Amati is the name of a family of Italian violin makers, who flourished at Cremona from about 1549 to 1740.

Family members[link]

Andrea Amati[link]

Andrea Amati (ca. 1505 – ca. 1578) was the earliest maker of violins whose instruments still survive today. Indeed he seems more or less responsible together with Gasparo da Salò and some Micheli's like Zanetto or Pellegrino for giving the instruments of the modern violin family their definitive profile. A very small number of his instruments survive, dated between the years of 1560 and 1574 and most bearing the coat of arms of Charles IX of France. His work is marked by great elegance and an awareness of geometrical principles in design. ^[1]

Antonio and Girolamo Amati[link]

Andrea Amati was succeeded by his sons Antonio Amati (born ca. 1550) and Girolamo Amati (1551–1635). "The Brothers Amati", as they were known, implemented far-reaching innovations in design, including the perfection of the shape of the f-holes. They are also thought to have pioneered the modern alto format of viola, in contrast to older tenor violas, but this stating is not correct since Gasparo made violas from altos of 39 to tenors of 44,7 cm.

Nicolo Amati[link]

Nicolò Amati (December 3, 1596 – April 12, 1684) was the son of Girolamo Amati. He was the most eminent of the family. He improved the model adopted by the rest of the Amatis and produced instruments capable of yielding greater power of tone. His pattern was unusually small, but he also made a wider model now known as the "Grand Amati", which have become his most sought-after violins.

Of his pupils, the most famous were Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri, the first of the Guarneri family of violin makers. (There is much controversy regarding the apprenticeship of Antonio Stradivari. While Stradivari's first known violin states that he was a pupil of Amati, the validity of his statement is questioned.)

Girolamo Amati (Hieronymus II)[link]

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II (February 26, 1649 – February 21, 1740). Although he improved on the arching of his father's instruments, by and large they are inferior and no match for the greatest maker of his day, Antonio Stradivari.

Extant Amati instruments[link]

One of a group of seven Andrea Amati violins, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, believed to have been created in 1558, which would make it one of the earliest known violins in existence.

• Amati instruments at the (University of South Dakota, US) National Music Museum:
  • Andrea Amati:
    • Cello, "The King", circa 1545, the world's oldest extant cello
    • Viola, 1560
    • Violin, 1560
    • Violin, 1574
  • Girolamo Amati:
    • Double bass, 1680
    • Violin, 1604
    • Violin, 7/8-size, 1609
    • Violino piccolo, 1613
  • Nicolò Amati:
    • Violin, 1628
• Amati instruments at the (New York, US) Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Andrea Amati:
    • Violin, ca. 1560
  • Nicolò Amati:
    • Violin, 1669

In popular culture[link]

• Patrick O'Brian's fictional British sea captain Jack Aubrey is described as owning a "fiddle far above his station, an Amati no less," in The Surgeon's Mate. In the Wine-Dark Sea, book fifteen of the series, Stephen Maturin now has a Girolamo Amati and Aubrey a Guarneri.
• In the manga and anime series Gunslinger Girl, Henrietta carries an Amati violin case. It contains a Fabrique Nationale P90 when on a mission, otherwise it contains a real violin.

See also[link]

• Antonio Stradivari
• Amati Quartet
• Luthier

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Amati". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Amati. 
• Dilworth, John (1992) "The Violin and Bow-Origins and Development" in: The Cambridge Companion to the Violin; ed. Robin Stowell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; pp. 1–29.

External links[link]

• Andrea Amati: Violin, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cristina Ortiz (born April 17, 1950 in Bahia) is a Brazilian pianist.

Biography[link]

Born in Bahia, Brazil, Cristina Ortiz began her studies in her home country before moving to France with Magda Tagliaferro. Soon after finishing her studies in Paris, she won the first prize of the third edition of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.^[1] She continued her training with Rudolf Serkin in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute of Music and later moved to London, where she currently lives.^[2][3]

Cristina Ortiz has performed in most of the major concert halls around the world and invited to be soloist by the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Valencia Orchestra, Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and the NHK Symphony Orchestra among others, with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Neeme Järvi, Mariss Jansons and David Zinman.^[4][5]

Ortiz has recorded for EMI, Decca, Collins Classics, and Intrada, and given master classes at the Royal Academy of Music in London,^[6] the Juilliard School in New York.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Interview with Cristina Ortiz by Bruce Duffie, February 21, 1989

Fabio Luisi (2009)

Fabio Luisi (born 17 January 1959, Genoa) is an Italian conductor. On September 6, 2011, he was named Principal Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera.^[1]

As a child, Luisi suffered from asthma.^[2] Luisi attended the Conservatorio Nicolò Paganini and was a student of Memi Schiavina. After receiving his degree in piano studies, he continued piano instruction with Aldo Ciccolini and Antonio Bacchelli.

Luisi developed an interest in conducting while working as a piano accompanist, and he studied conducting at the conservatory in Graz with Milan Horvat. He worked at the Graz Opera as an accompanist and conductor. His first conducting appearance was in Italy in 1984. From 1990 to 1995, he was principal conductor of the Graz Symphony Orchestra. From 1995 to 2000, he served as Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tonkünstlerorchester in Vienna. From 1996 to 1999, he was one of three main conductors (Hauptdirigenten) of the MDR Symphony Orchestra (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester) in Leipzig, along with Marcello Viotti and Manfred Honeck. From 1999 to 2007, he was sole principal conductor of the MDR orchestra. He was the principal conductor of l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 1997 to 2002.

In January 2004, Luisi was named chief conductor of both the Staatskapelle Dresden and of the Semperoper, Dresden. He assumed both posts in September 2007. With the Staatskapelle Dresden, Luisi has conducted commercial recordings of music by Richard Strauss^[3] and Anton Bruckner.^[4] Luisi was originally scheduled to step down as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden in 2012, at the expiration of his contract.^[5] However, Luisi resigned from both Dresden posts in February 2010, with immediate effect, after reports that the Staatskapelle's management had secured a contract with the ZDF network for a scheduled televised concert on New Year's Eve, 2010 with Christian Thielemann as conductor, without consulting him at all in his capacity as the orchestra's GMD.^[6]

Since 2005, he has served as principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony. He is contracted to the VSO through 2013^[7], and is scheduled to step down from the VSO chief conductorship after the 2012-2013 season^[8]. In June 2009, Luisi was named the next Generalmusikdirektor of the Zurich Opera, effective with the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 5 years.^[9]

In the United States, Luisi made his Metropolitan Opera conducting debut in March 2005, with Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos.^[10] In April 2010, Luisi was named the Met's principal guest conductor, for an initial contract of 3 years, effective with the 2010-2011 season. Luisi is the second conductor to be named to this post at the Metropolitan Opera, after Valery Gergiev.^[11] He was elevated to the post of Principal Conductor in September 2011, when Music Director James Levine withdrew from his scheduled fall 2011 performances.^[12] Luisi has also conducted several opera recordings, including Giuseppe Verdi's Aroldo, Jérusalem and Alzira,^[13] and Gioacchino Rossini's William Tell.^[14]

Luisi and his wife Barbara, a photographer and former orchestra violinist, have three sons. The family is in the process of relocating from Vienna to New York City.^[8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fabio Luisi official website
• Vienna Symphony, Fabio Luisi biography
• MDR Sinfonieorchester official website (German)

Karl-Heinz Steffens is a German clarinetist and conductor.

Steffens studied clarinet at the Stuttgart Academy of Music under Ulf Rodenhäuser.^[1] He has played with the State Theatre in Kassel, the Frankfurt Opera and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.^[1] He was the solo clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic from 2001 to 2007.^[1] He taught at the Hannover Academy of Music and Theatre from 1996 to 1999.^[1] He became Professor of Clarinet at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin in 2003.^[1] He is the conductor and music director of the German Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate.^[2]

References[link]

I attended a concert tonight (Sept. 23, 2009) inside Neuschwanstein castle, and Steffens was the conductor for the Staatskapelle Halle.

This article about a German musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ettore Scola
Born	(1931-05-10) 10 May 1931 (age 81) Trevico, Italy
Occupation	Film director Screenwriter
Years active	1964 - present

Ettore Scola (born 10 May 1931) is an Italian screenwriter and film director. He was born in Trevico, province of Avellino (Campania).

He entered the film industry as a screenwriter in 1953, and directed his first film, Let's Talk About Women, in 1964. In 1974 Scola enjoyed international success with We All Loved Each Other So Much (C'eravamo tanto amati), a wide fresco of post-World War II Italy life and politics, dedicated to fellow director Vittorio De Sica. In 1976 he won the Prix de la mise en scène at Cannes Film Festival for Brutti, sporchi e cattivi.

Since then Ettore Scola has made several successful films, including A Special Day (1977), That Night In Varennes (1982), What Time Is It? (1989) and Captain Fracassa's Journey (1990). Ettore Scola has directed close to 40 films in some 40 years, and he is still active.

His film Passione d'amore, adapted from a nineteenth-century novel, was adapted by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine into the award-winning musical Passion.

In 1988 he was a member of the jury at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmography as director[link]

• Se permettete parliamo di donne (1964)
• Thrilling (1965)
• La congiuntura (1965)
• L'arcidiavolo (1966)
• Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? (1968)
• Il Commissario Pepe (1969)
• The Pizza Triangle (1970)
• Permette? Rocco Papaleo (1971)
• La più bella serata della mia vita (1972)
• Trevico-Torino (viaggio nel Fiat-Nam) (1973)
• Festival Unità (1973) - documentary
• C'eravamo tanto amati (1974)
• Signore e signori, buonanotte (1976)
• Brutti sporchi e cattivi (1976)
• Una giornata particolare (1977)
• "Viva Italia!" (episode of I Nuovi Mostri; 1977)
• L'ingorgo-una storia impossibile (1978) - some scenes
• La terrazza (1980)
• Passione d'amore (1981)
• La Nuit de Varennes
• Vorrei che volo (1982)
• Le Bal (1983)
• Cuori nella tormenta (1984, some scenes)
• Maccheroni (1985)
• Imago urbis (1987)
• La famiglia (1987)
• I picari (1987, some scenes
• Splendor (1988)
• Che ora è? (1989)
• Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa (1990)
• Mario, Maria e Mario (1993)
• Romanzo di un giovane povero (1995)
• La cena (1998)
• Concorrenza sleale (2001)
• Un altro mondo è possibile (2001) - documentary
• Lettere dalla Palestina (2002) - documentary
• Gente di Roma (2003)

Awards[link]

• 1966 : Nastro d'Argento Best script Io la conoscevo bene
• 1975 : Moscow Film Festival Best film C'eravamo tanto amati
• 1976 : Cannes Film Festival Best Director for Brutti, sporchi e cattivi
• 1977 : César Award for Best Foreign Film for C'eravamo tanto amati
• 1978 : Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film for A Special Day
• 1977 : Academy Award nominee for A Special Day
• 1978 : Academy Award nominee for Viva Italia!
• 1978 : César Award for Best Foreign Film for A Special Day
• 1978 : Nastro d'Argento Best script for A Special Day
• 1978 : David di Donatello Best Director for A Special Day
• 1980 : Cannes Film Festival Best script for La terrazza
• 1980 : Nastro d'Argento Best script for La terrazza
• 1981 : Nastro d'Argento Best script Passion d'amour
• 1983 : David di Donatello Best script for La Nuit de Varennes
• 1983 : Academy Award nominee for Le Bal
• 1984 : César Award for Best Director for Le Bal
• 1984 : Berlin Film Festival :
  • Silver Bear for Best Director forLe Bal^[1]
  • Jury of readers Berliner Morgenpost for Le Bal
• 1984 : David di Donatello :
  • Best Director Le Bal
  • Prix Alitalia for Le Bal
• 1986 : Golden Medal of the City of Rome at for the 30th anniversary of David di Donatello
• 1987 : Academy Award nominee for La famiglia
• 1987 : David di Donatello :
  • Best DirectorLa famiglia
  • Best Script La famiglia
• 1987 : Nastro d'Argento :
  • Best DirectorLa famiglia
  • Best Script La famiglia
• 1990 : Berlin Film Festival:
  • Golden Bear (nominated)^[2]
• 1990 : Pietro Bianchi award at Venice Film Festival
• 1995 : Award for his career at Flaiano Film Festival
• 2001 : Moscow Film Festival Best Director for Concorrenza sleale
• 2001 : Taormina Arte Award at Taormina Film Fest

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ettore Scola

• Ettore Scola at the Internet Movie Database

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v t e César Award for Best Director 1976 Bertrand Tavernier 1977 Joseph Losey 1978 Alain Resnais 1979 Christian de Chalonge 1980 Roman Polanski 1981 François Truffaut 1982 Jean-Jacques Annaud 1983 Andrzej Wajda 1984 Ettore Scola 1985 Claude Zidi 1986 Michel Deville 1987 Alain Cavalier 1988 Louis Malle 1989 Jean-Jacques Annaud 1990 Bertrand Blier 1991 Jean-Paul Rappeneau 1992 Alain Corneau 1993 Claude Sautet 1994 Alain Resnais 1995 André Téchiné 1996 Claude Sautet 1997 Patrice Leconte / Bertrand Tavernier 1998 Luc Besson 1999 Patrice Chéreau 2000 Tonie Marshall 2001 Dominik Moll 2002 Jean-Pierre Jeunet 2003 Roman Polanski 2004 Denys Arcand 2005 Abdellatif Kechiche 2006 Jacques Audiard 2007 Guillaume Canet 2008 Abdellatif Kechiche 2009 Jean-François Richet 2010 Jacques Audiard 2011 Roman Polanski 2012 Michel Hazanavicius