Lorenza Borrani and Matteo Fossi Duo

Lorenza Borrani

Lorenza Borrani was born in Florence in 1983. She began her musical studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole at the very early age of five and in 2000 she graduated in violin magna cum laude at the Florence Conservatorio. In 2001 she earned the Master Diploma as a concert performer at the International Academy in Portogruaro where she has been working with Pavel Vernikov, Zinaida Gilels, Ilya Grubert, and Matis Vaitsner.

Lorenza’s career as a soloist was started when she was still a child. Since then she has been invited by a number of important concert associations in Italy and abroad including Società dei Concerti (Milan), Amici della Musica (Florence, Perugia, Padua, Palermo), Symphoniekonzert (Aachen) e in major concert halls like Teatro Comunale of Florence, Teatro Comunale of Bologna, Lingotto Musica in Turin, and Milan Auditorium. She has also been awarded a very large number of prizes and grants in recognition of her talent, starting from the First Prizes at the Violin Competitions in Vittorio Veneto (1995) and Carpi (1997) and including the “Premio Firenze Donna” (1998), the latter being a special award given by the Florence Municipality to outstanding female managers and artists.

She has performed as a soloist or in ensembles with Isabelle Faust, Bruno Giuranna, Andrea Lucchesini, Pavel Gililov, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Mario Ancillotti, Gert Mortensen, G.G. Rath, Yuri Ahronovitch, Simonide Braconi, Domenico Nordio, Christof Richter, Stefan Sanderling, Danilo Rossi and Enrico Bronzi.

She has also been engaged in international festivals like the “Brahms Milano Moscow New York Festival” organized by Serate Musicali di Milano (2002–2003) and in the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (2001).

Lorenza has always been attracted by chamber music, following the path of teachers who are also outstanding chamber musicians like Piero Farulli (Quartetto Italiano) Pavel Vernikov, Pier Narciso Masi, Alexander Lonquich, and Trio di Milano. One of the outcomes of this interest was Quartetto Klimt, a piano quartet established in 1995 that was soon to become one of the most active and acclaimed chamber music groups of this kind in Italy, being awarded by prizes like “Gaetano Zinetti” International Competition in 1998 and receiving favourable comments by Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Maurizio Pollini, Carlo Maria Giulini.

Lorenza’s duo with the pianist Matteo Fossi dates back from the earliest days of their childhood and is marked by a long streak of important performances and awards all over Europe, including the second prize at the Premio Internazionale “Città di Gubbio” (1997), the first prize at the 4th International Music Competition “Perugia Classico” (1998), the second prize (1st prize not awarded) at the 18th International Music Competition in Trapani (1998), the third prize at the International Music Competition “Premio Trio di Trieste” (2000). The duo recently performed at the William Walton Foundation in Ischia in the occasion of the visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. They also perform regularly at Italian and international music festivals like Bologna Festival, the Festival of Radio France in Montpellier, the Oleg Kagan Festival in Kreuth (Germany), and the Encuentro de Musica y Academia di Santander (Spain). The duo has completed a CD recording featuring Beethoven’s Sonatas “Kreutzer” and “The Spring” which has been released by UNICEF at the end of 2003; in 2003, 2004 and 2005 they gave a series of sold-out recitals (also with orchestra) in several cities of Brazil.

Lorenza Borrani plays a violin made in Naples by Ferdinando Galliano (1762) as courtesy of the “Pro Canale” Foundation of Milan.

Matteo Fossi

Matteo Fossi was born in Florence in 1978. He began his musical studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole at the age of eight and he graduated with distinction at Conservatorio di Ferrara in 1999. Afterwards he has been working with Maria Tipo and Pietro de Maria at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole and with Maurizio Pollini at the Accademia Chigiana. Fossi is currently attending a special course with Pier Narciso Masi at the Scuola di Musica di Sesto Fiorentino.

Matteo has been engaged as an active performer since he was just more than a child. In 1994 he made his debut as a soloist playing Haydn’s Concert in D Major at the traditional New Year’s Concert offered by the Florence Municipality before an audience of more than 2,000 people. Since that occasion he has been performing many times as a soloist in several major Italian theatres like Teatro Comunale in Florence. In 2003 he has made a widely acclaimed debut in Germany.

Fossi has been awarded prizes in several international and national solo and chamber music competitions since the age of thirteen. His repertoire as a soloist ranges from Bach to Schnittke and Stockhausen.

Matteo Fossi has always been attracted by chamber music, following the path of teachers who are also outstanding chamber musicians like Piero Farulli (Quartetto Italiano) Pavel Vernikov, Pier Narciso Masi, Alexander Lonquich, and the members of Trio di Milano. The earliest outcome of this interest was Quartetto Klimt, a piano quartet established in 1995 that was soon to become one of the most active and acclaimed chamber music groups of this kind in Italy, being awarded by prizes like “Gaetano Zinetti” International Competition in 1998 and receiving favourable comments by Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Maurizio Pollini, Carlo Maria Giulini.

Fossi’s duo with the young violinist Lorenza Borrani dates from the earliest days of their childhood and is marked by a long streak of important performances and awards all over Europe, including the second prize at the Premio Internazionale “Città di Gubbio” (1997) , the first prize at the 4th International Music Competition “Perugia Classico” (1998), the second prize (1st prize not awarded) at the 18th International Music Competition in Trapani (1998), the third prize at the International Music Competition “Premio Trio di Trieste” (2000). The duo recently performed at the William Walton Foundation in Ischia in the occasion of the visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

Fossi has been invited both in duo and with Quartetto Klimt to perform at almost all of the major concert associations in Italy, including the Società dei Concerti (Milan), Amici della Musica (Florence, Perugia, Verona, Padua, Campobasso, and Palermo), Lingotto Musica (Turin). They also perform regularly at Italian and international music festivals like Bologna Festival, Ravello Festival, Elba Isola Musicale d’Europa, Ater Festival in Rimini, the Festival of Radio France in Montpellier, the Oleg Kagan Festival in Kreuth (Germany), and the Encuentro de Musica y Academia di Santander (Spain). The duo has completed a CD recording featuring Beethoven’s Sonatas “Kreutzer” and “The Spring” which is due to be released by UNICEF at the end of 2003.

Matteo has developed a great interest in spreading the word of good music around. As an outcome of this commitment he was one of the founders and is currently the Artistic Director of the Association “Nuovi Eventi Musicali”, inviting great performers like Irina Schnittke, Alexander Ivashkin, Boris Berman, Valery Polyansky, Suzanne Linke.