The concert program presents pieces that compose a kind of concise historical excursus on those composers and works that have made Italy and the world great, both from a musical point of view in the broadest sense and from the point of view of band music.
The first part of the concert opens with a march composed from Alessandro Vessella, a central figure in the Italian band revival--and even more musical tout court--from the late 1800s to the 1930s. The concert proceeds with a splendid transcription of Verdi's famous symphony from _I Vespri Siciliani _to continue with another piece, for 2 solo clarinets, by one of the most prolific 19th-century composers of band music: Amilcare Ponchielli--known to most almost exclusively as the author ofopera La Gioconda. The first part concludes with a more modern piece but with late Romantic reminiscences by Carlo Alberto Pizzini, entitled Al Piemonte, originally composed for symphony orchestra but performed, now from many many years, more in the various band versions than in its original guise.
The second part aims to pay tribute first and foremost to Percy Grainger on the 137th anniversary of his birth. A very prolific pianist and composer, he was a pioneer and fervent admirer of the band ensemble, to which he dedicated many works and several masterpieces among which, unanimously acknowledged, is to right Lincolnshire Posy. Framed by Grainger's two pieces we have Gustav Holst's First Suite, another staple in the band repertoire and opera among the most widely performed in wind orchestras around the world.
director Maj. Filippo Cangiamila
presented from Tonino Bernardelli
Tribute to "Fathers" and Musical and Band Values
to. Vessel Old Military March
**G. Verdi **I Vespri siciliani, symphony
to. Ponchielli Il Convegno, for two solo clarinets.
(soloists 1st Lgt. Vincenzo Isaia, 1st Mar. Salvatore Schembari)
**C. to. Pizzini **To Piedmont
_Tribute to Percy Grainger _
**P. Grainger **Molly on the Shore
G. Holst Suite No. 1, for military band
**P. Grainger **Lincolnshire Posy
Filippo Cangiamila holds degrees in trombone, band instrumentation, conducting and composition.
From May 2012 to March 2019, he was deputy maestro of the National Band of the Prison Police Corps. As a composer, he has distinguished himself in several national and international competitions: 'Licinio Refice Prize' (second prize), 'Oreste Sindici Prize' (third prize), 'Valentino Bucchi Prize' (first prize), 'Contemporaneamente' Prize (second prize), 'G. Palatucci' (second prize). His compositions are published by the Scomegna, Wicky and Mulph publishing houses.
In his past from instrumentalist he was second and first trombone in the Rome Symphony Orchestra and won competitions and auditions, collaborating with important theaters and orchestras, including: Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia, Teatro di San Carlo - Naples, Teatro La Fenice in Venice. He has performed in San Pietroburgo, Belgrade, Berlin, Madrid, London, Athens, Amsterdam, Krakow, Warsaw, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro.
He is a founding member and artistic and musical director of the Italian Brass Band, at the head of which, since 2015, he has won seven major international awards, including three European Brass Bands Championships in the Challenge category. The Brass Band's first CD, "Verdi's Overtures," with four of his arrangements, received enthusiastic praise from many musicians and specialists all over the world.
He is often invited as a jury member, guest conductor or lecturer in courses for band conductors throughout Europe. In August 2015 he was invited to the VI 'Festival dei maestri' in Collesano, dedicated solely to his band compositions.
Founded in 1964, the Army Band consists of from orchestral musicians who graduated from the Conservatory and were recruited through a national competition. It is active both for institutional services and in an intense concert activity, which has seen it perform in the most prestigious theaters in Italy and abroad. These include Teatro Massimo in Palermo, V. Bellini in Catania, F. Cilea in Reggio Calabria, San Carlo in Naples, Petruzzelli in Bari, Teatro dell'Opera and Teatro Olimpico in Rome, Morlacchi in Perugia, Ducale in Modena, Regio in Parma, Carlo Felice in Genoa, La Fenice in Venice, G. Verdi of Trieste, Regio of Turin, Teatro alla Scala of Milan, Auditorium of the Conservatory of Naples, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Auditorium della Conciliazione and of the Conservatorio S. Cecilia of Rome, Auditorium N. Paganini of Parma, of the RAI and the Conservatory of Turin, Auditorium G. Verdi of Milan.
His overseas appearances include the 1965 to Nancy (France) and Arnhem (Netherlands), the 1975 to Malta and Ljubljana (Slovenia), the 1977 to Kiel (Germany), the 1978 to Luxembourg and Mons (Belgium), the 1991 to Salzburg (Austria), of 1992 to Tarascon (France), and again those of 2002 in Alexandria (Egypt), 2003 to Berlin, 2004 to New York and New Jersey for Columbus Day, and finally in France in 2009 to Lourdes and in 2012 to La Cote Saint André, on the occasion of the International Hector Berlioz Festival.
In recent years she has been, among other activities, a guest of the National Verdi Celebrations in Parma, the "Feste Musicali" in Bologna, the International Festival of Military Bands in Modena, and participated, with other artists, including Placido Domingo, in the Gala Concert for the 90th birthday of Gian Carlo Menotti (Spoleto, 2001); she took part in the Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2017 editions. In 2004 and 2005, at the invitation ofAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, she took part in the opening night of the "K Festival," a triennial festival dedicated to Mozart, at the Parco della Musica in Rome. In 2006 she was included in the billboard of "Settembre Musica" to Turin and in the symphonic season of the GOG in Genoa.
He opened the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago in 2008 and 2017. In 2010 he gave the Inaugural Concert of the Celebrations for the 150th Anniversary of the Unification of Italy with the Choir ofAccademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Parco della Musica in Rome. In 2012 he participated in the Hector Berlioz International Festival in France to La Cote Saint André, Chateau Luis XI.
In 2015 he participated as a guest with the rock band P.F.M. in the final night of the 65th Sanremo Italian Song Festival, and later to Milan at the EXPO Opening Concert at the Terraces of the Duomo.
As part of the events related to the commemoration of the Centenary of Italian participation in the Great War, the Army Band was the protagonist in various concerts and musical performances, including those in Trieste, Piazza Unità d'Italia in 2015, and "GUERRA! 15/18" with actor Cosimo Cinieri performed to Rome (Accademia Nazionale di S.Cecilia 2015) and Padua (Teatro Goldoni 2016).
In 2018 he performed at the Parco della Musica, with the Academy Choir, Apokalypsis, Oratorio for 2 reciting voices, mixed choir, children's choir, orchestra of instruments to wind and percussion, under the direction of the composer and conductor M° Marcello Panni.
He boasts collaborations with internationally renowned soloists such as Jacques Mauger (trombone), Steven Mead (euphonium), Giovanni Allevi (piano), with opera artists Placido Domingo (tenor), Katia Ricciarelli and Daniela Dessì (soprano), and pop singers Ivana Spagna, Ron, Gianni Morandi and Gigi d'Alessio.
It was the first Italian military band to have had "guest conductors" on the podium. These include Daniele Carnevali (composer, conductor and teacher at the Conservatory of Trento), Thomas Fraschillo (director of bands at the University of Southern Mississippi), David Gregory (president of the National Band Association of the USA), Hardy Mertens (Dutch composer and conductor) and Marcello Panni (composer, conductor and artistic director of the Accademia Filarmonica Romana). In December 2012, at the inaugural concert of the renovated "Amleto Lacerenza" auditorium, the orchestral ensemble had the honor of being conducted by Maestro Riccardo Muti.
Its repertoire ranges from the celebratory one to the lyrical symphonic one, with a particular predilection for original music for Band, deepened both in historical pages and in pieces with the most vivid topicality. to this regard the Army Band was the first Italian military ensemble to perform in concert (since 2001) a monumental page of original literature for band and in any case a masterpiece of Western musical literature such as the "Grande Sinfonia Funebre e Trionfale" op. 15 by Hector Berlioz.
In addition to these activities the Band fulfills a broad educational function by performing concert lessons for schools and collaborating with the Band Instrumentation and Conducting classes of Conservatories and Academies at its "Amleto Lacerenza" auditorium.
His performance of the Italian National Anthem, recorded in the version faithful to Novaro's original score, was chosen and included, among the symbols of the Republic, on the Quirinale website.
Led in the past by Maestros Amleto Lacerenza, Marino Bartoloni, Domenico Cavallo (f.f.), Fulvio Creux since 2013 it has been directed by Maestro Vice Director Maj. Antonella Bona.