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The Italian conductor and pianist, Filippo Maria Bressan, studied singing, composition, orchestra and choir conducting. Assistant of Jürgen Jürgens, pupil in Vienna of Karl Österreicher, of master-classes, among others, with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Ferdinand Leitner, Bressan represents an extremely forceful synthesis - quite unique today - of great knowledgement of the vocal Italian tradition and of the great German symphonic school. This double pedigree makes him the most important Italian conductor in the symphonic-choral repertoire, that has always thrilled him, and one of the finest specialists in 18th and first 19th centuries Opera and symphonic repertoire, reviewed by a philological reading. Eclectic as reserved, he dominates a vastous and carefully selected repertoire and owns a highly refined sensibility in the voices treatment, which makes him an ideal Opera conductor.
Considered one of the most interesting and innovative conductors of the new Italian school, both in the ancient repertoire and in the opera and symphonic-choral one, Filippo Maria Bressan is one of the few Italian conductors to be regularly invited to conduct and collaborate with the most prestigious institutions, like Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Teatro La Fenice Orchestra & Choir, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, ORT Tuscan Symphony Orchestra and others. Affectionately appreciated for his respect towards the music, the musicians and the public, he is usual guest of the greatest Italian Festivals of early, symphonic and contemporary music (Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Biennale di Venezia, Monteverdi Festival in Cremona, MiTo Settembre Musica, Sagra Musicale Umbra and many others) and he worked with Claudio Abbado, Frans Brüggen, Myung-Whun Chung, Carlo Maria Giulini, E. Inbal, Neeme Järvi, P. Maag, Lorin Maazel, Georges Prêtre, Mstislav Rostropovich, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jeffrey Tate, and Luciano Berio, Arvo Pärt, R. Vlad.
Permanent conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Savona, guest conductor of the Orchestra Filarmonica di Torino, Filippo Maria Bressan headed, founded, and dedicated himself for nearly twenty years, Athestis Chorus & Orchestra – Baroque ensemble with ancient instruments - and then the Voxsonus ensemble (chorus & orchestra), by which he has become one of the protagonists of the Early Music revaluation in Italy and of the renewal of the choral and symphonic repertoires. He is also conductor of the Baroque orchestra Academia de li Musici. Although the Athestis Chorus is primarily associated with Baroque works the choir has also sung modern works by composers such as Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Gian-Francesco Malipiero, and Viktor Ullmann. As as chorus master of the Athestis Chorus Bressan collaborated under conductor Roberto Abbado in Juan Diego Florez' recording of bel canto Arias for Rubini (2007). In 2000 the choir and Bressan performed on conductor Jeffrey Tate's recording of Joseph Haydn's Die Schöpfung winning the Abbiati Award for 2000.
Filippo Maria Bressan has just conducted with great success - and he will conduct for five years at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan - F.J. Haydn’s Die Schöpfung; at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liége, C.W. Gluck’s Paride ed Elena, toured before in Pisa (Teatro Verdi), Livorno (Teatro Goldoni) and Lucca (Teatro del Giglio). He has presented two important premiéres of recovered works by B. Galuppi: The Christmas Vespers, conducted in december 2006 in Venice Basilica di San Marco with Teatro La Fenice Orchestra & Choir, and Ifigenia in Tauride. Nearer highlights have been Paisiello (Il mondo della luna, Teatro Verdi in Trieste), Rossini (Semiramide, Theatres of Pisa, Livorno, Rovigo, Trento), George Frideric Handel (Alcina, Teatro Verdi in Trieste), Gluck (Orfeo ed Euridice, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Teatro Verdi in Padova), W.A. Mozart (Don Giovanni, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona). Between April and May 2011 he has conducted four productions at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, including the Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms, L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 Eroica, Symphony No. 2 by J. Brahms, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, and Symphonies.
In the symphonic field, Filippo Maria Bressan has conducted almost all the best Italian orchestras, with a repertoire spacing from the Ouvertures by J.S. Bach to Rendering by Luciano Berio, performing with soloists like G. Andaloro, A. Ballista, P. Berman, Rudolf Buchbinder, M. Campanella, Bruno Canino, Giuliano Carmignola, G. Cassone, B. De Simone, M. Fröst, B. Lupo, Sara Mingardo, duo Pepicelli, Mikhail Pletnev, R. Prosseda, C. Sampson, E. Szmytka, etc. Among the many concerts are to report the standing ovation at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the performances of the Alexander’s Feast by G.F. Handel with the Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in the 2008 season at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the worldvision concert for the Pope. Permanent conductor of the Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, between 2000 and 2002, - the youngest in the history of the Choir - Bressan always wanted to maintain a connection with the choral world, conducting prestigious choral institutions around the world, like the World Youth Choir (Belgium tour in 2005), the Estonian National Male Choir , the Italian Youth Choir (between 2003 and 2005) and the French and Norwegian Youth Choir. He has devoted himself also to musicology and ancient music performance technique, working together with musicians and orchestras specialized in this field. In 2006 he was nominated in the Publishing Committee of the critical editions of Rossini Foundation in Pesaro. «Thanks to the high quality of his interpretation and eclectic activity», he was awarded the Prize Monacciani in Savona in 2002, the Prize Chiavi d’argento in 2004 and the prize of music critics in Gorizia, in 1994.
In addition to the concert for the Prix Italy in 2008, various premiéres and live concerts were broadcasted by RAI (Italian radio-television) and radio-televisions of Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Holland, Slovenia and Brazil. He has recorded for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Virgin labels. For Tactus Records, Bressan recorded the Vespro della Beata Vergine Maria of Pier Francesco Cavalli. Chandos Records a series of world premiere recordings of Venetian late Baroque works in 4 boxes: Benedetto Marcello's requiem (1999), then the opera Arianna (2000), Antonio Calegari's 1779 oratorio La Resurrezione di Lazzaro and the Messa per San Marco of Baldassarre Galuppi (2003) with important responby critics and audience.
Triathlon’s atlete for many years, Filippo Maria Bressan is also involved in teaching, solidarity and protection of trees. |
