo Grassi Foundation" in Martina Franca as head of the personal archive of music critic and vocologist Rodolfo Celletti. He was scientific coordinator of the symposia “Toscanini, Furtwängler: two cultures in comparison” (2021) and “Towards success: the beginnings of Toscanini and Puccini in the Milan of the Scapigliatura” (2022), held at the University of Parma in collaboration with the Toscanini Foundation.

Teaching activity

In the 2023/2024 A.Y., he is Tutor for the chair of Pedagogy and Didactics of Music in the Master's Degree Course in Disciplines of Music and Theater at the University of Bologna.

In the 2022/2023 A.Y., he was Tutor for the chair of Pedagogy and Didactics of Music in the Master's Degree Course in Disciplines of Music and Theater at the University of Bologna.

From 2020 to 2022 he taught several series of lectures in the Music Pedagogy and Didactics course (Bachelor's and Master's degrees) in Disciplines of Arts, Music and Performance, University of Bologna (DAMS).

From 2018 to 2022 he held a series of seminars at the Departments of Singing and Musical Theater and Keyboard Instruments of the "Luisa D'Annunzio" Conservatory of Pescara.

Conferences and Symposia

• 2023 [Symposium] - "Callas at 100: Opera, Celebrity, Myth" - Title of paper: Il 'gesto vocale' di Maria Callas in Norma. Svolta interpretativa e lascito discografico, December 17-20, 2023 at  University of Torino, Teatro Regio di Torino.
• 2023 [Symposium] "Il canto operistico del primo Ottocento: la didattica storica", Organization and Scientific Coordination - Title of paper: La didattica storica del canto fra ricerca e applicazione, Meeting of the SagGEM, Gruppo per l'Educazione Musicale de «Il Saggiatore Musicale», Golinelli Foundation, Bologna, October 25, 2023. 
• 2023 [Conference] - Callas, Norma: identificazione e ritualità come esperienza collettiva, Società Letteraria di Verona, University of Verona - Dipartimento di Culture e Civiltà, Verona, October 17, 2023.
• 2023 [Conference] - Conversazione intorno a Adelaide di Borgogna, with Ilaria Narici, Fondazione Rossini, Teatro Rossini - Sala della Repubblica, Pesaro, August 10, 2023.
• 2023 [Conference] - Giacomo Puccini e Renata Scotto, Ridotto of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, February 5, 2023.
• 2022 [Symposium] - "Artedu2022 - Convegno nazionale sulla didattica delle arti visive e performative" - Title of paper: Prospettive storiche per la didattica del belcanto. Conservatori, Accademie e Università nell'odierno panorama educativo. December 14-15, 2022 at University of Bolzano.
• 2022 [Symposium] - "Verso il successo: gli esordi di Toscanini e Puccini e la Milano della Scapigliatura” - Organization and Scientific Coordination; June 6, 2022, at University of Parma.
• 2022 [Conference] - Il Concorso Sonzogno e il caso Le Willis, with Michele Girardi and Martin Deasy, Auditorium of APE Parma Museo, Parma, June 5, 2022.
• 2022 [Symposium] - "Rossini in Wien 1822 - Internationale Konferenz" - Title of paper: Le riduzioni pianistiche delle opere di Rossini pubblicate a Vienna fra il 1823 e il 1826 da Sauer & Leidesdorf. March 24-26, 2022, at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Deutsche Rossini Gesellschaft, Universität Wien, Rossini Foundation Pesaro).
• 2021 [Symposium] - "Toscanini e Furtwängler: due culture a confronto" - Organization and Scientific Coordination; June 14, 2021, at University of Parma.
• 2020 [Symposium] - XXIV Musicology Colloquium of the "Saggiatore Musicale" - Title of paper: La vocalità rossiniana fra tradizione didattico-pedagogica e prassi esecutiva attuale. November 20-22, 2020, Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna (online on Zoom platform).
• 2020 [Symposium] - "Mercadante 150, Convegno internazionale di studi 1870|2020" - Title of paper: Maria Stuarda regina di Scozia di Mercadante in una prospettiva diacronica da Carissimi a Dallapiccola. October 1-3, 2020 at the Conservatory of Music "San Pietro a Majella" in Naples. (Conservatory of Music "San Pietro a Majella" in Naples, La Scala Theater in Milan, Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna, Mercadante Theater in Altamura).
• 2018 [Symposium] - "Beethoven und Rossini in ihrer Epoche, International Symposium" - Title of paper: Rossini e Clementi – Tecnica vocale e didattica pianistica (1800-1830). November 8-10, 2018 at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Köln.
• 2018 [Conference] - Vocal education between the 1700s and 1800s: from castrati to natural voices. The figure of Fedele Fenaroli in the context of the Neapolitan School, Early Music Days 2018 - Week of Early Music, at the "L. D'Annunzio" Conservatory of Music in Pescara, September 19, 2018.
• 2018 [Symposium] - "Giornate di Studi Musicali Abruzzesi, VI Edizione" - Title of paper: L’educazione vocale fra ‘700 e ’800. Fedele Fenaroli e la Scuola Napoletana. Vasto (CH), Palazzo d'Avalos, May 5 and 6, 2018. (MiBAC, MVSA - Musica d'Abruzzo, Regione Abruzzo, Istituto Nazionale Tostiano).
  
  

Seminars

• 2023 - Contestualizzare la vocalità rossiniana attraverso l'ascolto, RossiniLab, Music Conservatory "Guido Cantelli" of Novara, September 15, 2023.
• 2022 - D. Scarlatti, M. Clementi, G. Rossini: studi comparati di didattica pianistica e tecnica vocale, Music Conservatory “Luisa D’Annunzio” of Pescara, April 23, 2022.
• 2019 - La vocalità nel Belcanto italiano, Music Conservatory “L. D’Annunzio” of Pescara, September 23, 2019.
• 2019 - Vocalità e stile del Belcanto italiano, Atelier Fenaroli 2019, Istituto Nazionale Tostiano – Ortona (CH), May 17, 2019.
• 2018 - Tecnica e stile nel Belcanto italiano dal tardo ‘700 al primo ‘800, Early Music Days 2018 – Settimana di musica antica, Music Conservatory “L. D’Annunzio” of Pescara, September 19, 2018.
• 2005 - Aspetti della forma-sonata, Music Conservatory “L. D’Annunzio” of Pescara, May 21, 2005.
• 2003 - Il pianoforte tra '800 e '900, Music Conservatory “L. D’Annunzio” of Pescara, June 4, 2003.

Institutional roles

From 2019 to 2022, he has been the artistic consultant at the Arturo Toscanini Foundation in Parma, as part of Parma Italian Capital of Culture. In particular, he is responsible for the organization and artistic coordination of the Toscanini Festival and the "Arturo Toscanini" International Competition for Young Conductors.

From 2011 to 2016 he was artistic director and organizational manager for a series of concerts held at the Teatro dal Verme in Milan by the Rossini Orchestra from Pesaro, by the Orchestra of the Italian Opera in Parma and by the Italian Cinema Orchestra.

From 2010 to 2012 he was assistant to the artistic director Alberto Triola at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca and music director for the "Rodolfo Celletti" Academy of Belcanto of the Paolo Grassi Foundation. In the same year he was musical manager and vocal coach for a new production of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini at the Stadttheater in Klagenfurt, directed by Stefano Poda.

From 2009 to 2011 he was assistant to the artistic director, in charge of the artistic secretary, master trainer and vocal coach for the Italian Opera School at the Teatro Comunale of Bologna, under the supervision of Marco Tutino. He was the author and musical director of the project "Let's learn the Opera! - Madama Butterfly Pocket" realized with the Pergolesi Spontini Foundation of Jesi. He held the position of artistic coordinator of the "Ottavio Ziino" international lyric competition in Rome and in 2009 he was artistic director of the "Salvadei" Opera Prize awarded to Pier Luigi Pizzi.

From 2007 to 2009 he was the creator and artistic manager of the MITOFringe project, at the MITOSettembreMusica International Festival of Milan-Turin, curating a program of over 60 concerts, festival where he was also the director of production in 2013.

Artistic Activity and Outreach Activities

Concert activity has led him to perform as a pianist, both as a soloist and in several vocal and instrumental ensembles, with great success with audiences and critics internationally. He has held concerts at prestigious festivals and theatres including Theater an der Wien (Vienna), Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia (Rome), Auditorium del Lingotto (Turin), Hochschule für Musik (Koln), Teatro della casa d’Italia (Istanbul), Festival della Valle d’Itria (Martina Franca), Teatro Regio (Parma), John Palmer Theater (Lugano), Festival dei 2Mondi(Spoleto), Teatro Rossini (Pesaro), Chamber Music Festival (Tallinn), Teatro Lauro Rossi (Macerata), Note al Museo (Florence), Festival Pergolesi Spontini (Jesi), Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala (Milan), Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), Teatro Marrucino (Chieti), Festival delle Muse (Cremona), Teatro Verdi (Busseto) and many others. Since the beginning of his career he has worked both as a pianist and as a master trainer with singers of international prominence and world stars of Opera such as Sumi Jo, Daniela Dessì, Vittorio Grigolo, Luca Canonici, Atalla Ayan, Carmela Remigio, Adriana Maliponte and dancers of the Corps de Ballet of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In chamber music he collaborates regularly with the violinist Yury Revich.

He presented the column L'altra primadonna for the radio program "Il ridotto dell'opera", aired on Rete2 of Swiss Radio and Television (RSI). In 2019, he was the author and host of the documentary entitled "Il Belcanto," with the extraordinary participation of Mariella Devia: a four-part TV miniseries aired on Sky CLASSICA HD and produced at the Museo del Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Also for Sky CLASSICA HD, his second documentary entitled "Giacomo Puccini and Renata Scotto," with the extraordinary participation of Renata Scotto, was released in 2022, in collaboration with the Puccini Foundation and the Centro Studi Giacomo Puccini of Lucca.