ANGELO GILARDINO
Curriculum vitae
Stories and Memories
Angelo Gilardino was born in Vercelli on November 16th 1941 but spent his childhood and part of his adolescence in Asigliano Vercellese, a village located among the rice fields a few kilometers from the city, in the farmhouse owned by the family. After the tragic death of his father, together with his mother Sandra and his brother Sergio Maria, he moved to Vercelli where he undertook the study of guitar, of cello, and of composition in the music schools of the city.
He began his concert career in 1958, dedicating himself above all to the new original repertoire for guitar and proposing the first performances of pieces composed for him by authors from various countries.
In 1967, Edizioni Musicali Bèrben entrusted him with the direction of a collection of guitar music that bears his name.
In 1981 he retired from concert activity to devote himself to composition, teaching and musicological research. From 1981 to 2004 he held the role of guitar teacher at the Conservatory of Alessandria. From 1984 to 2003 he was director of the specialization courses of the Lorenzo Perosi Academy in Biella.
He has held masterclasses in conservatories and academies in almost all European countries. In 2004 he retired from teaching.
As a musicologist, he found the original manuscript of the unfinished Variations for guitar by Ottorino Respighi and recovered a large corpus of compositions written for Andrés Segovia by Spanish, French and British authors in the 1920s and 1930s, never performed works, which were thought to have been lost forever. Since 2002 he has published these works in the series The Andrés Segovia Archive (Edizioni Musicali Bèrben). He recovered and published Boris Asafiev's Concerto for guitar and orchestra (1939) and he has orchestrated the Alexandre Tansman's "Hommage à Manuel de Falla", left unfinished by the author.
From 1997 to 2005 he held the position of artistic director of the “Andrés Segovia” Foundation in Linares.
He has published the biographies of Andrés Segovia and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco for Edizioni Curci.
From 1995 to 2021 he collaborated with the specialized magazines "Seicorde" and "Suonare news", published by the editor Filippo Michelangelo, writing an endless amount of listening guides, insights, essays, editorials.
Angelo Gilardino passed away in Vercelli at the age of 80 on 14 January 2022.
TALES and MEMORIES
.... I want to tell you how I saw you, growing up under your cures, and as I then made you stay
beside me until the last day
of your long life...
Alessandra Gilardino Boninsegna
Photo: ANDREA CHERCHI
