BIOGRAPHY  

Orfeo Mandozzi - cello

With his „fascinating musical personality and the bewitching beauty of his tone“ (Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung) Orfeo Mandozzi has captured the imagination of audiences in the whole of Europe, USA, Canada, Asia and South America. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in the most important concert halls and festivals. In addition he has appeared on many international radio and television programmes.

Born in 1968 in Locarno (Switzerland) as the child of a family with a long musical tradition, he received a wide –ranging musical training from his father, a composer and conductor. Aged 12, Orfeo Mandozzi began to study cello with Don Jaffé and Paul Szabo (Vegh Quartet), only 3 years later he made his debut as a soloist in Lalo´s Cello Concerto with the „Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana“. As a result of this, he was accepted at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Michel Strauss, Maurice Gendron, Jean-Marie Gamard and Jean Brizard.

Orfeo Mandozzi also studied at the Milan Conservatoire and at the New York Juilliard School of Music, where he gained his Diploma with Honours („Summa cum laude and „Mention of Honour“) and also obtained his Bachelor of Music. Alongside his cello studies with Harvey Shapiro, Felix Galimir and Robert Mann (chambermusic), he also took composition classes with Stanley Wolf, Jean-Jacques Hauser and Milton Babbitt.

Since 1991 Orfeo Mandozzi has lived in Vienna, where he undertook and completed with honours postgraduate studies with Wolfgang Herzer (cello) and Karl Österreicher (conducting.) Additionally he participated as an active student on masterclasses with Yo Yo Ma, M. Rostropovich, P. Tortelier, D.Shafran, B. Pergamentschikov, H. Shapiro, B. Greenhouse and S. Palm.

Orfeo Mandozzi has many years of experience as a Principal Cellist. Already during his student years he was Principal Cellist of the „Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris“ and at the Juilliard School. From 1991-93 he was Principal Cellist of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and since 1993 he has held the same position with the Tonkuenstler Orchestra where he is much admired by his colleagues and the press. Since 1991, he was also in demand as a substitute with the Vienna Philharmonic.

Mr Mandozzi has won several first prizes at international competitions: at the UFAM Paris, the Johannes Brahms Competition in Pörtschach (Austria), the Illzach Competition (France), Orpheus Concerts Zurich (Switzerland), M. Reger Competition (Germany) as well as in Osaka, (Japan). In addition to these successes he won the Soloists Competition of the Vienna Music University in the Vienna Musikverein with his interpretation of Bloch´s „Shelomo“.

In recent years Orfeo Mandozzi has appeared at international festivals such as the Dubrovnik Festival, La Coruña (Spain), the Masters Series in the Wigmore Hall in London, the Festival Cervantino (Mexico), the Festival Bracciano in Rome, the Pergolesi-Festival in Jesi, the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, the Richter Festival in Mosco, the International Art Festival in China, at the Bregenz Spring Festival and – with the personal invitation of Gidon Kremer – at the Chambermusic Festival in Lockenhaus, as well as concerts in the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna. Further successes in his career were performances in the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Teatro Colòn, (Buenos Aires), Megaron (Thessaloniki) and in the Victoria Hall (Geneva), where he premiered the 2nd Cello Concerto of Nino Rota with the „Orchestre de la Suisse Romande“.

His regular chamber music partners are the violinists Nicolai Znaider, Boris Kuschnir, Julian Rachlin, Thomas Christian, David Garrett and Melina Mandozzi, the violists Gérard Caussé, Yuri Bashmet, Ori Kam and Veronika Hagen, the cellist Misha Maisky, as well as the pianists Itamar Golan, Stefan Vladar, Juri Smirnov, Jasminka Stancul, Mihaela Ursuleasa, Anika Vavic and Caroline Clipsham.

Orfeo Mandozzi is a member of the Vienna Brahms Trio (Boris Kushnir, violin and Juri Smirnov, piano); the Vienna String Trio (Jan Pospichal, violin and Wolfgang Klos, viola); founding member of the ISON Ensemble (Melina Mandozzi, violin and Luca Monti, piano).

Alongside the performance of the standard repertoire, Orfeo Mandozzi´s primary interest is the promotion of cello works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. He has recorded several CDs, which also contain new discoveries and world premieres, including both concertos and three sonatas from Fiala (whose manuscripts were discovered by the artist himself in monastery archives,) a „Concerto and Variations“ from Vanhall, Variations from Parisini, the complete works for cello and piano by Lalo, (a sonata and 12 small pieces), a recital CD (Schostakovich, Saint-Saens etc) as well as several compositions by Leoncavallo.

Orfeo Mandozzi has additionally recorded Ravel´s Piano Trio and the complete works of Schumann for Piano Trio, (which is available as a double CD from Naxos).
Casella´s „Siciliana e Burlesca“, as well as 2 quartets and a Trio from Rufinatscha, Lachner´s „Songs for voice, cello and piano“ and Rheinberger´s „Pieces for Cello and organ“ are world wide premiere recordings (as are the recordings of Vanhall, Parisini, Fiala and Lalo)

During the 2001-2 season, Orfeo Mandozzi held a series of 6 concerts with the Salieri Ensemble, Vienna, whereby every concert brought a piece of music back to life with the modern day „premieres“ of works by Braga, Borghi, Leo, Rota and Martini.

Upcoming performances include concerto and chamber music appearances in Austria (including Vienna´s Musikverein Grosser Saal and the Vienna Konzerthaus,) Germany, Luxemburg, Switzerland and Slovakia, a major Spanish tour with the Vienna Brahms Trio, performances of the complete Beethoven Sonatas in Vienna and solo recitals in Vienna and Prague to mention just a few of many highlights from his busy schedule.

Orfeo Mandozzi works regularly with several contemporary composers, several of whom have already dedicated compositions to him. He is the editor of the „Edizione Arteviva“. In 1993 he was Professor at the „Scuola di Musica die Fiesole“ in Florence (Italy) and since 1999 he has held a Professorship at a department of the Vienna Conservatoire. From 1994 to 1996 he was Director of the Haydn Summer Academy in Schloß Esterhazy. Since 2006 He is Professor at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Additionally he has taught during masterclasses in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Netherland, Hungary, Japan, the former Yugoslavia and in Uruguay.

Orfeo Mandozzi plays a cello by Francesco Ruggeri (Cremona) made in 1675.