ANTONIO PETRONE

Unknown recorders except Domenico Fiore with * , Aldino Miceli with ** , Paolo Tricase with *** , Tonino Santese #, Michele Pichierri ## .

Pietro Marmino was born on June 29, 1915 in Salerno. After spending some years in an institute, he was adopted by a family in Sarno (Sa) and soon showed his musical tendencies, which he developed by obtaining a diploma in clarinet at a music school affiliated with the “Umberto I” orphanage in Salerno. Despite his talent, he was not accepted into the Navy band due to his height. One day, however, he was noticed by Maestro Giuseppe Piantoni, who appreciated him and took him to Conversano. In a short time, he became a solo clarinetist and later an artistic band leader, as stated in a promotional brochure for the 1949 artistic season. Following Maestro Piantoni’s deteriorating health, the band was entrusted to Gioacchino Ligonzo, and it is said that an intense rivalry arose between Marmino and the new director. His qualities earned him recognition from the Ministry of Public Education, Inspectorate for Artistic Education, as suitable for the role of band director, which soon led to his appointment as the Concert Band Director of Castellana Grotte, Taranto “S. Cecilia”, Cervaro del Lazio, Canosa di Puglia, Martina Franca “Mondial”, Gioia del Colle, Regione Abruzzo, Conversano, Montemaggiore, S. Giorgio Jonico, and Sarno (where he founded the Anbima school). His preference for the harmonica was directed toward works such as “Cinderella”, “Tosca”, “Turandot”, “Lucia di Lammermoor”, and “Il Trovatore”, but special attention was paid to the symphonic poem “Olanda”, composed by the Sarnese violinist Raffaele Vincenti, which was brought to the forefront by Maestro Marmino in 1978 when he was the director of the Regione Abruzzo Band. After his death, no band performed the aforementioned symphonic poem, as only Marmino possessed the score. He died in Vicenza on January 6, 1994, but rests in the cemetery of Sarno.

Raffaele Miglietta was born in Francavilla Fontana on February 21, 1919. He graduated in Clarinet, Composition, Instrumentation for Bands, and Choral Singing from the “S. Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome. Introduced to band conducting by Maestro Antonio D’Elia (who was also known for his historical adaptation of Respighi’s “Pines of Rome” for a band), he began his career as a band director in Carosino (Taranto). He later moved to Tuglie (Lecce) to lead the local band. After World War II, in 1951, he successfully took over the reins of the Corato band. It is said that in 1961, on the occasion of the election of President J.F. Kennedy, Miglietta wrote and recorded a march titled “Kennediana” and sent it to the United States. Vincenzo Ciliberti tells the story: “The lucky thing was that in the summer of ’62, Mrs. Kennedy came to Italy on vacation, and our Band was on the Amalfi Coast for a party. With the committee’s agreement, we went to Ravello where the First Lady was staying, and we played the composition live for her. Then the lady’s greeting, with the promise of organizing a tour in America. Everything went up in smoke due to the President’s assassination.” Nevertheless, the experience in Corato lasted until 1972, and then he moved on to lead the band in Montefalcione (Av) in the following two years, taking over from Vincenzo Alise. In 1975, the Maestro recomposed the Band of Acquaviva delle Fonti without the patronage of the municipal administration, directing it also in the years ’77 and ’78, interrupted by a brief return to Corato in 1976. The next stop was in his hometown of Francavilla Fontana, where he brought a large number of musicians from Ruvo di Puglia and Corato and remained until 1982 when he was replaced by Michele Santaniello. He then directed the band concert in Trani, which had Vito La Selva as its representative and coordinator on the circuit. In 1987, Nino Farì wanted him as the conductor of the reconstruction of the “Classico Concerto Bandistico Schipa – D’Ascoli Città di Lecce.” He directed in Lecce until 1988 and then moved to the podium of the Bisceglie band. His historic partnership with soloists Vincenzo Ciliberti, solo flugelhorn, Cataldo Valerio, tenor flugelhorn, and Cataldo Maggiulli on the baritone flugelhorn was well known, and they were nicknamed the “Trio delle Meraviglie” (in the same years as the football trio Gullit-Rijkaard-Van Basten). The pieces he usually preferred to conduct on the harmonica were Liszt’s “Preludes,” “Gioconda,” “Lucia di Lammermoor,” and the symphonic poem “Carri Armati” by Giulio Andrea Marchesini. Finally, among other works, he arranged for the band the Don Checco, a comic opera by Nicola De Giosa, and Verdi’s Attila. He died on December 5, 1994.

Jorge Egea. Born in Barcelona on March 31, 1933, he graduated in piano, orchestra, and choir conducting from the conservatory of the Catalan city. From 1957 to 1965 he was director of the “Jantena” ballet, as well as pianist and performer at the “Candijelas” theater in Barcelona, and in Barcelona, he also held the position of director and master of ceremonies at the city’s Liceu theater. At the “Principal” theater in Zaragoza, he conducted Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, and Lucia di Lammermoor; he was choirmaster at the opera theaters in Dublin, the “Regio” in Turin, the “Carlo Felice” in Genoa, and the “Petruzzelli” in Bari, where he also served as a hall director and musical director. He led the band concerts in Squinzano (Le), Mottola (Ta), Montemaggiore, Mercato S. Severino, and Gioia del Colle. He composed several symphonic marches, and a lyrical opera, and made several transcriptions for bands. In his transcription of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, he inserted the organ for the recitatives, which was replaced by a player piano that the maestro placed beside the podium. He introduced zarzuela – the Spanish equivalent of lyrical opera – into the band repertoire.

Mario Cananà. Born in Trepuzzi on March 16, 1942. After classical studies at the Calasanzio Institute of the Scolopi fathers in Campi Salentina (Le), he began studying singing in 1960 with the famous Lecce tenor Franco Perulli; after a year he won the national ENAL competition in Parma, and the following year he won the audition for the singing school at La Scala theater in Milan. In the summer of 1962, he made his public debut with selections from Il Trovatore, Norma, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, as well as various operettas and Neapolitan songs. After his career as a singer, he began his career as a conductor. In 1983, he led the “Schipa-D’Ascoli” band in Lecce. From 1985 to 1986, he then directed the nascent band of Sava. Later, he took the podium of the “Ernesto and Gennaro Abbate” Grand Band Concert in Squinzano and ended his career by conducting the young band of Tricase. In 1990, he finally directed the band of Gioia del Colle, with which he performed in Milan, in Piazza della Scala to the applause of the Milanese, and obtained a commemorative plaque of honor. In his life, he also won the following awards: the Bacchetta d’Oro Prize and some Gold Medals with the Bands of Lecce, Sava, and Gioia del Colle. He currently lives in Trepuzzi.

Susanna Pescetti, born in Palagonia (CT) but a Neapolitan by adoption, began studying piano and composition at the San Pietro (a Majella Conservatory in Naples) with the masters Pennella, Vitale, and Mazzotta, graduating in both specialties. Later, she followed courses in orchestra conducting with Maestro Donato Renzetti, graduating with top marks. A daughter of art, Luigi Pescetti, a sort of historical leader of the band like the Apulian Gioacchino Ligonzo, she has collaborated with various national and international music institutions: Orchestra del Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, Orchestra della Fondazione Arena di Verona di Verona, Orchestra del Teatro Politeama di Lecce, Orchestra Teatro “Giuseppe Verdi” di Salerno, Orchestra Sinfonica del Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Sinfonica di Bari, Ico della Magna Grecia, Sinfonica Abruzzese, Orchestra Teatro Rendano di Cosenza, Orchestra di fiati di Milano, Ico di Lecce, Orchestra da Camera “I Solisti del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma,” I solisti del Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Carnegie Hall di New York with the New England Symphony Orchestra, Praga North Czech Symphony, Mexico City at Bellas Artes, Kratico di Salonicco, Palais de la Musique e Salle du Conservatoire di Strasburgo, Teatro della Fondazione Pescatori di Luxemburg, Studio 4 della Radio di Bruxelles, Palais Bercy di Parigi, Teatro Bellini e Teatro Mercadante di Napoli, Orchestra Sinfonica de Guanajuato, Orchesta Sinfonica di Stato del Messico, Orchestra Classica di Madeira (Portugal), Orchestra da Camera di Cascais (Portugal), Orchestra Filarmonica di Stato di Iasi (Romania), Orchestra Filarmonica Oltenia di Craiova (Romania), Orchestra Sinfonica di Stato di Astana (Kazakhstan), Orchestra dell’Opera di Chişinău (Moldavia), San Pietroburgo Sala Shostacovich (Russia), Orchestra Sinfonica di Acapulco (Mexico), Kso Karntner Synphonieorchester at the Konzerthaus in Klagenfurt (Austria), Sinfonica di Porto Alegre (Brazil), Sinfonica Mar de La Plata (Argentina), Orchestra Sinfonica di Stato della Radio di Bucarest, Orchestra di Stato di Atene (Greece), Orchestra del Teatro Craiova (Romania), Ensemble della 141 Radio di Sofia (Bulgaria), and has participated in various festivals such as Kammermusik Festival in Oslo, Primavera Italiana in Tokyo, Città Spettacolo in Benevento, Festival di Kotor Montenegro and Zagreb (Croatia), Vespri d’Organo (Milan), Nancy France, Ville Vesuviane. She has collaborated with great opera artists such as Maria Dragoni, Nicola Martinucci, but also with theatre artists such as Giorgio Albertazzi, Tato Russo, and others. In terms of bands, she has elegantly and forcefully led the bands of Fisciano, Ceglie Messapica, Martina Franca, and currently the historic Gran Concerto Bandistico “Giuseppe Piantoni” of the city of Conversano. She is now one of the most sought-after conductors in the band world.

Anna Ciaccia. Born in Fasano (Br), she studied piano and obtained a diploma in Opera Singing from the “Tito Schipa” Conservatory in Lecce. She also earned a degree in Musicology from the University of Salento in Lecce and a diploma in Orchestra Conducting for Opera at the Conservatory in Pescara in 1999. She attended composition, band instrumentation, and orchestra conducting courses under the guidance of masters Franco Arigliano, Nicola Hansalik Samale, Michele Marvulli, and Bruno Aprea. She has received several awards: in 1990 the Gold Medal issued by the Ministry for Equal Opportunities, in 1996 the Silver Baton, in 1998 the Golden Baton, in 2017 the Career Award “Excellence” in Lecce, in 2018 the Commitment Award “Southern Woman” 2018, as well as certificates of esteem from the theatrical entities of Bari, Giulianova (Te), Craiova (Romania), where she conducted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D major K 504 (Prague); she has conducted band concerts in Martina Franca (Ta), Lecce “Giacomo Puccini”, Fisciano (Sa), San Giorgio Jonico (Ta), Racale (Le), Squinzano “Ernesto e Gennaro Abbate” (Le). Currently, she is a Stage Maestro for the opera seasons organized in Lecce and artistic director of the Musical Association “Amici della Lirica” in Lecce.

Michele Bozzi. Born in 1958, he studied at the Flute School of M° Antonio Minella at the Piccinni Conservatory in Bari, graduating with honors in 1978. He then continued his studies with William Bennett, Robert Dick, Severino Gazzelloni, Peter-Lukas Graf, Raymond Guiot, Maxence Larrieu, Alain Marion, Aurèle, and Christiane Nicolet, receiving praise and tangible demonstrations of merit, esteem, and friendship. He was already the 1st Flute of the Petruzzelli Theater in Bari and Vice-Maestro of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Province of Matera (a “Super Band” of 120 elements led by M° Rosario Lacerenza) and was for 27 years, from 1978 to 2005, the holder of the Flute Class at the Duni Conservatory in Matera. Since November 2005, he has held the same role in Bari, retiring in 2022. Awarded in several National and International Competitions, he has directed his research, chamber, and soloist interests towards the different aspects of instrumental music, ranging from Baroque music to contemporary music, never abandoning his passion for the band, always looking for historical repertoire that has fallen into oblivion. After being a Ministerial Commissioner for the National Flute Chair Competition (Verona 1991/92), he is now often present on juries of National and International Flute and/or Chamber Music Competitions. He has played all over the world and recorded for radio and TV broadcasters, as well as for record labels as a soloist and in ensembles. He collaborates as a flutist with the “Collegium Musicum” of Bari directed by M° Rino Marrone, holds Flute Refinement Courses and Master-Classes, and carries out Orchestra Conducting activities.