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«Where there is devout music,
God is always present
with his grace.»

Bey einer andächtigen Musig
ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart
J. S. Bach, handwritten note

Biography

Biography of Mario Ciferri

Organist, Harpsichordist and Choir and Orchestra Conductor

Mario Ciferri, seen from behind, looks down the nave of a Gothic cathedral before a concert

The masterful silence of the cathedral

Not just any silence: the masterful silence of a space that has lived for centuries. Age-old prayers, coronations, farewells; held breaths, whispered hopes: a polyphony of souls settled between the stones. Whoever knows how to listen knows how to answer: with the right measure, with the right spirit, until the very air of the nave becomes voice in the throats of the pipes.

Mario Ciferri listens to that silence
in more than twenty countries around the world.
Mario Ciferri at the console at the end of a Gothic nave
Mario Ciferri seated beside the console of a great organ
Mario Ciferri in a dark jacket beside a gilded Baroque organ

The biography of Mario Ciferri in six chapters

  1. Mario Ciferri seated beside the console of a great pipe organ

    Education

    Studies at the Conservatories of Bologna, Pesaro and Rome, with six diplomas: Piano, Organ and Organ Composition, Harpsichord, Orchestral Conducting, Sacred Music (cum laude) and advanced training in Orchestral Conducting in Pescara, with Donato Renzetti.

  2. Mario Ciferri seen from behind at the console of a great organ, beneath the pipes of a Gothic cathedral

    The repertoire

    From Frescobaldi, Buxtehude, Bach and Mendelssohn to the French and German symphonic tradition of Franck, Widor, Vierne, Liszt, Reubke, Reger and Karg-Elert, up to Dupré, Duruflé and Messiaen. With modern-era premières of long-unpublished composers, some recorded for the first time.

  3. Mario Ciferri at the console at the end of a Gothic nave, beneath the organ pipes

    The concerts

    More than eight hundred concerts in over twenty countries: St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Temple Church in London, St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, Reykjavík Cathedral, St Florian Abbey.

  4. Mario Ciferri in tails on the stage of the Katowice Philharmonic, among the orchestra's music stands

    Orchestra and conducting

    Soloist with orchestra in the Concerto op. 100 by Marco Enrico Bossi, at the Sochi and Katowice Philharmonic halls; continuo player with I Virtuosi di Bucarest, the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, the Orchestra da Camera delle Marche and the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana. As a conductor he has led Baroque ensembles and orchestral and choral groups.

  5. Mario Ciferri seated at the console of the organ in the church of San Giorgio Martire, beneath the statue of Saint George

    The Festival

    Since 2007 he has been founder and artistic director of the «Città di Porto San Giorgio» International Organ Festival, built around the Francesco Zanin organ (1966) of the church of San Giorgio Martire, where he is titular organist. Free admission concerts. The Festival

  6. Mario Ciferri seated beside the multi-manual console of a great organ

    Teaching

    Since 2000 he has been a tenured professor by national competition, first at the Conservatory of Monopoli; today he holds the chair of Organ Practice and Gregorian Chant at the «G. B. Pergolesi» State Conservatory in Fermo.

In numbers

Over eight hundred concerts in more than twenty countries, more than a hundred concerts at the Festival

Concerts
Countries
Festival concerts

An international career

From the Atlantic to the Urals

Some places

Where the organ has played.

Mario Ciferri seen from behind at the console, beneath the organ pipes
LondonWestminster Abbey
Mario Ciferri seated in profile beside the console
ReykjavíkCathedral
Mario Ciferri in tails with his hands on the keyboards
MoscowCathedral
Organ lit above the Gothic portal, with Mario Ciferri at the console
LausanneCathedral
Mario Ciferri at the large console with rows of stops
New YorkSt Patrick’s Cathedral
Mario Ciferri behind the glass music desk of the console
Landsberg am LechCathedral
Mario Ciferri in the nave, with the organ on the gallery behind him
OsloNorway
Mario Ciferri seated at the console among the gilded stuccoes of the church
RomePortoghesi
Philharmonic concert hall with the organ on the stage
KatowicePhilharmonic
Mario Ciferri in the Baroque nave, with the organ in the background
St. FlorianAbbey
The historic dark-wood organ at the end of the nave
CopenhagenHolmens Kirke
Mario Ciferri seated at the console in the choir of the cathedral
SevilleCathedral

An international career

A constellation of cathedrals

Westminster Abbey◆ St Paul’s Cathedral◆ Temple Church◆ St Patrick’s Cathedral◆ Central Synagogue◆ Reykjavík Cathedral◆ St. Florian Abbey◆ Sochi Philharmonic◆ Katowice Philharmonic◆

From there the map widens. London welcomes him in its most austere places: St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Temple Church. New York listens to him at St Patrick’s Cathedral and the Central Synagogue. And then Paris, Munich, St Florian Abbey where Anton Bruckner lies, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Toronto, as far as the extreme latitudes of Reykjavík and the halls of Siberia. At the Sochi and Katowice philharmonic halls he performs as soloist the Concerto for organ and orchestra op. 100 by Marco Enrico Bossi, one of the most imposing and least performed pages of organ symphonic music: the choice of those who ask programmes for substance, not habit. His repertoire spans four centuries, from Buxtehude and Bach to the French symphonic tradition of Franck, Widor and Vierne, up to Reger, Karg-Elert and the twentieth century.

Education

Six diplomas, a single vocation.

It all begins in the Marche, in Porto San Giorgio, and at the Conservatories of Bologna, Pesaro and Rome, where Ciferri builds a course of study of rare breadth: six diplomas, from Piano to Organ and Organ Composition, from Harpsichord to Orchestral Conducting, up to Sacred Music earned cum laude, together with studies in composition, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. In Pescara, at the Academy of Advanced Training, he graduates in Orchestral Conducting under Donato Renzetti.

But it is in his advanced training that his profile takes shape. Lessons with Gaston Litaize and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, with Ton Koopman, Michael Radulescu and Christopher Stembridge place him within a precise interpretive lineage: the one that descends, hand to hand, from the great masters of twentieth-century Europe to the keyboards of today. Recognition comes early, from the prize at the National Organ Competition in Noale in 1990 to a place on the podium at the «Fratelli Bernasconi» Competition in Olgiate Olona in 2003. In 1998 he wins the national competition by examination and qualifications; a tenured professor since 2000, he first holds a chair at the Conservatory of Monopoli and now at the «G. B. Pergolesi» State Conservatory in Fermo, where he teaches Organ Practice and Gregorian Chant.

Six diplomas
  1. Piano
  2. Organ and Organ Composition
  3. Harpsichord
  4. Orchestral conducting
  5. Sacred musiccum laude
  6. Advanced training in orchestral conductingPescara Academy, with Donato Renzetti

Advanced training

He studied with.

Organ and harpsichord teachers: Ton Koopman, Christopher Stembridge, Gaston Litaize, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Michael Radulescu, Roberto Marini, Arturo Sacchetti. Choral music teachers: Giovanni Acciai, Giacomo Baroffio, Marco Berrini, Piergiorgio Righele, Stephen Woodbury. Orchestral conducting: Donato Renzetti.

Rediscovery and recordings

Two centuries of silence, brought back to light

Alongside the performer there is the scholar. In the Marche, land of historic organ builders, Ciferri has given numerous inaugural concerts on restored instruments and has brought back to light, in modern-era premières, composers silent for two centuries. In 2004 he recorded the organ works of Luigi Vecchiotti, a world première recording, for La Bottega Discantica of Milan; there followed the DVD Terra d’Organi on the historic organs of the province of Macerata, Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël for the English label Sheva and, in November 2022, the recording of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese in the Upper Basilica of Assisi.

2004

Luigi Vecchiotti, organ works
World première recording

CD · La Bottega Discantica

2004

Terra d’Organi
The historic organs of the province of Macerata

DVD

2009

C. Saint-Saëns, Oratorio de Noël op. 12
Soloists, choir, organ and orchestra

CD · Sheva

2022

G. Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle
Upper Basilica of Assisi

Video · Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese

Milestones and awards

A career in dates.

  1. 1990

    National Organ Competition, Noale

    Second prize, first prize not awarded.

  2. 1993

    Gioachino Rossini Foundation scholarship

    As the best graduate of the «Rossini» Conservatory in Pesaro.

  3. 1998

    National competition by examination and qualifications

    Winner. Tenured professor since 2000, first at the Conservatory of Monopoli.

  4. 2003

    «Fratelli Bernasconi» International Competition

    Olgiate Olona, second prize.

  5. 2004

    World première recording of Luigi Vecchiotti

    Organ works, La Bottega Discantica, Milan. In the same year, the DVD «Terra d’Organi» on the historic organs of the province of Macerata.

  6. 2006

    A.R.CO.M Regional Choir

    He prepares and conducts music by Britten and Mozart’s Requiem K. 626 at the Teatro alle Muse in Ancona.

  7. 2007

    The International Organ Festival is born

    Mario Ciferri has been its founder and artistic director since the first edition, in Porto San Giorgio.

  8. 2009

    Saint-Saëns, Oratorio de Noël op. 12

    Recording with the Orchestra da Camera delle Marche, conducted by Molinelli (Sheva, United Kingdom).

  9. 2014

    «A. Guanti» International Choral Competition

    Matera, absolute first prize and the A.Ba.Co. Prize for the best performance of a contemporary Italian composer.

  10. 2022

    Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle

    Recording with the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, conducted by Sipari, in the Upper Basilica of Assisi.

At a glance

Awards, roles, recordings

Awards and honours

  • 1990National Organ Competition, Noale: second prize (first prize not awarded)
  • 1998Winner of the national competition by examination and qualifications: tenured professor since 2000
  • 2003«Fratelli Bernasconi» International Competition, Olgiate Olona: second prize
  • 2014«A. Guanti» International Choral Competition, Matera: absolute first prize and A.Ba.Co special prize

Current roles

  • Chair holder, «G. B. Pergolesi» State Conservatory, Fermo
  • Titular organist, Church of San Giorgio Martire, Porto San Giorgio
  • Founder and artistic director, «Città di Porto San Giorgio» International Organ Festival

Discography and video

  • 2004Luigi Vecchiotti, organ works, world première recording (La Bottega Discantica)
  • 2004DVD Terra d’Organi
  • 2009Saint-Saëns, Oratorio de Noël op. 12 (Sheva)
  • 2022Rossini, Petite Messe Solennelle, Upper Basilica of Assisi

Biography for concert programmes

Official text ready for programmes, press releases and festival booklets.

Curriculum · English Press Kit

The rest is best heard live.

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