L'indiscreto - Year II, Number 10
(ABRUZZO edizione Provincia L'AQUILA)
October 2005 (page 90)

Sergio Calligaris,
music on the Plateau
by Antonio Ranalli

The composer has chosen for years Rocca di Mezzo for his works
"For me it is of great mood, a love born in 1989…"

Every year in Rocca di Mezzo to study and compose the music that all eminent concert performers, pianists and symphony orchestras in the world play. The tie between the place of the Rocche and the known composer Sergio Calligaris has been lasting already for 16 years by now: every summertime the pianist moves from Rome to Rocca di Mezzo to daily train at the piano and compose new works. Right to emphasize this strict bond between Rocca di Mezzo and Sergio Calligaris, last summer (23rd and 30th July and 24th August) the Consortium for the Cultural Development of the Rocche, in cooperation with the Solisti Aquilani, the Province of L'Aquila, the Regione Abruzzi and the Ministry for the Cultural Resources and Activities wanted to celebrate this friendship with a cycle of three concerts called "Tribute to Sergio Calligaris". As the former Mayor and President in Charge of the Consortium for the Cultural Development of the Rocche Giovanni Cocciante explained "for many years the Maestro has spent his summer holidays in Rocca di Mezzo and for periods longer and longer. Very industrious holidays, truth to tell, given that the artist does not let any day going by without studying for a long time at the piano or writing music. It is rather the air of the Plateau and of our mountains which inspires almost all his creations, which made of him one of the most celebrated and performed composers of our times.

Maestro, Rocca di Mezzo honoured your music with three concerts which involved some towns of the Plateau of the Rocche. How originated this tie between such prominent musician as you are and this town of the Abruzzi?

In 1988 I was already principal teacher of the Piano Chair at the Conservatory "Alfredo Casella" in L'Aquila. Among my pupils there was the talented Silvia Ronconi, daughter of the Mayor of Rocca di Mezzo at that time. The First Citizen, as he knew that I was looking for a place of great natural beauty and full of serenity and calm to compose new works, suggested me to go to Rocca di Mezzo. In 1989 I went to that charming locality for the first time and I was immediately enchanted by its beauty, the impressive space of its landscapes, the extremely pure air and the green of its woods. Therefore, since that day Rocca di Mezzo has become the inspiration source for my works. The very first work I composed that year was the "Concerto op.25 for strings", ordered by the Abruzzi Symphony Institution. A work that the "Solisti Aquilani" performed in Secinaro in the occasion of the recent tribute program.

How did you find that performance?

The word thar summarizes my impression is "exceptional": for the techincal virtuosity and the deep emotional penetration.
I would also like to emphasize my admiration for the soloists that in the last evening in Rocca di Mezzo skillfully performed my "Doppio concerto op.27 for violin, piano and strings" (1996): the pianist Stefania Mormone and the violinist Laura Gorna.
My admiration is also addressed to the conductor Luis Carlos Badia, who offered at the first concert in Ovindoli a dramatic and intense vision of my "Toccata, adagio and fugue op.26 for strings" (1995), dedicated to Vittorio Parisi, Artistic Director of the "Solisti Aquilani".

Were new works born during your last holidays in Rocca di Mezzo?

I worked on a "Panis Angelicus", which will be dedicated to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

To conclude, would you speak to us about your last CD "Contemporary Classical Music", published by Carisch. How was this project conceived, as it may be considered unusual in the context of compositions of a contemporary music author?

The starting point is that to open out to a world wider than the concert one. I believe it is a great nonsense when one says that young people do not like classical music. It is not true. I always keep in mind the success gained by the famous "Piano Concerto No. 3" of Rachmaninov, renamed "Rach 3" by young people, after being inserted in the film "Shine".
That music was in a context which interested everyone. Therefore, if we present classical music in contexts that interest a vast audience, then we can have interesting outcomes. This double album contains short fragments of my compositions, which might be suitable for spots and films.
The second CD, on the contrary, presents the same works in complete version, including the recent work "Il giorno - Suite op.45" conceived for young people and even it inspired by the landscapes and the poetical atmospheres of Rocca di Mezzo.
I wanted to dedicate this work to Antonio Jr. Monzino, one of the most careful music operators in Italy and very active in promoting the music to young people.