Marco Battaglia

Guitar

Concert: 19th Century Guitar Art Music

Friday
February 21, 2020
7:30 pm
WPAC Concert Hall

Thursday
February 20, 2020
11:00 am – 12:15 pm
WPAC Instrumental Hall

Saturday
February 22, 2020
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
WPAC Instrumental Hall

is available to attend all festival events at a single reduced price:

Marco Battaglia was born in 1969 in Milan (Italy) where his high school studies were concentrated in the classics and afterwards he studied law and philosophy at the State University. On top of all this, he dedicated himself to the guitar carrying out his training at the Civic School of Music. In 1995 he graduated from the Conservatory and went on to specialize in the interpretation of 19th century music paying close attention to matters of performance practice and is an esteemed interpreter of Classical and Romantic period sources utilizing period guitars.

In an intense career as a performer, lecturer, teacher and researcher, Marco Battaglia gives his concerts as a soloist in 28 nations through the five continents also in collaboration with Universities, Festivals, Italian Embassies, Consulates and Institutes of Culture. Past performances, recitals and masterclasses, include tours in the USA, in New York, Radford University International Guitar Festival, Virginia, Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, Mexico City, Peru – Lima International Guitar Festival, Australia (in Sydney – Conservatorium of Music for The Italian Festival, Melbourne – Melba Hall, Spring Early Music Festival, Brisbane – Griffith University, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra – Australian National University, Wollongong, Newcastle and, organised by the Italian Consulate in Perth, at Fremantle Foley Hall), in New Zealand (Wellington, Auckland University, Christchurch), China (Beijing Italian Institute of Culture Theater, Hong Kong International Guitar Festival at Sha Tin Auditorium and Shenzhen Press Building), Russia (Moskow Conservatory, Rachmaninoff Hall, “The Universe of Sound” Festival), Bangkok (Stock Exchange Auditorium), Jakarta (Schouwburg Festival, Gedung Kesenian Theatre), Tunisia, and, in Europe, hundreds of concerts in Paris (UNESCO Headquarters), Lyon, Marseilles, Ronda (International Guitar Festival) and other Spain cities, Lisbon, London, Oslo, Copenhaghen, Krakow, Amsterdam, Berlin – Potsdam, Frankfurt, Bonn, Duesseldorf, Rust – Vienna (International Guitar Festival), Basel, Bern, Athens, Hermoupolis Guitar Festival, Ljubljana (Radio Slovenia), Lipica Festival, Zagreb, Belgrade (Philarmonic Hall), Rome (Palazzo Barberini), Milan (Teatro alla Scala Museum concert season, Castello Sforzesco..), Mantova, Genoa (“Carlo Felice” Theatre, Conservatory), Imperia Guitar Festival, Florence (Palazzo Pitti and ‘Il Suono dell’anima’ Festival, Rome (Palazzo Barberini), for various festivals like Sagra Musicale Umbra, Estate Spoletina, Taormina Arte, and in Naples, Bari, Cagliari and Messina (Laudamo Philarmonic). His interviews and performances have been broadcasted by RAI (Italian State TV and Radio), Slovenian State TV and Radio, RTS (Serbian State Television), Kultura TV (Moskow), Asian TV (Thailand), TVB (Hong Kong), ABC, SBS (Australia), Radio New Zealand and many others.

Specialized magazines (“The Classic Voice”, “Chitarra acustica”, “Seicorde”…) have extensively written articles about him, as well as the most important newspapers, the “Sydney Morning Herald”, the “Canberra Times” (“…there was much to enjoy in his playing…a unique and most enjoyable recital.”), the “Jakarta Post”, the “Bangkok Post”, the ”General-Anzeiger-Bonn”, the “Corriere della Sera” and “La Stampa” (“Battaglia plays with grace and taste, playing with the
subtitles…; the pages…that Marco Battaglia performed wonderfully, creating clinking resonance for the arias of “Italiana in Algeri”, “Otello” and “Armida” with a taste for an intimate sound, almost secret” – Paolo Gallarati).

He performed in Genoa Opera Theatre on a guitar which once belonged to Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini (Gennaro Fabricatore, Naples, 1821), property of the Risorgimento Museum of Genoa; the event was following the first concert in modern times with this historical instrument at the Stelline Foundation of Milan (on the program were solo pieces for guitar by the composers cited in the letters and “Philosophy of music” of Mazzini). It was his idea to restore the instrument for this occasion. In 2005, he purchased another guitar that had belonged to Mazzini (Gennaro Fabricatore, Naples, 1811).The other (anonimous) guitar belonged to the patriot, preserved in the Domus Mazziniana in Pisa, was restored also following one of his proposals and he played it for the first time in the Gipsoteca d’arte antica of the University of the Tuscan city in 2018. Since 2009 he has owned a guitar which belonged to Francesco Balilla Pratella, the father of musical Futurism (Gennaro Fabricatore, Naples, 1801). The recording company M.A.P. of Milan, for the Lira Antiqua label, published Battaglia’s CDs entitled “A guitar from the 19th century” and “Corde d’autore”.

He is the artistic director of Milano Classical Guitar Festival (2 editions), Martesana International Guitar Festival (2 editions) and ‘800MusicaFestival, which has held 11 editions, including concerts in Milan’s Sforza Castle, Sala della Balla and Villa Reale, in Monza, Bologna, Modena (Galleria Estense), Ferrara, Ravenna, in France and Republic of San Marino. Marco has founded two different original period instrument groups, the ‘800 Musica Ensemble (a string quartet with guitar and possibly other instruments) and the TrioQuartetto (a guitar ensemble that has many different formations featuring group members as soloists, in duo form and mainly as a trio or quartet, using original period guitars). Actually he performs also in duo with traverso flutist Anna Armenante and in 19th century guitar Duo Fabricatore with his US collegue Robert Trent. In Milan he has taught a Master’s program in 19th century guitar since 2011, at the ‘800 Music Academy since 2014, with the sponsorship of the Rotary Club Milano Naviglio Grande.

www.marcobattaglia.it