Cesare
Civetta has conducted over 60 orchestras in 28 countries including performances
at Lincoln Center and Madison Square Garden. National Public Radio, Swedish
Radio and the South African Broadcasting Company have carried his concerts
live, and CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC news telecasts have featured Civetta’s
concerts in the United States with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Cincinnati
Philharmonia and the Queens Symphony. |
 |
One
South Africa news headline captured the key to Civetta’s success: |
|
“THE ZEAL of conductor Cesare Civetta was without a doubt the factor that made this concert as successful and enjoyable as it was. Civetta’s
obvious love for the music was clearly reflected in the performance
of the orchestra...The playing of the NPO Chamber Orchestra was
of a high standard throughout the concert.” |
|
|
A native New Yorker, Civetta studied at the Academia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, the Aspen Music Festival, Fordham University, the Juilliard School, Manhattanville College (B. Music Ed.), and the University of Cincinnati (Master of Music in orchestral conducting). |
|
His teachers included Walter Levin (founder of the La Salle Quartet), Paul Vermel, Sixten Ehrling, Italo Tajo and Vincent La Selva. |
|
He
has participated in master classes with Franco Ferrara, Lukas Foss, Carlo
Maria Giulini, Max Rudolf, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn
and Otto Werner Müller. |
|
He conducted his first orchestral concert at 18, his first opera production at 19, and by 23, was appointed conducting fellow of the Buffalo Philharmonic, becoming one of the youngest conductors on the international scene with such a position. |
|
“Cesare
Civetta has a cheerful and enthusiastic demeanor which endears
him to the orchestra from the start. His conducting technique was
clear as were his musical ideas. He received an ovation at the
first rehearsal.” |
|
|
“I
encountered the young man in 1982 at Aspen and subsequently brought
him to the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra... He proved talented
and promising as well as extremely enthusiastic, energetic and
eager.” |
|
|
He first conducted in Europe at master classes of Franco Ferrara with the Orchestra Filharmonika di Russe, Bulgaria. |
|
“Clearly
he has total mastery of the orchestra whereby he can get the orchestra
to do anything he wants.” |
|
|
Within
the following two years Civetta made his New York debuts at Madison Square
Garden, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and New York’s Town Hall.
Each of his New York appearances has sold out, including the Opera Galas
with Aprile Millo, Leo Nucci, and opera legends Licia Albanese and Ferruccio
Tagliavini. |
|
| “Under Civetta the orchestra was fantastic!” |
|
|
“From
the first time I worked with this young conductor I knew immediately
that I had discovered a truly great talent.” |
|
|
“Through
his complete command of the orchestra, Civetta elicited performances
that were well shaped, paced and executed.” |
(1900-1987),
author of ‘Conversations with Toscanini’ was called the “dean of music writers/critics” by
Ovation Magazine. |
|
|
His debut in Sweden was with the Kammarensemblen,
The Swedish Ensemble of New Music. The All-American program was broadcast live over Swedish radio throughout Scandinavia. |
|
Civetta
made his continental European debut in Walbrzych, Poland, where he introduced
a rarely heard, late Schubert
work, the ‘Grand Duo’ op. 140 orchestrated by Joachim. |
|
|
In China, he was the first foreign-born conductor to conduct at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. He has also given master classes, lectures and conducted the orchestras of the Beijing, Shanghai and Shenyang conservatories, where he found an outpouring of enthusiasm for Western music that was shared by orchestras, students and audiences alike. |
|
|
In Durban, South Africa, Civetta led the Natal
Philharmonic Orchestra in a series of concerts broadcast live by the South African Broadcasting Company. |
|
“...illuminating,
a style quite different...an entirely changed approach...The result
was Mozart of precision, lightness, and clarity, while giving tenderness
and delicacy full play. Civetta conducted with a genuine sense
of style.” |
|
|
“Sheer
vitality, sweep and drive...He has a lively sense of rhythm and
feeling for
melodic flow...whose gestures drew some outstanding playing from
all sections of the orchestra. The hall was full, and the audience
appeared to enjoy listening to Mr. Civetta as much as the orchestra
did playing for him. I can only say that we were indeed fortunate
to find a conductor who so obviously understands Mozartian style. |
I
found Strauss’s
'Tod und Verklärung' especially outstanding—a reading of great
breadth and, where required, plenty of urgency, with just the right
amount
of emphasis given to the metaphysical and philosophical content
of the music. Civetta made the most of the climaxes, and the NPO
responded
with rich, sonorous playing. I was particularly struck by the solid
bass line which seemed to give more depth of tone to the music
than usual. |
The
overture to 'Die Meistersinger' rounded off the concert... full
of splendidly
shaped brazen sounds... It shows what can be done when a visiting
conductor takes a shine to the musicians.” |
|
|
|
Mr.
Civetta has the unique distinction of being the first American to conduct
a transcontinental
tour of the former Soviet Union. On December 21, 1991 he gave the first
performance of the 'Stars and Stripes Forever' at
the Communist Party Headquarters in Yaroslavl. On that historic day,
11 republics formally established The Commonwealth of Independent States
marking
the end of the Soviet Union. Coverage of Civetta’s historic tour of Poland,
Romania and Russia, during the dismantling of the Soviet Union was broadcast
over Voice of America, and a video documentary about it was produced
in nine languages. |
|
Mr. Civetta has toured Russia six times, conducting at the Pushkin Opera and Ballet Theatre (Gorky), the Pacific Symphony (Vladivostok), the Irkutsk Philharmonic and the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, among others. |
|
He
has performed American, German and Russian music in 13 Russian cities,
many of them greeting an American conductor for the first time. Some
of them such as Khabarovsk and Omsk were major military centers, having
only recently opened to foreigners prior to Civetta’s arrival, and many
of the concerts were televised live. |
|
“Such
a packed hall in our city is beyond memory.” |
|
|
In
several cities Civetta gave the local premieres of Mozart’s 6th Symphony and the Overture
to 'La Clemenza di Tito', and introduced Tchaikovsky’s 'Marche Slave' to
several audiences for the first time. It had been banned ever since the
rise of
communism because of its quotation of the Tsar’s hymn. |
|
“The first performance of the American conductor Cesare Civetta drew a sellout crowd...One of the secrets of the conductor’s
artistic charm is the spirit of freshness and youth. The concert
goers rewarded the mastery and charm of the world-renowned conductor
with thunderous ovations.” |
|
| print page |
