Mario Stefano Tonda, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia
Biography Mario Stefano Tonda, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Francesco La Vecchia
The Rome Symphony Orchestra
was established in 2002 by the Rome Foundation (Fondazione Roma Arte – Musei), a rare example in Europe of an orchestra that was completely privately funded. Under its artistic and musical director Francesco La Vecchia who, in turn, set up the Fondazione Arts Academy, the orchestra performed regularly in Rome at the Teatro Argentina, Teatro Sistina and Auditorium Conciliazione.
It received critical and public recognition at distinguished venues in Asia, the Americas and Europe, with notable success in 2007 at the Berlin Philharmonie. The orchestra also undertook a wide-ranging and well received series of recordings, principally for Naxos, of important compositions by Italian composers of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Busoni, Catalani, Ferrara, Ghedini, Malipiero, Mancinelli, Martucci, Mercadante, Petrassi, Sgambati and Wolf-Ferrari. Many of these are world premiere recordings.
The orchestra was dissolved in 2014 not long after giving the first modern performance of Giovanni Sgambati’s Symphony No. 2.
Francesco La Vecchia
tudied with his maternal grandfather and gave his first concert at the age of nine. At the age of 18 he became leader of the Boccherini Quartet, at 23 he founded the Arts Academy of Rome and, at the age of 27, he began his international recording career.
In 2002 he took up the position of artistic director and resident conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma. Under his leadership the orchestra rapidly achieved success in highly successful visits to St Petersburg, Madrid, Belgrade, Brussels, Rio de Janeiro, London, Athens, Berlin, Beijing and Vienna. Francesco La Vecchia has also conducted at many prestigious venues, including the Kennedy Center, Washington, Carnegie Hall, New York, the Art Center, Seoul, the São Carlos National Theatre, Lisbon and the Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto.
The ‘Maestro’ series of recordings, named after him, was first released in 1999. Since then he and the Rome Symphony Orchestra have recorded for Naxos (an important and wide-rangng series of works by 19th- and 20th-century Italian composers, including many world première recordings), Brilliant Classics (Respighi) and Sony (Beethoven). He has been the recipient of several important official awards in Italy and abroad.
