Even though the chamber ensemble “I Bricconcello” has been recently formed, they have already achieved international reputation. The ensemble was created by tenor Leonardo De Lisi and cellist Pierluigi Ruggiero with an ambitious goal: studying and performing the European chamber music repertoire not only for voice and piano but for many different ensemble types: therefore, when they started their stimulating research in order to discover less known repertoires and composers or when their programs with the major masterpieces of the concert repertoire needed so, the ensemble has formed different types of combinations, including other voices (soprano, mezzo, baritone, bass) or other instruments (piano, guitar, clarinet, violin, and so on).
Their name (bricconcello = naughty, witty boy) stems from a word joke in which the English word “cello” is sounded inside this old fashioned Italian word that brings up the memories of poetry and music (this word can be find, for example, in Da Ponte-Mozart’s libretto of “Le Nozze di Figaro”): thus, the ensemble is willing to render a less serious yet more amusing side of “classical music”: in fact, the ensemble has performed programs with some of the major composers (Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Rossini, Verdi, Donizetti, Martucci, Piatti, Fauré, Saint-Saens, Tosti, Denza, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Respighi, Debussy, Bartok, Dvorak, Barber, Bernstein among others), but also some refined “contaminations” with popular or folk music. The most successful project in this new style was indeed “Paesaggi musicali italiani” (Italian music landscapes) by Giuliano Di Giuseppe: the young Italian composer was commissioned by I Bricconcello to create a group of “suites” for tenor voice, cello, clarinet and guitar in a classic chamber music style but with a deep inspiration from the most beautiful themes and tunes of the Italian popular tradition (in particular Venetian and Neapolitan heritage, such as “La biondina in gondoleta” or “O’ sole mio”) and also from some of the classic Italian songs form the movies of the Thirties.
The most important concerts and venues of I Bricconcello since their formation in 2009:
– 2010, recording of a CD with songs by Italian cello virtuoso Alfredo Piatti (1822-1901), edited by Hungaroton (Budapest)
– Italian tours: Amici della Musica di Padova, Accademia Bartolomeo Cristofori di Firenze, Amici della Musica di Sondalo, Sala Piatti di Bergamo, Associazione Club Eridano di Torino
– European tours: Lubjiana (Slovenia), Zagabria and Varazdine (Croatia), Belgrad and Novi Sad (Serbia), Budapest, Pecs and Dunaharasti (Hungary), Stuttgart (Germany), Vilnius (Lituania), Warsaw, Breslau e Lodz (Poland)
– Brazilian tours: San Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Florianopolis, Jaraguà, Porto Alegre, Joinville, Londrina, Maringà, Bento Gonçalves, Blumenau, Brusque, Marabà, Lapa, Petropolis, Nova Friburgo, Teresiopolis, Ribeirao Preto
– Argentinian tour: La Plata, Buenos Aires (Usina de l’Arte)
– Saudi Arabian tours: Jeddah e Ryhad
– a prestigious appearance in the concert series “Concerti del Quirinale” (Italian Presidential House) live broadcast on RAI Radio3, october 2011
Next engagements for 2013-2014 include tours in Italy, Poland and in Brazil and their Asian debut (Malaysia and China).
The following artistis have performed with I Bricconcello:
Piano: Andrea Baggioli, Nicolas Giusti, Lucrezia Proietti
Soprano: Stefania Bonfadelli, Patrizia Cigna, Simonida Miletic, Olivia Latina, Patrizia Morandini
Mezzosoprano: Claudia Nicole Bandera
Guitar: Luca Trabucchi
Clarinet: Roberto Gander, Ivana Zecca
Violin: Gabor Csonka
Musicologist Daniele Spini cooperated with I Bricconcello for several concerts and recordings presentations.