Programme

Leonardo Leo (1694 - 1744)

Symphony in A major

Allegro assai, Andante, [Allegro]

Cello Concerto with violins and bass in F minor. (c. 1737)

Andantino grazioso, Allegro, Largo e grazioso, Allegro

Cello Concerto, with violins and bass in D minor (April 1738)

Andantino grazioso, Con spirito, Amoroso, Allegro

4 Solfeggiamenti

Cello Concerto, with violins and bass in A major (September 1737)

Andantino grazioso, Allegro, Larghetto, Allegro

Performers

Solo Cello: Gaetano Nasillo

La Confraternita de’ Musici

Musical director, organ & harpsichord: Cosimo Prontera 

First Violin: Raffaele Tiseo

Second Violin: Federico Valerio 

Cello: Fabio De Leonardis

Violone: Maurizio Ria 

Programme Notes

The cello, as a solo instrument, arrived in Naples very late, at the end of the 17th century, but in the early 18th century it experienced a surprising flowering which for decades produced exceptional virtuosos and an excellent musical production which transformed the city into one of the reference centers for the instrument in Europe. The client favored this primacy and among the patrons we identify the Duke of Maddaloni, Domenico Marzio Carafa IV. In Maddaloni's palace itself, numerous performers and composers were welcomed, from whom the duke - as did his predecessor Carlo Francesco Pacecco Carafa - asked with particular emphasis for music for cello, of which he was passionate. Thus saw the light of the Sinfonia per violoncello e basso in Fa magg. by Giambattista Pergolesi and above all the six concerts composed by Leonardo Leo, then master of the Royal Chapel and considered the most authoritative teacher active in Naples.

Composed in the time span between September 1737 and August 1738, five of these pieces are entitled Concerto di Violoncello con V.V., per solo servizio di S.E.za il Sig.r Duca di Madalona, ​​while the last retains the more archaic denomination of Sinfonia concertata di violoncello, con V.V […]. All are autographs and are kept in the Library of the Naples Conservatory.

Biographies

Cosimo Prontera: Musical Director, Organ & Harpsichord

Cosimo Prontera teaches Organ and organ composition and basso continuo at the Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa Conservatory in Potenza (Italy). He has worked as a lecturer with the University of Basilicata for a Masters degree in Ancient Music and with the University of Bari (Italy). Since 2015 he teaches organ at Notre Dame University in Beirut (Lebanon). He refined his skills under the guidance of Ton Koopman, Wolfang Zerer, Eduard Koiman, J.B. Cristensen, Guido Morini and Enrico Gatti, and Antonio Florio for the direction of the early neapolitan repertoire. He has published for Il Melograno, Cafagna ed. and Diana editrice. The most important Italian newspapers expressed words of praise for his work.T  Prontera carries out his musical activity in collaboration with the most important musicians of ancient music in Europe: the violinists Jean Ch. Spinosì, Stefano Montanari, the flutists Marcello Gatti and Dan Laurin, the singers Sara Mingardo, Filippo Mineccia, Valeria La Grotta, the cellists Christophe Coin, Gaetano Nasillo and others. He is the founder and musical director of the baroque orchestra La Confraternita de' Musici, with whom he recorded for Rai 1, Rai 3, Radio Rai 3, Vatican Radio, BBC Radio, Radio Tallinn, DRS 2 Switzerland, MTV Lebanon, The Syria Insider, and for Euroradio. He has recorded for the Tactus and Bongiovanni record labels and he has performed in many Italian and foreign festivals on behalf of Foundations, Reviews, Cultural Institutes, Seasons (Portugal, Turkey, Switzerland, Tunisia, Netherlands, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, USA, Israel, Albania, England, Kazakhstan, Malta and others). He is a member of the English harpsichord society and directs the Barocco Festival - Leonardo Leo, a festival of ancient music that has been declared one of the best festivals in Southern Italy.

Gaetano Nasillo: Solo Cello

Gaetano Nasillo is one of the most renowned baroque cellists. He graduated at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory of Milan with Rocco Filippini, with whom has also studied at the "W. Stauffer Academy" in Cremona.

He regularly collaborates, often as soloist, with the most prestigious European ensembles on period instruments, including: Ensemble 415, Concerto Vocale, Zefiro, Le Concert des Nations, Ensemble Aurora, Gli Angeli, performing with them in Europe, the United States, South America, Japan and Australia. In 2011 he was awarded ‘Musician of the Year’ by Prelude Klassieke Muziek.

Gaetano Nasillo has recorded for Harmonia Mundi France, Symphonia, Teldec, Arcana, Glossa, Ricordi, K617, Ambroisie, Zig-Zag Territoires, Alpha, Christophorus, Nuova Era, Bongiovanni, Stradivarius, Tactus and for all major radio and television stations in Europe and the United States.

In 2008, Sky Classica dedicated a documentary film to him in the series ‘I Notevoli’.

 Besides teaching baroque cello at the Conservatorio G. Cantelli in Novara, Gaetano Nasillo regularly holds master-classes in Italy (Urbino), Spain (Daroca), Brazil and Japan.

 He plays a cello made by Giuseppe Ungarini in 1750.

La Confraternita de’ Musici

Founded by Cosimo Prontera, La Confraternita de' Musici made its debut in 1997 as part of the “Leonardo Leo” Baroque Festival and was set up with the intention of re-proposing, in strict compliance with Baroque performance practice, the music of extraordinary quality of those composers who left Apulia for Naples, the capital of a kingdom that was not only political and economic but also cultural. A musical reality now recognised throughout Italy and Europe that counts among its collaborators musicians such as violinists Enrico Gatti, Stefano Montanari, Federico Guglielmo, cellists Christophe Coin and Gaetano Nasillo, flutists Marcello Gatti, Dan Laurin, singers Sara Mingardo, Gemma Bertagnolli, Paolo Lopez, Filippo Mineccia and others.

Active in Italy and abroad, he has given concerts for theatres, foundations, musical institutions, festivals and cultural institutes. Of particular note is his participation in ‘I Concerti del Quirinale’ with live radio broadcasts on Radio Rai 3 and Euroradio's international channels.

The Confraternita de' Musici has recorded the following CDs for the Tactus and Bongiovanni labels:

- Leonardo Leo: Serenate e Cantate (Tactus)

- Giuseppe Sellitto: Drusilla e Don Strabone (Tactus)

- Leonardo Leo: La Musica per stanza (Tactus)

- AaVv: Magnificat e Salve regina (Tactus)

- Giovanni Paisiello: Le finte contesse (Bongiovanni) 

- Leonardo Leo: Dalla morte alla vita di S. Maria Maddalena (Bongiovanni)

- Il Faraone sommerso (Bongiovanni)