Luigi Gaggero

Luigi Gaggero (born 1976) is an Italian percussionist, conductor and academic teacher who has worked internationally. He is the chief conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra, and cimbalon teacher at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, the only professor of cimbalon in Western Europe.

Luigi Gaggero
Luigi Gaggero holding a microphone and wearing a bow in the Ukrainian national colours on his jacket.
Gaggero in Gera in 2022
Born1976 (age 46–47)
Genoa, Italy
Occupations
  • Classical percussionist
  • Conductor
  • Academic teacher
Organizations
Websiteluigigaggero.com

History
Gaggero conducting the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra at the Kurhaus Wiesbaden on 28 April 2022

Gaggero was born in Italy. He studied percussion and conducting with Andrea Pestalozza, cimbalon with Márta Fábián in Budapest. He studied percussion further with Edgar Guggeis and Rainer Seegers at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, where he graduated a solo diploma with distinction.[1] He came to Ukraine as a performing percussionist around 2012, and was impressed by the quiet attention of the audience, listening like to a spiritual message ("geistige Botschaft").[2] He co-founded and directed the Ukho Ensemble Kyiv for contemporary music in 2015. He has taught cimbalon and percussion at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, as the only full professor of cimbalon in Western Europe.[1]

Gaggero became chief conductor of the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra in 2018.[3] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the orchestra was invited to play a series of concerts in Poland and Germany, beginning with a concert in Warsaw on 21 April.[4] They have performed in Germany at the Kulturpalast in Dresden,[5] Leipzig,[2] the Berliner Philharmonie, the Kurhaus Wiesbaden as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival,[6] Freiburg, the Kuppelsaal of the Stadthalle Hannover, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.[7][8] The program of the tour is focused on Ukrainian music, with works by Maxim Berezovsky, Myroslav Skoryk and Borys Lyatoshynsky.[2] The program for Wiesbaden combined Berezovsky's Symphony in C major from the 1770s with Chausson's Poème for violin and orchestra, Op. 25, Skoryk's Melody in A minor (1982) and Lyatoshynsky's Symphony No. 3, Op. 50 (1951).[5][6] The symphony's last movement, with the theme "Peace will conquer war", had to be reworked and the theme removed under the Soviet regime in the 1950s. The concerts restored the music to the original version from 1951.[3] The violinist was Aleksey Semenenko.[6]

The orchestra remained in Germany in exile, in Gera.[9] On 24 August 2022, Ukraine's National Day, Gaggero conducted them as part of an open-air concert in Gera's Hofwiesenpark.[10]

References
  1. "Luigi Gaggero" (in German). Staatsoper Berlin. 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  2. Ernst, Michael (25 April 2022). "Sinfonieorchester Kiew : Die Ukraine existiert, das zeigen wir mit Kunst, Geschichte und Musik!". FAZ (in German). Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  3. "Ukrainische Musik in Zeiten des Krieges / Das Kyiv Symphony Orchestra gastiert in der Philharmonie Berlin" (in German). Berliner Philharmoniker. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022. Borys Ljatoschynskyj... erregte mit seiner Musik immer wieder das Missfallen des Sowjet-Regimes. So musste er das Finale seiner Dritten Symphonie, das das Motto »Der Friede wird den Krieg besiegen« trug, komplett umarbeiten. Das Kyiv Symphony Orchestra stellt uns das Werk in seiner Urfassung von 1951 vor. (Borys Lyatoshynskyj... repeatedly aroused the displeasure of the Soviet regime with his music. For example, he had to completely rework the finale of his Third Symphony, which bore the motto 'Peace will conquer war'. The Kyiv Symphony Orchestra presents the work in its original version from 1951.)
  4. ""Culture triumphs over evil": Kyiv Symphony Orchestra woos Warsaw and performs for first time since invasion". thefirstnews.com. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  5. "Sonderkonzert / Das Kyiv Symphony Orchestra" (PDF) (in German). Dresden Philharmonic. 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  6. "Kyiv Symphony Orchestra / Luigi Gaggero, Leitung / Aleksey Semenenko, Violine". Rheingau Musik Festival. 2022. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  7. "Kyiv Symphony Orchestra kommt auf Deutschland-Tour". musik-heute.de (in German). 5 April 2022. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  8. "Kyiv Symphony Orchestra / Luigi Gaggero / Fundraising concert for Ukrainehilfe Hamburg". Elbphilharmonie. 2022. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  9. "Gera nimmt Sinfonieorchester Kiew langfristig auf" (in German). Neue Musikzeitung. 13 July 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  10. "Mit gemischten Gefühlen : Das Kyiv Symphony Orchestra im Exil" (in German). MDR. 24 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
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