Flavio Colusso: composer, conductor, director

For many years under the centrifugal and centripetal sign of the ENSEMBLE SEICENTONOVECENTO, Flavio Colusso has been involved in the “revisitation” of the past and premieres of music of today. He was a student of composers Domenico Guàccero and Franco Evangelisti and did further specialisation in past performing practice with Andreina von Ramm.

His compositions are performed, broadcast on Radio and Television in many countries of the world and published on CD and video. Amongst them may be noted Amarilli: Il Primo Libro dei Madrigali illustrati; the Suite from the ballet Dante-strasse; “Sidereus Nuncius”, inspired by Galileo Galilei; the Opera-pastiche L’impresario delle Isole Canarie, ovvero la moda del teatro; the “performance” Vanitas, ou les Quatre Saisons de Poussin; the musical fable La viola scarlatta; the lyric scene Recondita armonia di “bellezze diverse”; the Opera in one Act il Maestro di Cappella, ovvero: i Fantasmi dell’Opera; the Opera in one Act il Cellulare magico [Das Zuberfon!], for Menotti’s centenary (2011), the Opera in two Acts "il Lauro del Gianicolo: morte di Riccardo Wagner a Venezia", from d'Annunzio (2013).
Among his compositions of sacred music we may recall “Esercizi Spirituali Concertati”, the polychoral pages Tu es Petrus dedicated to Pope John Paul II during the Jubilee of 2000 and performed in his presence in Piazza San Pietro in the Vatican; the Missa de Tempore in Aevum, performer by José Carreras and Cecilia Gasdia; the oratorio Humilitas; the Missa Sancti Jacobi, for the Compostella Jubilee of 2004; the Missa Sancti Andreae Avellino, for the IV centenary of the Theatine Saint; the oratorio Il Sangue, il Nome, la Speranza inspired by three enigms of Turandot, for the IV centenary of the Real Cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro in Naples; the Te Deum for the Puccini year of 2008; Magie d’ombra et di luce for the IV centenary of Caravaggio; Le Opere di Misericordia for the Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples (2011).

He is the principal conductor of the Ensemble Seicentonovecento with which, over a period of more than thirty years, he has been responsible for many first performances of opera, concert works and premiere recordings. In addition he has performed many rare and unpublished works of the past such as, recently the Oratorio di Sant’Agata by Antonio Draghi – the subject of a vast project to rediscover his Oratorios in collaboration with the city of Rimini, the Austrian Embassy and the city of Wien – and he has directed and produced the Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo by E. De’ Cavalieri to mark the 90 years of the “A. Scarlatti” Association of Naples.

He is the Maestro di Cappella of the National Teutonic Church in Rome "S. Maria dell'Anima", of the Basilica of San Giacomo in Rome – which numbered Alessandro Scarlatti as one of its most illustrious maestri – and of the Order of Regular Theatine Clerics.

He works in theatre and International festivals such as: Grand Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (Norma with Joan Sutherland), Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Teatro de La Maestranza in Seville, Académie de France in Rome, RAI Italian Radio-Television, Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Festival “dei due mondi” in Spoleto, Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, Festival de Música Antigua de Barcellona, Festival de la Opera de Tenerife, Bratislava Music Festival, Festival Pucciniano di Torre del Lago, Settimana di Musica Sacra di Monreale, “Magie Barocche” in Sicily, Sagra Musicale Malatestiana in Rimini, Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Tianjin May Festival, and made his United States debut with the Messa di Gloria by Mascagni.

His extensive list of recordings (over 50 CDs for EMI, MR-Classics, Bongiovanni, Brilliant Classics) include the Musiche per il castrato Farinelli recorded with the male-soprano Aris Christofellis; Exultate jubilate by Mozart published with the patronage of the Salzburg Mozarteum and recorded with the soprano Mariella Devia; the premiere recordings of the Messa di Gloria by Mascagni; of Il Primo Libro di Madrigali d’Archadelt; of the oratorio San Petronio by Perti; of the opera La Maga Circe and of the oratorio La nascita del Redentore by Anfossi; of Ottone in Villa by Vivaldi; the Complete Oratorios by Giacomo Carissimi and Complete motets of "Arion Romanus".

He is the Artistic Director of Musicaimmagine, of the concert series at Villa Lante on the Janiculum “L’orecchio di Giano: Dialoghi della Antica & Moderna Musica”, of the Foundation “Le Colonne del Decumano”, of the series of books and recordings “Musica Theatina” (MR / LIM), of the Festival “Venite Pastores”, of the “Feste Musicali Jacopee”.

He is a Member of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters.