Alfredo Persichilli

Principal cellist of the Teatro alla Scala and the Filarmonica della Scala, he graduated with honors at the age of seventeen from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory under the guidance of George Schultis. He continued his studies with Franco Maggio Ormezowski at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, and later with Thomas Demenga at the Musik-Akademie in Basel, earning the Solisten Diplom.

As a soloist, he has performed the most important concertos in the cello repertoire: Schumann’s Concerto at the Tonhalle in Zurich, Basel, and Lucerne; Haydn’s Concerto in Budapest at the Ferenc Liszt Academy with the Budapest String Orchestra, broadcast live on the radio; Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in Basel and with the Kiev Philharmonic; Dvořák’s Concerto in Rome; and Brahms’ Double Concerto for violin and cello in Rome, Zurich, and Rostov (Russia), where he also held a masterclass on Bach’s Suites at the Rachmaninov Conservatory.

He was invited to perform the Suites by Bach and Reger at the “Bach-Reger Tage” in Eisenach.

He has recorded the complete string trios of Schubert and Webern, as well as those by Schönberg, Petrassi, and Reger.

He has performed numerous contemporary, classical, and avant-garde compositions (Petrassi, Sciarrino, Lombardi, Boccadoro, Holliger, Giovanni Sollima), several of which were expressly dedicated to him: The Four Masks of Dionysus for cello and orchestra by Carlo Galante (world premiere with the Virtuosi della Scala), the String Trio by Rudolf Kelterborn, and the Cello Concerto by Wolfgang Marschner.

Together with the Beethoven Quartett, he has performed the cycle of Beethoven’s late string quartets in Dresden and in major German cities.

He regularly performs with leading concert societies, collaborating with musicians such as András Schiff, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Miklós Perényi, Heinz Holliger, Wolfram Christ, and Bruno Giuranna.