Biography
Since 2017, Cristiana Passerini has held the chair of Harp at the G. Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where she also teaches ancient practice, contemporary music, orchestral passages and literature of the instrument.
The prerogative of her innovative teaching method is to include in the harp study programs neglected but essential works for the musician's training such as those of Bach and other contemporary keyboard repertoires, drawing inspiration from the most recent musicological and philological research. The promotional activity in this sense has also developed through recordings, concerts, seminars, masterclasses, conferences and interviews for specialized networks.
In this regard, we can mention the CDs recorded for La Bottega Discantica in Milan: the box set JS Bach, The French Suites released in 2020 with notes by M. Moiraghi and the single JS Bach Suites from 2009 with notes by M. Baroni. She has also published scores for Ut Orpheus and Rugginenti-Volontè, including the Suite BWV 997, a novelty in the harp repertoire that was selected as a mandatory rehersal at the 50th edition of the International Harp Contest in Israel.
Cristiana Passerini is also active on the contemporary front: in carrying out the traditional concert and orchestral profession she has performed several first performances of contemporary authors and has also created a harp quartet with her students which has allowed an increase in the original repertoire for this new formation. Several composers have dedicated their works to the Laborintus Harp Quartet; some of them have been recorded for Tactus in 2018 with a booklet by G. Montecchi.
In the chamber music field, she has collaborated with the ensembles Nextime, A. Toscanini, FontanaMix, Virtuosi Italiani, I Solisti Dauni, Icarus, Octandre; she has recorded for Dynamic and Arkadia and worked in orchestra as First Harp with the Osi della Svizzera italiana and the Fondazione Toscanini of Parma. She has also played with La Fenice in Venice, the Regio in Turin, the Arena in Verona, the Comunale in Bologna, the Ort Orchestra della Toscana and in the 1980s with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Teatro Petruzzelli, the Rai orchestras of Naples and Milan, the Filarmonia Veneta, the International of Italy, the Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Youth Israel Philarmonic.
Since the 2000s she has begun to take an interest in research and experimentation. After graduating with top marks at the Conservatory of Bologna with AN Schirinzi and perfecting her skills with the solo harp of the Ipo J. Liber, she continued a path of solo study, guided in ancient practice by experts such as L. Rovighi and L. Bertani and is currently enrolled in the Faculty of Musicology of Cremona.
Publications
The version of the Suite BWV 997 edited for Rugginenti by Cristiana Passerini from Agricola's copy is intended to enrich the solo harp repertoire with a composition of absolute musical values. Interventions on the text were limited to pedalization and the use of homologous sounds, and were discussed in the critical notes in any case. The musical text, introduced by a thorough introduction (also offered in English), is particularly notable for its elegant and impeccable graphics, at the level of the best international standards.
Enrico M. Ferrando
