Musical artist
Rico Saccani (born April 16, 1952) is a
conductor who served as music director / artistic adviser of the
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra between 1996 and 2005
[1] and was principal guest
conductor of the Hungarian State Opera from 1985 to 2005.
Biography
Saccani began his music career with
piano studies at age six. He attended the
National Music Camp in
Interlochen, Michigan from 1965–1968 and went on to the Chautauqua Summer Music Institute from 1969-1972. In 1973, he attended the Summer Academy at Fontainebleau where he worked with
Nadia Boulanger. Following 300 Community Concert piano recitals from 1974–1978, he participated in the 1978
Leeds and Tchaikowsky International Piano Competitions.
In 1974, Saccani graduated from the
University of Arizona with a
B.S. in Business and returned in 1980 for a
B.M. in Music. From 1980-1982 he attended the
University of Michigan School of Music where he obtained his M.M. in Conducting under Gustav Meier and his D.M.A. under Louis Nagel.
Saccani attended the 1983 summer conducting seminar for young conductors at
Tanglewood where he worked with
Seiji Ozawa,
Leonard Bernstein and
Maurice Abravanel. During a seven-year apprenticeship with Italian conductor
Giuseppe Patane, Saccani won top prize in the 1984
Herbert von Karajan International Conducting Competition
[2] in Berlin.
Saccani was engaged to perform with the
Berlin and
Stuttgart Radio Orchestras, the
Royal Danish Philharmonic and the
Spoleto Festival. His
opera debut came in 1985 in
Verdi's
Un giorno di regno at the
Teatro Filarmonico di Verona,
La traviata at the
Paris Opera and the
Vienna State Opera,
Il turco in Italia at the
Rossini Festival in
Pesaro plus
La bohème at the Philadelphia Opera with
Luciano Pavarotti for the
PBS American television network.
Guest conducting
Saccani appeared regularly as guest conductor with many important symphony orchestras including the
Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich), the
Czech Philharmonic, the Irish National Symphony, the
Tokyo Philharmonic and
Yomiuri Symphonies, the
Oslo Philharmonic, the
Madrid and
Bilbao Orchestras, the Gurzenisch Orchestra (Cologne), the
Orchestre de chambre de Genève (Geneva Chamber Orchestra), the
Hungarian National State Philharmonic, the
Mannheim National Theater Orchestra, the
Marseilles Opera Orchestra and the
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.
Maestro Saccani also appeared at the
Hamburg State Opera, the
Lyon Opera, the
Monte-Carlo Opera, the Arena de Nîmes Festival, the Paris
Opéra Comique, Rome, Dresden and Cologne Operas.
Saccani made his
Metropolitan Opera debut in
Il trovatore and was re-engaged for the first international radio broadcast of Traviata and
Aida. He also conducted at the
Teatro San Carlo (Naples), the
Arena di Verona (Rigoletto), the
Houston Grand Opera, the
Puccini Festival Torre del Lago (Turandot), the
Teatro Bellini di Catania (
La Favorite and
I puritani) as well as the
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Avenches Swiss Festival and the Santander Summer Music Festival in Spain.
Maestro Saccani was chief conductor / music xdirector of the Budapest Philharmonic from 1999-2006 as well as principal guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera during the same years. He initiated a "Verdi Marathon" in the Hungarian State Opera house in January 2000 celebrating the Millennium where he conducted seven
Verdi operas in nine evenings.
[3] He returned to New York's
Carnegie Hall and
Washington's
Kennedy Center that same year with the
Iceland Symphony as their Music Director during their North American tour.
Symphonies and performers
Among those with whom Saccani has performed are:
Symphonies
- American Symphony Orchestra (New York City)
- Bavarian Radio Orchestra (Munich)
- Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
- Budapest Philharmonic
- Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
- Houston Grand Opera Symphony Orchestra (Houston Symphony)
- Irish National Opera Orchestra (Dublin)
- Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (New York City)
- Monte-Carlo Opera Orchestra
- Moscow Symphony (Puccini Festival, Torre del Lago Italy)
- Oslo Philharmonic
- Paris Opera Orchestra
- Rome Opera Orchestra
- Royal Philharmonic of Denmark (Copenhagen)
- Stuttgart Radio Orchestra
- Tokyo Philharmonic
- Vienna State Opera Symphony Orchestra (Vienna Philharmonic)
- Yomiuri (Tokyo) Symphony Orchestra
- Guiyang (China) Symphony Orchestra
Performers
Selected discography
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra
- Schumann: Symphony #4 - Cello Concerto (Tamas Varga, solo) - Manfred Overture
- Dvořák: Symphony #9 ("From the New World") -- Scherzo Capriccioso
- Tchaikovsky: Symphony #1 ("Winter Dreams") - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #3 (Kun-Woo Paik, solo)
- Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol — Bartók: Hungarian Sketches — Vaughan Williams: Fantasy on a theme by Thomas Tallis - Erkel: Festival Overture
- Gershwin: An American in Paris — Copland: Rodeo Suite — Barber: Adagio — Bernstein: Symphonic dances from West Side Story
- Dvořák: Symphony #8 --- Khachaturian: Violin Concerto (Livia Sohn, solo)
- Kodály: Hary Janos suite --- Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
- Beethoven: Symphony #3 ("Eroica") - Prokofiev: Symphony #1 ("Classical")
- Respighi: The Pines of Rome - Roman Festivals, The Fountains of Rome
- Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
- Orff: Carmina Burana
- Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur (Maria Temesi, Alberto Cupido, Cleopatra Ciurca, Lorenzo Saccomani)
- Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Inga Nielsson, Piero Cappuccilli, Giorgio Lamberti) / Messa di Gloria / La Favorita (Denyce Graves, Salvatore Fisichella, Paolo Coni, Dimitri Kavrakos)
- Giordano: Andrea Chenier (Kristjan Johansson, Maria Guleghina, Bela Ferencz)
- Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (Vladimir Atlantov,
Natalia Troitskaya,
Alexandru Agache)
- Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (Galina Savova, Piero Cappuccilli, Vasile Moldoveanu)
- Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro (Janet Perry, William Stone, John Cheek)
- Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Maria Guleghina, Kristjan Johannsson, Bela Perencz, Judit Nemeth)
- Verdi: Otello (Kristjan Johansson, Ilona Tokody, Sherrill Milnes, Antonio Marcenò)
- Verdi: Falstaff (Alberto Rinaldi, Patricia Schuman, Andrea Andonian, Ned Barth, Kathleen Kuhlmann, Eva Batori, Istvan Kovachshazi)
- Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (Giorgina Lukacs, Peter Kelen, Anatolij Fokonov, Zsusa Csonka)
- Verdi: Aida (Wilhemina Fernandez, Bruno Sebastian, Barbara Dever, Mark Rucker)
- Verdi: Rigoletto (
Leo Nucci,
Mariella Devia,
Marcello Giordani)
- Verdi: Macbeth (Yasuo Horiuchi, Giorgina Lukacs, Attila Kiss)
- Verdi: La traviata (Diana Soviero, Jerry Hadley, Brian Schexnayder)
- Verdi: Il Trovatore (Vyacheslov Polozov, Sharon Sweet, Dolora Zajick, Alexandru Agache)
- Verdi: Un Giorno di Regno (Alessandro Corbelli, Enzo Dara, Nelson Portella, Luciana D'Intino, Krystyna Rorbach, Paolo Barbacini
- Puccini: Turandot (Ghena Dimitrova, Kristjan Johansson, Katia Ricciarelli, Paata Burchuladze)
- Puccini: Manon Lescaut (Ilona Tokody, Peter Kelen, Lajos Miller)
- Puccini: La Bohème (Luciano Pavarotti, Veronica Kinsces, Sandor Sòlyom-Nagy, Madeline Reneè, Laszlo Polgar)
- Puccini: Tosca (Giorgina Lukacs, Paul Lyon, Ned Barth)
- Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Raina Kabaivanska, Nicola Martinucci, Paola Romanò, Franco Giovine )
- Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Dalibor Jenis, Gloria Scalchi, Benjamin Brecher, Edward Crafts, Alberto Rinaldi, Judith Nemeth)
- Rossini: Il Turco in Italia (Simone Alaimo, Bruno Praticò, Valeria Esposito, Robert Swensen)
Other orchestras and performances
- National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland & Rico Saccani
- Verdi: Aida (Maria Dragoni, Kristjan Johannsson, Barbara Dever, Mark Rucker)
- National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland & Rico Saccani
- Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances suites 1, 2 and 3
- Anatoli Fokonov, Gianni Mongiardino, Marta Szucs and Rico Saccani
- Bellini: I Puritani (Marta Szucs, Gianni Mongiardino, Anatoli Fokonov)
Awards and recognition
2005 Legion of Honor (Hungary) for "distinguished contributions to Hungary's cultural life for over 20 years"
References
External links
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