Biography
W.A.Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante K.364 for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
New Recording: DYNAMIC Label
....."I could not resist comparing the recording here of the Sinfonia Concertante with the reference "Penguin Rosette Collection" recording from another era: the 1982 live performance in Israel with Perlman and Zukerman, conducted by Mehta".
...... "For all the justified fame of the two "senior" soloists, I cannot say that they outclass Milani and Ranieri here; the playing is lively, technically dazzling, their sensitive rapport and coordination with the orchestra impeccable. The rich, grainy tone of Luca Ranieri's viola, beautifully balanced by the silvery purity of Alessandro Milani's violin".
......."despite the DG recording having a cult status, I have to say that now I would prefer to listen to this new Dynamic edition both for the sound and the interpretation, and I did not expect that result at all".
Ralph Moore
MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL (JULY 2024)
A graduate of the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Milan with Emilio Poggioni, he continued his studies with Bruno Giuranna, becoming one of the most important violists of his generation.
From 1993 to 1999 he was part of the Orchestra del Teatro Alla Scala, and subsequently in 1999 he became First Viola Soloist of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with the most prestigious conductors in the world.
He has played as a soloist with the Rai National Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Padua and Veneto, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, I Cameristi della Scala, I Moscow Soloists, Hessisches Orchestra Wiesbaden, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Krasnojarsk Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, I Solisti Aquilani, La Fil-Filarmonica di Milano.
In 2009 Claudio Abbado invited him to join the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.
He has performed numerous Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with soloists such as G. Carmignola, A. Milani, D. Schwarzberg, M. Rizzi, C. Parazzoli, P. Berman.
With the Orchestra della Rai he performed the Concerto for viola by Bartók conducted by G.Phelivanian, the Hindemith concerto “Der Schwanendreher” under the direction of J.Axelrod, “Harold en Italie” under the direction of A.Lazarev, the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart with A.Milani and the direction of C.Arming and Robert Trevino.
In 2013 he was invited to Sochi (Russia) for a concert with Yuri Bashmet and “The Moscow Soloists” for the presentation of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
He was recently in Russia to perform the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart with the Russian violinist Sergei Dogadin (First prize gold medal Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow 2019) under the direction of Victor Tretyakov.
Invited to the 2019-2020 Symphonic Season of the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, he performed the Romance for viola and orchestra by Bruch and with the violinist Marco Rizzi the Double Concerto by Bruch under the direction of Alessio Allegrini, from this concert a CD was then produced published by the AMADEUS magazine.
In October 2021 he was invited to the closing concert of the "Moravian Festival" in Brno (Czech Republic) performing the Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Tigran Mansurian with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by its permanent conductor Eduard Topchjan.
There are many collaborations in chamber music playing in the most prestigious concert institutions with many artists including: Y.Bashmet, L.Hagen, M.Argerich, N.Znaider, M.Brunello, G.Sollima, E.Dindo, A.Meneses, V.Tretiakov, M.Rizzi, P.Berman.
With Alessandro Milani and Pierpaolo Toso he refounded the Nuovo Trio Italiano D'Archi, a name that was the glorious and historic chamber music group of Franco Gulli, Bruno Giuranna and Giacinto Caramia. A teacher in various music courses in Italy and abroad, he is a member of numerous competition juries. He created the Garda Lake Festival of which he is the artistic director.
He has recorded for the record labels: Amadeus, Brilliant Classics, Naxos, Phoenix and Movimento Classical.
For the record company DYNAMIC he recorded the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra by W.A.Mozart with the violinist Alessandro Milani, considered by critics as one of the most beautiful recordings in circulation.
For many years he has been a teacher of the annual specialization course in Viola in Rome at the Suola Internazionale di Musica Avos Project.
He is a teacher of the Viola class at the "G. Cantelli" Conservatory of Novara
He plays a 2006 Filippo Fasser viola.
Luca Ranieri is a PIRASTRO artist
The downloadable material is available in the press kit section
