“NINO ROTA” CONSERVATORY: CULTURAL SAFEGUARD FOR 55 YEARS
I am extremely proud to extend my greetings and warmest welcome to the esteemed guests at this important convention, also on behalf of the entire community of the “Nino Rota” Conservatory of Music in Monopoli, which I am honoured to lead. I am grateful to the event’s organizers for the attention they have devoted, not only to me, but above all to our Institution. I am thankful to them for considering it as a peculiar and important educational, cultural and artistic centre of this area of great music traditions, to introduce to the many personalities present here.
The Conservatory in Monopoli was founded in 1971 by Nino Rota, Composer and at the time, director of the Bari Conservatory, at the highest point of his career.
Initially conceived as a secondary unit of Bari Conservatory, the Monopoli Conservatoire of music became independent in 2000 and was dedicated to Nino Rota shortly afterwards. In the wake of this tribute, with the pride of having such a name, and with the enthusiasm of all the young realities that appear on the scene of the great Italian musical tradition, our institution has grown rapidly over the years in terms of the number of teachers and students, becoming, in a short time, one of the most popular and attended Conservatories in Italy.
It currently has 130 teachers and more than 600 enrolled students, who do their activities in two locations. The older one is situated in the former Convent of St. Anthony, a precious 17th-century building with a suggestive cloister. The other one, let’s say, the “new” one, (where we are now today) is an old hotel with an adjacent cinema, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, recently renovated and it has classrooms, a professional recording studio, a roof garden, and this theatre/auditorium with 450 seats.
The high level of training achieved is attested by the numerous awards won by the students at national and international competitions and festivals. Many have become first chair of prestigious orchestras, some of them started international concert careers, and we proudly read their names on the programmes of the world’s most important concert institutions.
It may be enough to mention just a few of the names of musicians who have studied here: the pianist Beatrice Rana, the first horn player at the orchestra of Teatro la Scala in Milan, Emanuele Urso, the harpist Claudia Lamanna and many other young artists who bring prestige to our territory and are our testimonials on the world music scene.
On the wave of past achievements, in the track shaped by Nino Rota, the Monopoli Conservatoire strives for ambitious goals, now and for the future as well.
A qualified educational curriculum and a wide-ranging artistic production are the pillars on which the initiatives of our Conservatory are developed. Here it is possible to study all vocal, instrumental and ensemble subjects, both the so-called “traditional” ones and those related to new musical languages; from jazz to pop, from rock to film scoring. Moreover, we have recently focused more and more on subjects related to “new technologies” and courses related to the new careers in the music world, such as sound engineering, computer music, sound designing and so on.
A great emphasis in recent years has also been placed on “inclusive” teaching for students with disabilities or psychological or social difficulties, with classes providing specific aids and equipment, with the support of “peer” tutors, in order to achieve an increasingly automatic and effective integration.
Our Library, born from a small nucleus of 300 items in the early 2000s, today can count on a bibliographic collection of 17,000 items, among musical editions, manuscripts, monographs, LPs, CDs, DVDs. In addition, it preserves in its archives the Orazio Fiume’s Fund, the composer from Monopoli after whom the library is named, and the Fund donated by the family of Vanna Rota, Nino Rota’s cousin.
Over the years, the Conservatoire, which is particularly active and dynamic, has also established a series of relationships with local organisations and associations in order to promote its value, creating and providing excellent opportunities and synergies for its cultural growth. At the same time, it has worked to offer increasing opportunities in order to show the talent and the excellence of many young students that are trained daily by as many talented teachers.
The Conservatoire has also launched an international exchange and partnership policy that allows it to work with 80 European partners.
Among these, I would like to mention an important cooperation with the Kiev Music Academy in Ukraine. This latest initiative has made our Conservatoire an important bridge between the Ukrainian Academy and Europe, at such a delicate and difficult time for that country.
Erasmus has also fostered and increased the international mobility of students and teachers, and provided the basis for establishing a solid and structured network of exchanges and collaborations.
We are therefore always ready to welcome enthusiastic young people who want to live an important experience of growth, exchange and training in a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Now, rather than hearing more of my words, I believe it may be more fitting to acquaint you with the programme of our musical performance dedicated to our guiding figure, Nino Rota. The programme will include some of his most celebrated musical works written for the cinema and, following the same musical thread, you will also hear excerpts from film scores composed by another towering figure in film music, Ennio Morricone.
This brief concert will be performed by the Conservatory’s Symphonic-Rhythmic Ensemble, made up of our students and conducted, on this occasion, by Maestro Paolo Vivaldi, to whom I now give the floor for a brief and specific presentation of the programme selected for you, with the aim of offering you a small glimpse of who we are through the language that comes most naturally to us.
I thank you and I wish you a nice stay here in Monopoli during these days of study and exchange.
Gianpaolo Schiavo Director of “Nino Rota” Conservatory