Aldo Ferraresi


Aldo Ferraresi was a celebrated Italian concert violinist and violin pedagogue.

Life and career

Ferraresi was born in Ferrara, the son of Augusto Ferraresi, an artillery marshal and mandolin player, and Marcella Jesi. His mother was "of Jewish origin".
At the age of five he began his studies at the Frescobaldi Institute of Music in Ferrara with Federico Barera and Umberto Supino. When he was 12, he was admitted to the Parma Conservatory. His teacher there, Mario Corti, also accompanied him to Rome where he received a degree in violin from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia three years later. Upon suggestions from Jan Kubelik, he went to Eugène Ysaÿe, who considered him one of his best pupils.
Starting from 1923 he was leader of "Aldo Ferraresi Chamber Orchestra" where, together with Marcello Cortopassi and professors of the "Rome Augusteo Orchestra", he played at Gran Caffé Margherita in Viareggio.
He went on to perform in concert halls throughout Europe and the United States including La Scala in Milan, the Royal Festival Hall in London. In addition to his solo concert work, he was also first violin in the Quartet of San Remo and concertmaster at the Symphonic Orchestra of San Remo, as well at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
As teacher, he held the violin class at Music Conservatory "N.Piccinni" in Bari from October 1967 till 1973, when Nino Rota was the director.
Among his pupils we can remember Uto Ughi that studied with him privately in Naples for 7 years.
Aldo Ferraresi died in Sanremo on 29 June 1978. In May 2002, the 100th anniversary of his birth was marked by an exhibition and seminars in Ferrara and concerts in his honour in Ferrara at the Teatro Comunale.
Ferraresi played on many precious violins, among of them are the "King George" Stradivarius and the "Cannone" Guarneri of Paganini. His favourite instruments were a Camillo Camilli and an Alessandro Gagliano.

Family

Among the six brothers are Prospero Ferraresi, pianist and his accompanist from the 1920s to the 1940s, Sexten Ferraresi, dealer in musical instruments that lived in Berlin, and the younger, that was also his pupil, :it:Cesare Ferraresi|Cesare Ferraresi who was a renowned soloist, concertmaster at RAI Orchestra in Milano and member of "Trio di Milano". From his marriage with Italia Pecori, Aldo Ferraresi had two sons, both musicians, Marcello Ferraresi an appreciated tenor, pupil of Mario del Monaco and the pianist Augusto Ferraresi, that we can see in a RAI video accompanying his father in Paganini recital.

Notable performances