Pier Paolo Iacopini

Pier Paolo Iacopini was born in Rome and currently teaches his instrument at the "N. Piccinni" Conservatory in Bari, where he has been teaching since 1994. A pupil of Maestro Claudio Taddei, he completed the entire course of his training under his guidance before graduating from the "L. Refice" Conservatory in Frosinone with top marks. He began his professional career in 1978, working with the National Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In 1988 he founded the saxophone quartet "Marcel Mule", with which he held numerous concerts in Italy and abroad. In the same year he won the "Giovani Promesse" competition in Taranto with the "Presidenza della Repubblica" medal and the "Premio Stampa". In 1989 he won the "Amici della Musica di Castel Sant'Angelo" competition in Rome. Between 1990 and 1992, he held a series of important concerts and seminars in Rome, held in the Aula Magna of the University "La Sapienza" and at the Cultural Centre of the French Embassy in Rome. He was also invited by the Italian Consulate of Lyon to give a concert at the Conservatory in that city. As a soloist he played in the symphonic season of the "Fondazione ICO" orchestra in Lecce and for the concert season of the "EurOrchestra" in Bari. In the following years, he added to his normal concert activity a series of solo performances in different artistic contexts (theatre, contemporary dance and painting exhibitions). For some years now, he has been devoting himself to a recovery of the "historical" repertoire, from which the saxophone is clearly excluded for reasons of age, proposing in concerts his transcriptions ranging from the "Baroque" to the 20th century. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the "world premiere" performance in November 2002 of the "Chaconne" taken from the "II Partita in D minor" by J.S. Bach for violin. The performance took place in Lecce, Teatro Politeama, during the gala evening of the International Competition "Tito Schipa". In 2000 he published the CD "Music to Love" for the American label Brioso Recordings (www.brioso.com) dedicated to 20th century French composers from Debussy to contemporary composers. The CD was favourably reviewed in the US magazines "Fanfare" and "American Rercord Guide": "It contains real music of rial merit - the kind that demands nothing less than focused listening. Anything short of that does a disservice to the composer and the fine performers at hand". (William Zagorski) "Iacopini has phenomenal technique, particularly in the middle and lower register and an unusual, red-wine tone that is quite unlike anything I have heard before outside of the jazz world". (Steven Ritter) In Italy the CD was presented on the newspaper: "L'Arena di Verona" of 13th November 2000 and mentioned among the "ten most significant records of the year" by Girolamo De Simone on: "Alias" insert of the "Manifesto" of 16th December 2000. It was also reviewed in "Repubblica" on February 10th 2001: "Iacopini's sound is warm, almost as if it were a cello; his technique, of great agility, allows him to rapidly twist notes and sound in all registers of the instrument. The musicians bid farewell to the audience with Debussy's beautiful "Rapsodie", a true masterpiece of saxophone literature". In 2005 he founded the Renaissance Saxophone Quartet with which he won the 2006 International Chamber Music Competition in Massafra.

Partita II BWV 1004

Partita II BWV 1004

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