Composers

Born in Florence (Italy) in 1981, Simone Stella studied piano at the Conservatory “L. Cherubini” of Florence with Rosanita Racugno, and perfected his piano studies with Marco Vavolo.

After studying organ in Florence with Mariella Mochi and Alessandro Albenga, harpsichord in Rome with Francesco Cera, and organ improvisation in Cremona with Fausto Caporali and Stefano Rattini, he has attended many courses and seminars held by internationally acclaimed artists, including Ton Koopman, Matteo Imbruno, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Luca Scandali, Giancarlo Parodi, Stefano Innocenti, Klemens Schnorr, Ludger Lohmann, Michel Bouvard, Monika Henking, Guy Bovet.

In september 2008 he received the First Prize from Gustav Leonhardt at the International Organ Competition “Agati-Tronci” in Pistoia. He also won the 2004 and 2005 editions of the “Alessandro Esposito” Organ Competition held in Lucca.

Simone Stella maintains an active concert schedule, especially as a soloist, in prestigious festivals all over the Europe. His repertoire includes harpsichord and organ music from every historical era up to and including the present day.

He is an active composer of instrumental music, both for solo instruments and chamber groups, in addition to working on free urtext editions of keyboard works by italian renaissance and baroque composers.

He was titular organist at the historical Orsanmichele Church in Florence.

He records  for ClassicaViva and OnClassical labels.

website: http://www.simonestella.it

Born on 2 december 1976, Wietse Stuurman studied music since he was 8 years old with several teachers, resulting studying composition and conducting. In 1996 he began his study musicology at the Amsterdam University with special interest in ancient music. This interest in ancient music can be recognized in his compositions, strong melodic lines with an almost gregorian character supported by bourdon tones as being used in this style of ”new spiritual music”. Read more…

Famous composer Robert Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony. He was the youngest child in his family. Schumann’s father used to sell books and during his earlier years he grew up studying literature and music. According to him, he had started composing even before he became seven. Schumann’s liking for music developed in his childhood days when he became inspired by Ignaz Moscheles, Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn. One of the earlier works of Schumann is Papillons which is a blend of literature with musical representation. Papillons was created after getting inspired from a story in his favorite novel.
Schumman also created Carnaval, one of his most famous piano works, that is charaterized by his personal style. The noteable thing about this work is that all its sections start with notes of music emphasized by the German alphabets that spell Asch the town in Czech Republic. His other accomplishments include Fantasiestücke which is a collection of works for piano. In it Schumman has again combined literature and music together with artistic harmony. Similer qualites are found in his other two pieces, Warum and In der Nacht. Schumman has also produced great piano works, an example of such a work would be Kinderszenen that was finished in 1838. This musical piece has fun filled and childlike qualities associated with it. It is amazingly refreshing and portrays childhood very well. Read more…

Greatly celeberated composer Jean Sibelius was born on December 8, 1865 in Finland. In the later Romantic periods he reigned supremely with with his outstanding music. Sibelius was also a revered composer in the late 19th and 20th centuries. With his musical achivements he was able to shape the national identity of Finland’s people. The best work of Sibelius includes a collection of seven symphonies. Read more…

One of the most appreciated Russian composers; Dimitri Shostakovich was born on September 25, 1906. His work had been rather controversial. In the earlier days of 1936 and 1948, he had to face two official condemnations for his music and his work was prohibited from general public, temporarily. However, later on he received a great amount of acknowledgement. These were the days when he received his state awards while living in Russia. Even though his works have been surrounded with controversy, he is remembered as a notable Russian composer of his times. Read more…

Well known for his melodic and harmonic style, Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He was born on January 31, 1797. Schubert rose to heights of success with his nine symphonies and operas. Amongst his other achievments are works on liturgical music, operas and a large collection of chamber and solo piano music. Schubert had good friends and other people such as his teacher Antonio Salieri and famous singer Johann Micheael Vogl who appreciated his art. Read more…

A Baroque composer of high ranking, Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti spent most his life in Spain and Portugal. Being of Italian lineage Scarlatti was born on October 26, 1685. His music has played a great role in the progress of Classical style. It is possible that he achieved his early education under the supervision of his father, who was also the teacher and composer, Alessandro Scarlatti. Mosty likely he has also studied music from Francesco Gasparini, Bernardo Pasquini and Gaetano Greco. They all have inspired his musical style in one way or another.

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