Milan, early 1960s, shortly after midnight. On a tram passing by the Stazione Nord, a stone’s throw from the Park and the Triennale, two guys get on, intent on talking in a rather loud voice, one younger with a Venetian accent.
The rare passengers can understand (or could) that the two are talking about musicians' music; a name comes up, Strauss. Even the occasional listeners, between one stop and another, can realize that it has nothing to do with Viennese waltzes and the Blue Danube; the two in turn, as a demonstration, sing certain phrases that have a completely different appearance. In fact, they are fragments of the Don Juan by Richard Strauss – in fact at that time we still used to say Don Giovanni.[…]
Your guys are Claudio Scimone and Alfredo Mandelli. How come they are there, on that tram, in those parts at that time, and why do they get so excited about Strauss and his record? Milan has its place in Scimone's formation and career […]
Alfredo Mandelli “On the Streetcar at Midnight, Singing Richard Strauss”. “Artur Rubinstein” Lifetime Music Award 2008
Son of the renowned doctor Vittorio Scimone, Claudio did not follow in his footsteps, in fact he first began studying law at the "Bò" in Padua, then his passion for music took over. He then began his musical studies in Padua, in Milan, graduating in piano with Carlo Vidusso, in composition with Arrigo Pedrollo. A student in conducting with Franco Ferrara and Dimitri Mitropoulos, he graduated from the Milan Conservatory with Antonio Votto.
His international fame on the podium as a symphony and opera conductor is well known, having made his debut in 1981 at Covent Garden in London with the highly successful “L’elisir d’amore” (with Carlo Bergonzi) and conducting, among other places, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Arena di Verona, the Terme di Caracalla, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro (several times), the Opera Houses of New York, Paris, Brussels, Macerata (Sferisterio), Houston, Melbourne, Liège, and many others. As well as some of the most famous Italian and international Symphony Orchestras such as: the Philarmonia and the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Mostly Mozart Orchestra in New York, the French Radio Orchestras in Paris, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra and the New Japan Philharmonic in Tokyo, the Bamberger Symphoniker, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. He was permanent conductor and honorary conductor of the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon.
He revealed to the world the importance of Vivaldi's theatrical work thanks to the memorable first modern performance of "Orlando Furioso" (Verona, Teatro Filarmonico, 1978) with Marylyn Horne, Lucia Valentini and directed by Luigi Pizzi. He is also responsible for the first modern Rossini performances of "Moses in Egypt", "Maometto II", "Oedipus at Colonus", all performed on the occasion of the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.
We owe to him the numerous modern “premieres” of works by Albinoni, Salieri, Galuppi, Grétry (“Guillaume Tell”) and many other composers.
His name is inextricably linked to that of the Chamber Orchestra I Solisti Veneti, which he founded in Padua in 1959.
Scimone's vast recording production includes over 350 titles on LP, CD and DVD for the most important worldwide distribution companies (Erato-WEA, Philips, BMG – RCA, etc.) and with orchestras such as the London Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic, the RAI Orchestra of Turin, the Orchestre Philarmonique de Montecarlo, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de l'ORTF (Paris), the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, as well as, of course, I Solisti Veneti.
He conducted with illustrious interpreters such as Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Cecilia Gasdia, Marylyn Horne, June Anderson, Katia Ricciarelli, Josè Carreras and many other among the greatest singers of international fame.
With I Solisti Veneti he recorded the performance of the complete works published during Vivaldi's and Albinoni's lifetime and revealed little-known composers such as Giannella, Mercadante, Rolla and others.
During his career he devoted himself with passion to the training of young musicians and to the promotion of music among young people. He was a teacher of Orchestral Exercises at the Conservatory of Venice and for 27 years Director of the Conservatory of Padua.
On his initiative, I Solisti Veneti were the first artists in Italy to hold concerts for young people in school buildings since 1965.
Scimone was awarded the honor of Knight of the Grand Cross of Merit of the Republic and the Gold Medal of the Benemeriti of the School of Art and Culture by the President of the Italian Republic.
He is so far, with Pino Donaggio, the only musician to have received the Veneto Region's Leone del Veneto decreed by the Regional Council with a unanimous vote. Claudio Scimone was awarded the Rubinstein Association's "A Life in Music" Award in 2008 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In 2017 he received the "Career Award" from the International Catholic Film Festival sponsored by the Pontifical Commission for Culture.
The University of Padua awarded him the degree honorary in Law. On that occasion he held a master lecture entitled “The historical evolution of the relationship between the interpretation of law and musical interpretation”.
In the name and in the spirit of their founder and Director, who passed away in 2018, I Solisti Veneti, Clementine Hoogendoorn Scimone and the new Artistic and Musical Director Giuliano Carella, continue to perpetuate the spiritual and aesthetic legacy of the Maestro.
