Interviews

The young cellist Erica Piccotti, born in Rome in 1999, is a talent with an already well-established career. Nicola Cattò, ICMA Jury member for the Italian magazine Musica and Secretary General met the Young Artist who won this year’s ICMA Young Artist of the Year Award.

How did you come to study the cello? Which are the main steps of your training?
It was a natural path, because at home I have ‘breathed’ music since I was little, my mother plays the piano, my brother the violin. After having ‘played’ with these two instruments, one day a cello came home. I was four and a half years old, and here I am! My first teacher was Francesco Storino, cellist of the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, whom I was lucky enough to meet when I was part of the JuniOrchestra of the same Academy. Read More →

At the International Classical Music Awards 2020, Pianist Cédric Tiberghien has won an award in the chamber music category for an album with violinist Alina Ibragimova, his long-time musical partner. It is an amazing French album, focussing on the sonatas by César Franck and Louis Vierne. Jury member Pierre-Jean Tribot from the Belgian magazine Crescendo has made an interviews with this major pianist of our time. Read More →

The Jury of the International Classical Music Awards, ICMA, will announce the winners of the awards for 2020 next Tuesday, January 21. In addition to the nine Special Awards, 18 productions are awarded a prize in the Audio and Video categories. Stay tuned.

Rutbert Reisch is the most intimate and profound guardian of Birgit Nilsson’s heritage; he was at first an admirer and then a friend of the great Swedish soprano. After the Nilsson Foundation won an ICMA Award 2019 for the CD box ‘Birgit Nilsson. The Great Live Recordings’,  as well as a nomination for the DVD documentary “Birgit Nilsson: A League of Her Own”, ICMA Jury member Nicola Cattò (Musica) made the following interview with Rutbert Reisch. Read More →

Croatian bassoonist Matko Smolcic is the Young Artist of the Year 2019 of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). He received his first lessons from Mykhaylo Kraynyk at the Franjo Kuhac music school in Osijek. Since 2014, he has been studying at the Academy of Music in Zagreb with Zarko Perisic. From 2017 to 2018 he studied with Richard Galler at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Read More →

The young French-Danish soprano Elsa Dreisig, now based in Berlin, will be honoured at the ICMA 2019 Award Ceremony in Lucerne for her fascinating CD Miroir(s), published by Erato: a well-deserved recognition for a real talent. ICMA Jury member Nicola Cattò from the Italian magazine Musica made the following interview with the singer. Read More →

In the new recording of Rossini’s opera Semiramide, released by Opera Rara, Albina Shagimuratova sings the title role. This production has received an ICMA award in the category Opera. The Russian soprano spoke about it with Nikolai Rybinsky, opera reviewer of Radio Orpheus.

Every recording has its own story. How do you remember this one?
In 2007, I sang an aria from Semiramide at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Back then I never thought that I would sing the entire part, as Rossini composed it for his wife, Madame Isabella Colbran, who was a mezzo-soprano. Yet, I could do it, and I began working on the role in 2015. Read More →

In today’s music world pianist Javier Perianes has become, at the age of 40, the most renowned Spanish performer. His agenda runs naturally through the best stages and international festivals, where he performs in recitals as well as in concerts and tours with the most renowned orchestras and conductors. In recognition of such a successful career, he is Artist of the Year 2019 of the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA). We publish an interview made by Justo Romero for our Spanish Jury member Scherzo.

When more than two decades ago you were still a young and promising pianist, you denied harbouring the dream of becoming an acclaimed and recognized pianist. Now that the ‘no dream’ has come true, and so many things and successes have happened in your well-established concert career, do you still think the same way?
Yes, I maintain my answer of that time. My aim is to enjoy the music, each and every one of the projects that I have the opportunity to face, plus my family and my environment. Read More →