You have been conducting on the world’s most prestigious stages for 25 years. How do you evaluate these past decades of your career?
These have been years of continuous growth, human as well as artistic. I have had the privilege of working with extraordinary orchestras, exceptional musicians and singers, in theaters and concert halls that represent the very history of music. Over time I have learned that a career is not measured only by debuts or by the titles one conducts, but by the depth of the dialogue one is able to establish with musicians and audiences, and by the private and privileged relationship with the scores. Today I look back on these twenty-five years with gratitude and with a curiosity that is still intact for what lies ahead.
Who have been the individuals—mentors, colleagues, or artists—who have had the greatest musical influence on you during this period?
My first teachers in Italy were fundamental in giving me discipline and method. I come from the school of Gilberto Serembe, a student of Mario Gusella, who in turn was a pupil of Toscanini. In a certain sense I feel like a child of the great Italian conducting tradition, and at the same time I feel the responsibility of passing it on. During my training there were several figures whom I took as models. I remember saving money to buy VHS tapes of Bernstein or the first CDs by Harnoncourt and Gardiner. But overall, at the beginning of my career there was two figure that have been very important to me: Alberto Zedda, great rossinian expert and the great Giancarlo Menotti. Then, during my career, there came others experienced fellow musicians, exceptional singers—figures with whom I would never have imagined sharing the stage—alongside whom I took part in decisive productions that taught me what it truly means to “breathe” together. Every important collaboration leaves a mark: sometimes it is a technical lesson, other times a broader vision of theater and music.
How do you see yourself as a conductor today? Do you look for something different in a score or a performance now compared to when you started your career?
Absolutely yes. At the beginning one is often focused on control and structure. The young conductor want to show the beauty of his gesture forgetting that he is on the podium to make music not a showcase. With experience I have learned to listen more and to search for what lies between the lines of the score: the hidden tensions, the dramatic breath, the rhetoric of phrasing. Today I am especially interested in building a musical narrative that is coherent and alive.
Riccardo Frizza and HRSO – photo: Attila Vörös
Many see you as an ambassador of the Italian style. How important is having a recognizable “signature,” and how invisible should a conductor remain behind the composer?
A conductor cannot completely erase his own personality: the way one feels time, color, theater inevitably emerges. However, our first responsibility is to serve the composer. A “signature” should always arise from a deep analysis of the musical text, not from the desire to impose an external idea. The goal is to find a balance between fidelity and identity. It is never easy, but I have always demanded this of myself.
From the 2025 season, you will serve three years as Honorary Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. How did this relationship begin?
My relationship with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra began with an initial invitation for a symphonic program that immediately struck me for the ensemble’s quality and musical curiosity, and above all for the ease of non-verbal communication between the musicians and me. This evidently impressed them as well, and further collaborations followed, increasingly intense, leading to the appointment as principal conductor and now to this new chapter, which I consider a natural evolution of our shared path.
What special “chemistry” has developed between you and the orchestra?
I would say a combination of rigor and flexibility. There is great technical discipline, but also openness to interpretative risk. In rehearsal we work with concentration and mutual trust—fundamental elements for achieving profound results. I believe that over these years we have given memorable concerts together and a triumphant tour in the United Kingdom. Perhaps that was the most significant experience in building an artistic relationship between the musicians and me.
Riccardo Frizza and HRSO – photo: Attila Vörös
Are there hidden reserves or untapped potential you hope to bring out over the next three years?
Every orchestra has them. One must continue to develop the palette of tone colors, especially in the late-Romantic and twentieth-century repertoire, and to strengthen a recognizable sonic identity at an international level—and this is where I hope to continue making my contribution. The work, however, will belong to the new chief music director.
What do you have planned with the orchestra this season?
Other major symphonic projects are planned. This season we continue our Mahler journey by performing the Third Symphony. We have a program devoted to Schubert and to early-nineteenth-century Vienna, alongside Rossini, the other genius who was working in Italy in the same period. We will also take on Liszt’s Christus, which I would like to leave recorded as a testament. I do continue to propose Italians composers as Respighi and Martucci. Looking ahead, we have other important projects that I hope to be able to bring to completion.
Author: Máté Ur
Source: Papageno.hu