Roberto Mucci

Born in Rho in 1972, he obtained the following musical qualifications: diploma in Organ and Organ Composition (cum laude, under the guidance of L. Molfino, Istituto pareggiato G. Donizetti - Bergamo); diploma in Choral Music and Choir Conducting (with A.E. Negri, Conservatorio G. Verdi - Como); degree in Gregorian Chant and Sacred Music (cum laude) at the Pontificio Istituto Ambrosiano di Musica Sacra in Milan; diploma in High Composition (with top marks, in the class of C. Ballarini, Conservatorio G. Verdi - Como). He perfected his training in organ improvisation with F. Caporali. As a composer, he has to his credit pages of varying nature and purpose: attracted at first by languages of tonal ascendancy, he subsequently devoted himself to the search for a more personal expressive world that is culminating in his current experiments, some of which are dedicated to the exploration of the unprecedented resources of his instrument. In 2003, he won third prize at the International music Competition organised by the Municipality of Cortemilia (Cn) with the piece for small orchestra Ipomisophrygium. A distinguished author of Sacred Music, he has published for LDC Leumann (Turin), Carrara (Bergamo), Rugginenti (Milan). Several of his compositions have been the subject of recordings. A former teacher of Theory and Solfeggio, Organ, Harmony and Counterpoint at the Pontifical Ambrosian Institute of Sacred Music in Milan, for over twenty-five years he has led the Ensemble Polifonico and Schola Gregoriana Laus Deo of Rho (Milan), a group that was one of the winners of the 2004 USCI review. For four years he was director of the Pueri Cantores school of the Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. Since 2016 he has been director of the CAI Choir in Milan. He has given over two hundred concerts - in Italy and abroad - both as a soloist and as director of voices and instruments; he is often called upon to inaugurate and test restored or newly built organs. He has collaborated with Radio della Svizzera Italiana, recorded for Bavarian Radio, for various local broadcasters and for the Syrius label in Cannes and Bottega Discantica in Milan. A passionate devotee of his instrument, in the past he was actively involved in organ making. Following his victory in the international competition held in 2004 by the Congregazione della Misericordia Maggiore (jury: V. Donella, J. Guillou, K. Schnorr), he has been the titular organist of the Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore in Bergamo since July of the same year. He is the artistic director of L'organo della Basilica, a summer festival dedicated to the monumental Vegezzi Bossi of S. Maria Maggiore. In May 2011, he was awarded a civic honour for artistic merit by his hometown of Rho.