The piano was invented in 1699 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori. Since then the artisanal traditions of producing excellent musical instruments has been continuously cultivated in Italy.
The exhibition illuminates the evolution of keyboard instruments, from the piano’s oldest ancestors to the modern Gran Coda. Items of great importance include Feliciano Fedeli’s organ (pre 1746) and the first modern copy of a fortepiano Cristofori (1968).
Visitors can immerse themselves in this fascinating world, not only by seeing, but also by listening, to a concert by Claudio Brizi performed on some of these historical instruments.
To complete visitors’ experiences, the curators will describe in detail the craftsmanship and production process for these instruments.
China is the world’s largest producer and buyer of pianos and boasts many centers of excellence for piano training. Beijing is the first site of this exhibition. As a special tribute to the long musical exchange tradition between Italy and China, which began in 1601 with the gift of a clavichord by the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci to Emperor Wan Li, the exhibition includes a harpsichord and a fortepiano decorated in chinoiserie style, as well as the “Marco Polo”, the latest Fazioli model.
CLAUDIO BRIZI
Claudio Brizi is a well-known organ and harpsichord player, as well as a scholarly expert on organs and ancient keyboard instruments. His research has brought him a worldwide reputationas an authority in the field of the so-called Hybrid Keyboard instruments.
He has performed over 2,000 concerts for well-known musical institutions around the world. His discography, some 100 CDs, ranges from the late Renaissance to the present day.The specialized music media has conferred him many awards, among which is the recent “Japan Audiophile Prize”. As a chamber music artist, he has collaborated with numerous high-lever singers and instrumentalists.
He has designed over twenty instruments in Italy, Germany and Japan. He also consults on the restoration of historical instruments. His own collection of historical instruments is of particular significance and includes a XVI century harpsichord, many historical pianos and fortepianos (the oldest is of 1774!), and some rare examples of the claviorgan.
He is professor at the Conservatory in Parma (Italy) and the Kusatsu Summer Music Academy (Japan). He has been regularly invited to teach masterclasses, attend conferences and seminars, and to serve as a jury member at competitions.
Some of the venues where he has performed: Thomaskircheand Bach-Archiv (Leipzig), Schauspielhaus, Charlottenburg-Schloß and Französischer Dom (Berlin), Herkules Saal (Munich), Sans-Souci (Potsdam), Hofkirche (Vienna), San Maurizio (Milan), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris),Oratorio del Gonfalone (Rome), Casals Hall, Triphony Hall and Musashino Hall (Tokyo), Simphony Hall and Ishihara Hall (Osaka), Settembre Musica (Turin), Dresdner Musikfestspiele (Dresden) and many more.
GUIDO BIZZI
Founder of Bizzi Clavicembali, now Bizzi Historical Keyboard Instruments, Guido Bizzi, while studying at the Politecnico in Torino, assembled the “Camerata Polofonica di Torino”, a vocal sextet. It won immediate high praise and was given the privilege of performing in such prestigious venues as Cappella dei Banchieri e Mercanti and Palazzo Madama.
After moving to Milan, he established a new ensemble, Studio di Musica Antica, which offered innovative concerts of medieval and renaissance music using an incredible number of historical instruments of all types. He also began a long cooperation with the city, creating the “Scuola di Liuteria del Comune di Milano”.
In the 90s he organized the first complete restoration of the Museo del Teatro alla Scala’s musical instruments collection, and later that of the Vivaldi collection of violins of the Museo Correr in Venice. This activity brought to Milan over 30 specialists from all over Europe and became a milestone in his career for the study, restoration and reconstruction of musical instruments. These experiences, together with his various specializations, led him to found his own production company in 1996. His basic idea was not merely to make replicas of original harpsichords, but to design the entire manufacturing process in accordance with the traditions of the great masters of the past. The results of this new method were evident in short time. Today BIZZI is a leading figure in this field, having added to harpsichords the manufacture of Fortepianos and Clavichords and the restoration of original pianos.
In 2010, he also founded the Accademia Europea Villa Bossi, a unique teaching system with some of the most distinguished professors from all over Europe, and a melting pot where different experiences and cultures interact toproduce new ideas.