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The Italian conductor and composer, Guido Mancusi, began his musical education studying piano with his father and then toured the world as a soprano soloist with the Wiener Sängerknaben. He graduated from the Vienna Music School and at the same time studied bassoon and singing at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. He continued his studies at the Wiener Musikhochschule (Vienna University of Music), where he studied composition under Professor Urbanner and conducting under Professor Österreicher. He graduated with distinction. In 1992 he received his Masters degree for his thesis on Paul Hindemith.
In 1985 Guido Mancusi founded the Barockensemble Vindobona, which over a ten-year period performed regular concerts, concentrating on the baroque and classical repertoire. His early engagements as music director took him to the Stadttheater St. Pölten, the Opera Houses in Graz and Kiel, the Vereinigten Bühnen Wien and the Landestheater - Coburg. After serving as assistant to Riccardo Muti at La Scala in Milan and to Adam Fischer at the Bayreuth Festival he conducted premieres at the Vienna Volksoper and the Vienna Kammeroper. Between 1997 and 2000 he was artistic director of the festival “Oper Klosterneuburg” and from 1998 to 2002 he was chief conductor of the Schloss Schönbrunn Chamber Orchestra, focusing on Viennese classics. Since 1999 he has been permanent guest conductor of the Slovakian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Concert Orchestra, the Wiener Salonorchester and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León. During 2000-2002 he worked with Carlos Kalmar as assistant conductor of the Niederösterreichische Tonkünstler-Orchester.
Guest conductor appearances of Guido Mancusi include performances at the Wiener Festwochen and the Vienna summer music festival, or “Klangbogen”, and have taken him to England (Consort of Ancient Music London), Argentina (Teatro de Bahia Blanca), Japan (Narita Chamber Orchestra and Takasaki Symphonic Orchestra) and the USA (The NewYork Baroque Players). Guido was invited to conduct premieres at the Vienna Chamber Opera, the Schauspielhaus Vienna, the Klagenfurt Theatre, the Opera House in Erfurt and the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. In 2002 he was appointed principal conductor of the Landestheater Klagenfurt. Premieres under his baton in the current season include Cosí fan tutte and Pique Dame.
From 1988 to 1996 Guido Mancusi was music director of the Chorus Viennensis, the men’s choir formed by former Wiener Sängerknaben members. They won first place at the Fifth International Franz Schubert Male Choir Competition in Vienna and were awarded the prize for best interpretation. In 1992 they received second prize at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. During 1995, under his direction, the choir performed and recorded the entire repertory for male choir by Paul Hindemith. Two years later the ensemble recorded, for Philips and Polygram, all compositions for men’s choir written by Franz Schubert. He was frequently chosen as chorus master for performances of the Wiener Singakademie and the Concentus Vocalis, collaborating with conducters such as Trevor Pinnock, John Eliot Gardiner, Yehudi Menuhin, Eliahu Inbal and Georges Prêtre. Since 1994 Guido Mancusi has been Professor for Choral Conducting at the Conservatory of Vienna. He directs the resident chamber choir and the Capella Conservatiorana, who give regular concerts on historic instruments.
Among Guido Mancusi’s compositions are works commissioned by the Vienna Conservatory (wind chamber music), the Jeunesse Musicale (concert for percussion), the Salzburg Summer Academy (orchestra concert), the Wiener Kammerphilharmonie (suite for strings) and the Österreichische Kammerphilharmonie (Wien Modern 1993). He also wrote music for several other artists and ensembles. He premiered his oratorio Die Mutter Erde in Vienna´s Musikverein in 1992. His recognition as a composer include first prizes at the International Music Festival in Tokyo (1983) and at the Franz Schubert Composition Competition in Vienna (1997).
Since 1994 Guido Mancusi has regularly been recording engineer for KOCH Records, working with orchestras such as the Wiener Philharmoniker or the Haydn Sinfonietta. Guido has served as a juror at the National Children’s Music Competition, the International Choral Competition in Vorarlberg, and the Concorso Internazionale di Canto Riccardo Zandonai in Italy. In 1991 the Mozart Community Vienna awarded Guido the Mozart medal for his distinguished interpretation of W.A. Mozart’s works. |
