Leone Magiera (born 26 June 1934) is an Italian pianist and conductor.

Career

Early life

He was born in Modena in 1934, the son of an engineer named Ubaldo. He belonged to an ancient Modenese family of jurists. Anna Maria, his mother, was from a long line of large landowners. A childhood music prodigy, he performed for the first time in concert at age 12. He grew up in Lino Rastelli, Giorgio Vidusso and Alberto Mozzati's school and graduated in piano at the age of 18 at the Conservatory "Arrigo Boito " of Parma. He later graduated in singing (didactic branch), choir direction, composition and choral music at

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Conservatory,

Giovanni Battista Martini Conservatory The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and better known in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804, as the L ...

Teaching and performing

He won a national competition to become a teacher at just 25 years old. He taught at the Conservatory for the next 35 years. His students were

Mirella Freni Mirella Freni (born Mirella Fregni, 27February 19359February 2020) was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Glyndebourne Festiva ...

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Ruggero Raimondi Ruggero Raimondi (born 3 October 1941) is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures. Life and career Early training and career Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II. His voice matu ...

, Peter Glossop. Mirella Freni was also his first wife. Magiera was opera singer Luciano Pavarotti's childhood friend, longtime accompanist pianist and favorite conductor, accompanying him in more than a thousand recitals, concerts, and operatic performances. He led the orchestra in Pavarotti's last performance, of the aria " Nessun dorma" from ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' at the opening of the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006. As a pianist, he has performed both as a soloist and as an accompanist to singers at all major festivals and concert halls; Among them,

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...

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Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

Vienna Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...

, Paris Opera, Metropolitan of New York. As a conductor and composer he has collaborated with many of the most important conductors:

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

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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 Berlin Philharm ...

Zubin Mehta Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor :wikt:emeritus, emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mehta's father ...

Carlos Kleiber Carlos Kleiber (3 July 1930 – 13 July 2004) was a German-born Austrian conductor, who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time. The son of the conductor Erich Kleiber, he was particularly known for the Romantic rep ...

Georg Solti Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-servi ...

. With

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born ''Heribert Adolf Ernst Karajan''; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, ...

he had an intense artistic relationship: von Karajan wanted him as a collaborator for numerous operatic productions and as a coordinator for singers at the Salzburg Festival. During his career Magiera discovered several singing talents, such as soprano Carmela Remigio. He is involved in many masterclasses, both in Italy and abroad. He was artistic secretary of

(

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

), director of

and music consultant and artistic director of various music associations. He has published volumes dedicated to singing, translated into many languages: Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni and Ruggero Raimondi for memoirs. His discography, as pianist and orchestral conductor, includes hundreds of CDs and DVDs for EMI, DECCA, BASF, DDG labels. He has recently resumed his solo pianist career and has been working on particularly complex programs, which have highlighted a solid technique and extraordinary musicality. After the CD with a selection of sonata by

Clementi Clementi may refer to: People * Aldo Clementi (1925–2011), Italian composer * Carlo Mazzone-Clementi (1920–2000), Italian actor and mime * Cecil Clementi (1875–1947), British colonial administrator, Governor of Hong Kong and Straits Sett ...

(ed. Bongiovanni), he has just published with AURA Music. He lives in

Personal life

Magiera was married to soprano

in 1955. The couple had one daughter. Magiera and Freni divorced in 1978. He later married gynecologist Lidia la Marca.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magiera, Leone 1934 births Living people Italian male conductors (music) Musicians from Modena Italian male classical pianists Italian male pianists Parma Conservatory alumni Academic staff of the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini 21st-century Italian conductors (music) 21st-century Italian classical pianists 21st-century Italian male musicians 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian classical pianists 20th-century Italian male musicians