Giuseppe Maria (Beppe) Ficara

Giuseppe Maria Ficara
Mazzinian Concert - Friday April 15-2011,
Martinos Auditorium, Granoff Center for the Arts, 7:30PM
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Giuseppe Maria (see Beppe) Ficara, son of the italian painter Franz Ficara, was born in 1953. He studied in Bari's National Conservatory, where he graduated in Guitar with a first-class honours degree, having studied with Linda Calsolaro, a former pupil of Andrés Segovia.
In 1976 he won the First Prize of the international competition «Fernando Sor» in Rome. Meanwhile, he was attending Oscar Ghiglia's Mastercourses in Gargnano (since 1973) and in Siena at the «Accademia Chigiana», where he has been twice awarded a «Diploma di Merito».
From 1979 to 1981 he has been living in Brussels, studying with Nicolas Alfonso in the Royal Conservatory, where he took a «First Prize Diploma» equivalence.
In May 1980 the issue of his first record, all about Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, which has been defined «A virtual trasure trove» by George Warren in the american review «Guitar and Lute Magazine». The record contained many first world recording of M. C.-T., starting with "Variations à travers les siècles".

Clara Castelnuovo-Tedesco, the Author's widow, enthusiastic about the record in her many letters to Ficara, gave him in early 1981 the manuscript of an unpublished work by Castelnuovo-Tedesco: «Vogelweide, ein lieder-cyclus für Baryton und Guitar»; in october 1981 Ficara gave the first performance of the inedit for RTBF radio bradcast in Brussels together with the baryton Ludovic de San.

His long careeer as a concertist let him play a wide repertory in important italian and foreign concert societies, such as «Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia» in Rome, «Orchestra di Bari», «Orchestra di Perugia e dell'Umbria», Brussel's «Jeunesses Musicales», Louvain-la Neuve Musicology Institut, RTBF radio and television broadcasts, «Festival de l'Eté Mosan» (Belgium), Moulin d'Andé Academy (France), UNISA, Stellenbosch University and Classical Guitar Society in South Africa, Alliance Française and Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and Auroville, India, Sonnenlink in Mani, Greece.

In 2001 he has been awarded in Tunisia the “Prix Cathage” for musical merits.
In 2002 the famous french composer Pierre Jansen (author of most of Chabrol's films musics) dedicated to Ficara his "Concerto for Guitar and strings". The score has been published in 2006, with Ficara's revision and fingering, for Bèrben.

Giuseppe Ficara has been teaching guitar since 1976 in many italian National Conservatories; he gave Mastercourses in Italy, at Cape Town University, South Africa and at the Moulin d'Andé Academy, France. He has also been teaching in various belgian music Academies.He is a member of the "Accademia del Sarmento"

Guitar Professor at «G. Rossini» National Conservatory in Pesaro.

Program

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643): Aria con Variazioni detta “La Frescobalda”;

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829): Grande Ouverture op. 61.

Luigi legnani (1790-1877):
from 36 Capricci op. 20:
n. 9: Largo
n. 28: largo
n. 7: Prestissimo

Ferdinando Carulli (Naples 1770 – Paris 1841)
Introduction and Variations on Marseillaise op. 330


Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840): Grande Sonata per Chitarra sola M.S. 3:
Allegro risoluto, Romanza, Andantino variato (Scherzando, Variation I, II, III, IV, V, VI )

Adriano Cirillo (Bari 1951): Variations on a theme by Paganini

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Firenze 1895-Beverly Hills 1968):

Variazioni (attraverso i secoli...) op. 71: Chaconne, Preludio (dolce e triste), Walzer I e II, Fox-trot;


Opinions about Giuseppe Ficara:

« Mr. Ficara possesses a very solid technique, a sound and mature judgement and an overall strong and poetic approach in his interpretations. Giuseppe Ficara's thorough experience adds a valuable dimension to his worth and makes him a candidate for a bright musical carreer ».

Oscar Ghiglia, New York 1979

 « Su técnica brillante y sensibilidad musical han hecho de este guitarrista una de las figuras mas representetivas entre los jóvenes de la generación actual. Le deseo los más profundos gozos artísticos en su noble tarea de pasear la guitarra por el mundo y recoger el fruto maravilloso de su gran talento».

Nicolas Alfonso, Royal Conservatory of Brussels 1981

http://www.accademiadelsarmento.com