Bar-Oct: 12 Baroque Masterpieces For Piccolo – Debora Rosti

Debora Rosti was born in 1971 in Modena, Italy. She began studying the flute at age 13 at the Conservatory “O. Vecchi” in Modena with Gabriele Betti and just six years later, in 1990, she successfully obtained her Diploma in Flute at the Conservatory of Music “L. Campiani” of Mantua. She continued her studies at the International Academy of Music (ICONS) of Novara with Glauco Cambursano, at the School for Advanced Musical Studies (APM) of Saluzzo, at the Conservatory of Geneva under Maxance Larrieu, where she obtained the Prix de virtuosité, and with Maestro Bruno Cavallo. She has worked as a flutist and piccoloist with nearly all major Italian opera and symphony orchestras, including the Orchestra del Teatro “Carlo Felice” in Genoa, the Orchestra del Teatro “La Fenice” in Venice, the Orchestra dei “Pomeriggi Musicali” in Milan, the Orchestra “A. Toscanini” in Parma, the Orchestra del Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Orchestra of the Teatro “V. Bellini” in Catania, and the Orchestra del Teatro “Alla Scala” in Milan, where in 2001 she was also one of the two finalists in the international competition for the vacant piccolo position. Since 2000 she has held the position of Principal Piccolo in the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana in Palermo. She performs frequently as a soloist and with various chamber groups. For several years she has been committed to teaching the piccolo and has developed and refined a unique pedagogical technique for this instrument. She is the Principal Instructor of the ‘Annual Postgraduate Piccolo Course’ held at the Associazione ‘Arte Nuova’ of Palermo and is frequently invited to hold courses and master classes at several Italian academies of advanced specialization and national conservatories. Her research into the soloist repertoire for piccolo is ongoing, and she has arranged works particularly suited for that instrument that were originally written for other melodic instruments.

“Performing Baroque music on the piccolo might seem like a wild idea to some. But even though the approach is not philological, that doesn’t mean it lacks depth. It remains to be seen how today we can presume to respect criteria of “authenticity” (understood as remaining as close as possible to the aesthetics and the material conditions of the period) after more than three centuries. Isn’t it just a more refined, and perhaps even slightly cultural utopia?” by Debora Rosti