Francesco Parrino, violin
began his musical activities at an early age – when, after listening to him at a private concert, the great guitarist Alirio Diaz recognised him as a “brilliant promise of the Italian art of violin” and encouraged him to pursue a musical career. Since then, Francesco has enjoyed wide consensus from audiences and critics alike for his musicianship, a blend of passionate expressivity and absolute respect for the score that led Mario Messinis, a doyen of Italian music critics, to talk about “the faithful performances of the intense violinist Francesco Parrino”.
Francesco obtained the Diploma in violin at the Milan “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatoire, the Docerend Musicus degree of the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Utrecht, the Master of Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and a PhD at the Royal Holloway College, University of London. The pedagogues who exerted the greatest influence on him were David Takeno and Yfrah Neaman who wrote: “I was immediately struck by his intelligence, musical maturity, deep insight into music and high quality of interpretation. He has a thorough knowledge of the principals of violin playing and is able to communicate to his listeners the character and specific style of the music. I find Francesco one of the most interesting and stimulating students I have had, and have great admiration for his qualities”.
Both as a soloist and chamber musician, he performed in important theatres and concert halls in Austria, Chile, Colombia, England, France, Italy, Peru, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey.
His many awards include First Prize in the Concorso Internazionale “Città di Stresa” (1993) and the Concorso Internazionale “Città di Modica” (1993), the Gold Medal in the Concorso “Carlo Vidusso” (1988), as well as the Joseph Bloch Prize (RAM, 1998) and the Connell Grabowsky Scholarship (RAM, 1997).
As a soloist, he collaborated with the orchestras of Aarad, Kosice, the Turin Philharmonic, the Armonici and Stesichoros chamber orchestras. He premiered works by Marco Betta, Paolo Furlani and Ennio Morricone.
Francesco is also interested in musicological research. His main areas of research are nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italian music, and the aesthetics and ideologies of musical performance. He has contributed papers to seminars and international conferences held by the Universities of Cambridge, London, Oxford and York, and has written articles for American, Austrian and Italian periodicals.
Future engagements include recitals and chamber music concerts in Italy, Britain, South America and Russia as well as a series of recordings of twentieth-century violin concertos under the baton of Maestro Francesco Di Mauro.