The Accademia Musicale Chigiana (''English'': Chigiana Musical Academy) is a music institute in

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

, Italy. It was founded by Count

Guido Chigi-Saracini Count Guido Chigi Saracini (Siena, 8 March 1880 – Siena, 18 November 1965), full name Guido Chigi degli Useppi Saracini Lucherini, was an Italian patrician, a musical patron and composer, and a public administrator. Having inherited the Palazzo C ...

in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition. During the summer months a series of concerts are held under the title of ''Estate Musicale Chigiana''. Amongst the teachers at the academy in the 1950s were Clotilde von Derp and

Alexander Sakharoff Alexander Sakharoff (, also spelled Sakharov and Sacharoff, 13 May 1886 – 25 September 1963) was a Russian Empire dancer, teacher, and choreographer who immigrated to France. Life Sakharoff was born Alexander Zuckermann to a Jewish family ...

who stopped their international touring to teach here at the invitation of the Count. In 1983 the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Fulvia Casella Nicolodi and Guido Turchi created an International Composition Competition named after

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a fr ...

, for the one hundredth anniversary of his birth. The International ''Accademia Musicale Chigiana Prize'' has been assigned, and among the winners’ names are some of the most famous ones in international concert circles. These names join the history of the Accademia Chigiana, already studded with illustrious presences. The Quintetto Chigiano took its name from this Academy: its leader, Riccardo Brengola, was Professor Emeritus at the Accademia for 64 years. The Academy occupies the 14th-century

Palazzo Chigi-Saracini The Palazzo Chigi-Saracini is a Gothic urban palace on the Via di Città in the Terzo di Città in central Siena, Tuscany, Italy. It is the seat of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana. It was built by the Marescotti family in the 12th century. It was ...

and contains an important library of musical and literary works of over 70,000 volumes as well as The Chigi Saracini Art Collection and The Musical Instrument Museum.

Notable alumni

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

* Salvatore Accardo * Daniel Barenboim * David J. Buch * Roberto Carnevale * Gérard Caron *

Gaspar Cassadó Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu (30 September or 5 October 1897 – 24 December 1966) was a Spanish cellist and composer of the early 20th century. He was born in Barcelona to a church musician father, Joaquim Cassadó, and began taking cello lesson ...

* Aldo Ceccato * Riccardo Chailly * Jorge Chaminé * Keith Clark * Donald Covert *

Alirio Diaz Alirio is a given name of uncertain origin, perhaps from a popular form of Latin Hilarius. Notable people with this name include: * Alirio Díaz (1923–2016), Venezuelan classical guitarist and composer * Alirio Palacios (1938–2015), Venezuel ...

* Marcin Dylla * Ciarán Farrell * Ádám Fischer * Sona Ghazarian * Carlo Maria Giulini * Achim Holub * Sylvia Kersenbaum * Mario Lamberto * Zubin Mehta *

Domenico Nordio Domenico Nordio is an Italian violinist who was born in Piove di Sacco (21 March 1971). Nordio studied violin with Corrado Romano and Michèle Auclair. He began his concert career very young, winning the Vercelli "Viotti" International Competitio ...

Daniel Oren Daniel Oren (Hebrew: דניאל אורן; born 1955) is an Israeli conductor. Biography Daniel Oren was born in Jaffa, Israel. His paternal grandfather, a Muslim from the prominent Sikseck family who was married to a Jewish woman, rescued Jews ...

* Giuseppe Sinopoli *

Uto Ughi Bruto Diodato "Uto" Ughi (; born 21 January 1944) is an Italian violinist and conductor. He was the music director of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia between 1987 and 1992. He is considered one of Italy's greatest living ...

* Saša Večtomov *

Roman Vlad Roman Vlad (29 December 1919 – 21 September 2013) was a Romanian-born Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist. Biography Born in Cernăuți, Bukovina (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), he studied with Titus Tarnawski and Liviu Russu in Romania ear ...

* John Williams *

Ivan Yanakov (pianist) Ivan Yanakov (''Иван Янъков'' in Bulgarian) is a Bulgarian-born pianist and conductor. He has performed on four continents, with a repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to contemporary. Ivan Yanakov is a classical pianist and conduc ...

* Franco Venturini (musician)

Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize laureates

Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize laureates include: *

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holo ...

, violin (1982) *

Peter Serkin Peter Adolf Serkin (July 24, 1947 – February 1, 2020) was an American classical pianist. He won the Grammy Award for Most Promising New Classical Recording Artist in 1966, and he performed globally, known for not only "technically pristine" pl ...

, piano (1983) *

Shlomo Mintz Shlomo Mintz (Hebrew: שלמה מינץ) (born 30 October 1957) is an Israeli violin virtuoso, violinist and conductor. He regularly appears with orchestras and conductors on the international scene and is heard in recitals and chamber music conc ...

, violin (1984) *

Krystian Zimerman Krystian Zimerman (born 5 December 1956) is a Polish-Swiss concert pianist, conductor and pedagogue who has been described as one of the greatest pianists of his generation. In 1975, he won the IX International Chopin Piano Competition. Follo ...

, piano (1985) * Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin (1986) * Andras Schiff, piano (1987) * Viktoria Mullova, violin (1988) * Andrei Gavrilov, piano (1989) *

Frank Peter Zimmermann Frank Peter Zimmermann (born 27 February 1965) is a German violinist. Childhood He was born in Duisburg, West Germany, and started playing the violin when he was five years old, giving his first concert with orchestra at the age of 10. Since he ...

, violin (1990) *

Evgeny Kissin Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (russian: link=no, Евге́ний И́горевич Ки́син, translit=Evgénij Ígorevič Kísin, yi, link=no, יעווגעני קיסין, translit=Yevgeni Kisin; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian concert piani ...

, piano (1991) *

Gil Shaham Gil Shaham (Hebrew: גיל שחם; born February 19, 1971) is an American violinist of Israeli Jewish descent. Biography Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his Israeli parents were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illino ...

, violin (1992) *

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

, conductor (1993) * Maxim Vengerov, violin (1995) *

Hagen Quartet The Hagen Quartet is an Austrian string quartet founded in 1981 by four siblings, Lukas, Angelika (first replaced by Annette Bik, who was then replaced by Rainer Schmidt in 1987), Veronika and Clemens, in Salzburg. The quartet members are teach ...

, string quartet (1996) * Tabea Zimmermann, viola (1997) * Lilya Zilberstein, piano (1998) *

Matt Haimovitz Matt Haimovitz (born December 3, 1970) is a cellist based in the United States and Canada. Born in Israel, he grew up in the US from the age of five. He plays mainly a cello made by Matteo Goffriller in 1710. Family, musical education and ea ...

, cello (1999) *

Julian Rachlin Julian Rachlin (born 8 December 1974) is a Lithuanian-born violinist, violist and conductor. Background and early life Born in Vilnius, he emigrated in 1978 with his musician parents to Austria. In 1983, he entered the Konservatorium Wien and s ...

, violin (2000) *

Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes (; born 7 April 1970) is a Norwegian pianist and chamber musician. Andsnes has made several recordings for Virgin and EMI. In 2012, Leif Ove Andsnes has signed to Sony Classical, and recorded for the label the "Beethoven Journe ...

, piano (2001) *

Hilary Hahn Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. She has performed throughout the world as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She is an avid supporter of contemporary classical music, and several ...

, violin (2002) * Arcadi Volodos, piano (2003) * Artemis Quartet, string quartet (2004) * Sarah Chang, violin (2005) * Paul Lewis, piano (2006) * Lisa Batiashvili, violin (2009) * Rafał Blechacz, piano (2010)

References

Accademia Musicale Chigiana Music organisations based in Italy 1932 establishments in Italy Musical groups established in 1932 Education in Siena Educational institutions established in 1932 {{music-org-stub

Notable alumni

Accademia Musicale Chigiana International Prize laureates

See also

References