The National Music Museum’s prestigious collection of fine instruments will be on stage during two NMM Live! concerts this fall. The first, on Sunday, October 27th at 2:00 p.m., will feature the NMM’s Germain harpsichord (NMM 03327), played by Maestro Michele Benuzzi. Then, November 10th at 2:00 p.m., celebrate the NMM’s choral mandolin by Antonio Stradivari (NMM 06045) with a classical mandolin performance by Carlo Aonzo. Both concerts will take place in the National Music Museum’s Janet L. Wanzek Performance Hall and be livestreamed online at NMMusd.org.
On Sunday, October 27th Italian harpsichord performer, Mo. Michele Benuzzi, will present a selection of compositions for harpsicord by French composers from the 17th and 18th centuries. Benuzzi will perform on a harpsichord by Jacques Germain, dated 1785, that is part of the Museum’s collection. The instrument features the standard late-18th-century French disposition, with keyboard naturals made of ebony, while the sharps consist of hardwood stained black and covered with bone slips.
The following month, on Sunday, November 10th Italian mandolin performer, Mo. Carlo Aonzo, will present The Classical Mandolin: A journey through the history of the iconic Italian instrument. The program includes a selection of compositions for classical mandolin by European composers Filippo Sauli, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Riggieri, and Raffaele Calace. The concert is inspired by Antonio Stradivari’s Mandolino coristo (choral mandolin) dated 1680 and part of the Museum’s collection. This small mandolin is one of two surviving from the Stradivari workshop. Several patterns relating to mandolin construction survive in the Museo del Violino in Cremona.
“We are very pleased to announce this new collaboration with the National Music Museum and for the opportunity of bringing for the first time our cultural programs to South Dakota” – says Luca Di Vito, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago. “Over the years, we have worked on expanding our network of Institutional partnerships throughout the Midwest and Mountain States. We hope this kind of initiative will continue to further the knowledge and appreciation for Italian arts and culture among communities in all these States.”
“The National Music Museum is so pleased to collaborate with the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago, providing access to world-class musicians that might otherwise not be possible” – says Michael F. Suing, Deputy Director, Collections at the National Music Museum. “Performances by maestros Benuzzi and Aonzo are an incredible addition to our concert series, bringing the collection to life.”
All concerts will be free and open to the public. The concerts also will be livestreamed on the National Music Museum website (NMMUSD.org/nmm-live-video)
NMM Live! and other USD Music presentations will throughout the fall. Below is a complete list of concerts and events:
Sunday, October 20, 2pm
Morkov Project – Oleg Timofeyev (Russian guitar) & Elizaveta Miller. Featuring the NMM’s Thÿm piano (NMM 03587). Supported by the Clayton & Odessa Lang Ofstad Foundation
Sunday, October 27, 2pm
Michele Benuzzi - Collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, Chicago. Featuring the NMM’s Germain harpsichord (NMM 03327)
Sunday, November 10, 2pm
Carlo Aonzo, classical mandolin. Collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, Chicago
Wednesday, November 20, 7:00 p.m.
Grace Goeller, Junior Cello Recital. Featuring a cello from the NMM’s Cancelosi Collection
Friday, November 22, 7:00 p.m.
Cesar Hernandez, Junior Cello Recital. Featuring a cello from the NMM’s Cancelosi Collection
Friday, December 6, noon
Touch of Brass Quintet – Holiday concert
NMM Live! is brought to you, in part, by the USD Student Government Association, and by the South Dakota Arts Council. SDAC support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts. More information can be found on our Facebook page, or online at www.nmmusd.org.
The permanent exhibits at the National Music Museum are open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information can be found at www.nmmusd.org.
ABOUT
CARLO AONZO is a worldwide known Italian mandolin performer, teacher at the Conservatory of Bari and winner of several prestigious awards; during his long career he has played in all continents for such institutions as the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal (Canada) and the Philharmonia of San Petersburg (Russia).
Soloist, researcher, teacher and, since 2006 founder and director of the International Italian Mandolin Accademia, he boasts a wide discography both in classical music and in other musical genres and constantly carries out studies on the history of his instrument collaborating, among others, with the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and Hal Leonard.
MICHELE BENUZZI studied the harpsichord with Ottavio Dantone and obtained the harpsichord Performing Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London. He also studied musicology at the University of Pavia. In 2003 he won the third prize at the seventeenth Yamanashi International Harpsichord Competition in Japan. He performs in the mayor Festival in Europe, Australia and Asia. He promoted, and played the opera omnia of Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonatas, which were performed from 1995 to 2002 in France. He has founded Arcomelo, a group performing seventeenth and eighteenth-century music, and examining baroque music – especially problems concerning execution on ancient instruments. With Arcomelo he has recorded the harpsichord concertos by C.Ph.E.Bach for “La Bottega Discantica” and the CD had excellent reviews. In 2007 he recorded the harpsichord concertos and symphonias by W.F.Bach. Recently has be released a CD with all the Vivaldi’s Flautino and Flauto Concertos with Japanese recorder player Mitsuko Ota. The CD had a nomination in the Japanese “The record Geijutsu magazine” (May 2013). As soloist he had recorded Scarlatti’s Sonatas using the 1764 Hass instrument in the Russell Collection in Edinburgh. For “London Independent Records” a Cd “Hamburg 1705” with music by Händel, Graupner and Mattheson recorded using the harpsichord made by Daniel Dulcken around 1730 in the Barnes Collection. For Brilliant Classics he had recorded J.W.Hässler with an harpsichord by Robert Falkener London 1773 by kind permission of the Russell Collection. All his solo recording where acclaimed by international magazine, and Hässler’s Cd won the 5 stars price in “Musica” (July, August 2012) In 2011 he recorded with Arcomelo the Six Collection of chamber music and solo harpsichord music by J.A.Benda in a 6 Cd box. In 2014 the complete Ch.Nichelmann Sonatas in two Cd set and in 2015 the Sonatas by J.Galles. He started to record the complete J.W.Hassler keyboard music, the first volume with four Cd’s has been released and won again the 5 stars price in “Musica” (March 2018). For these recordings he had used harpsichord, Silbermann piano, clavichord and an original Broadwood square piano dated 1798. Recently he recorded the complete harpsichord music by J.L.Krebs in 5 Cd’s. Next project will be the recording of the six harpsichord Sonatas by J.E.Altenburg, the complete Sonatas by Ch.S.Binder, and the “Certamen Musicum” by J.P.Kellner.
THE ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO is the cultural office of the Consulate General of Italy in Chicago. Founded in 1985, the Institute is one of five cultural agencies of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the United States. It is located in the heart of Chicago along the Magnificent Mile. The Institute serves as a convenient source for information about Italian life and culture that showcases Italy’s classic and contemporary heritage with particular reference to art, music, cinema, design, architecture, literature, fashion, theater, cuisine, science, and technology. Learn more at iicchicago.esteri.it
NATIONAL MUSIC MUSEUM. Founded in 1973 on the campus of The University of South Dakota in Vermillion, the NMM is one of the great institutions of its kind in the world. Its renowned collections feature fine and historic instruments from many cultures and historical periods.
Following a multi-year renovation and reinstallation project that began in 2018, the NMM is now reopen, the entire first floor of the historic Carnegie Library building filled with brand new galleries featuring permanent exhibitions showcasing the roles musical instruments play in our lives; the Lillibridge Wing expansion is also open, welcoming visitors to the Jason & Betsy Groves Special Exhibitions Gallery; the Janet L. Wanzek Performance Hall, a new gift shop and more.
Spanning hundreds of years of culture, the NMM’s musical holdings range from priceless Italian violins to celebrity guitars, from organs to orchestrion, from harps to harpsichords, from dombaks to didgeridoos, from Les Paul to Sgt. Pepper, from Stradivari to Elvis. With its extensive archives of instrument-related materials, and offering the only graduate degree in musical instruments in North America, the NMM has been an epicenter for musical-instrument research.
