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Massimiliano Matesic was born in Florence in 1969 and has lived in Switzerland since 2002.

After studying at the Florentine Conservatory (composition with Gaetano Giani Luporini, Salvatore Sciarrino and Michele Ignelzi / orchestral conducting with Alessandro Pinzauti) he moved to Freiburg im Breisgau as a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

In 1996 he became assistant to Peter Guelke as well as conductor of the chamber orchestra of Freiburg University.

In 2000/2001 he received a scholarship for the "American Academy of Conducting" where he received important impulses from David Zinman and Jorma Paula.

 

Since 1996 he has been teaching orchestral conducting at the "Hochschule fuer Musik " in Freiburg im Breisgau.

In 2010/2013 he was a visiting professor at the Showa University of Music in Kawasaky.

 

Massimiliano Matesic has appeared as a guest conductor in concerts and radio recordings with various orchestras, including the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Orchester Philharmonique de Montecarlo, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Basel Symphony Orchestra, the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, the Suedwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Konstanz, the Suedwestdeutsche Kammerorchester in Pforzheim and the Wuerttembergische Philharmonie in Reutlingen, to name but a few.

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In the years 2002/2006 Massimiliano Matesic was chief conductor of the Villingen-Schwenningen Symphony Orchestra. 

As conductor of the Zurich Youth Symphony Orchestra (JSOZ) he undertook numerous concert tours to Spain, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Argentina, South Africa, Taiwan and Singapore between 2002-2015.

 

A special focus of his work as conductor, composer and arranger was the collaboration with the legendary rock musician John Lord (whose concerto for rock band and orchestra from 1969 he premiered in Switzerland in 2009) and with the Sicilian songwriter Pippo Pollina (CD and film "Between Islands" in 2009).

 

Massimiliano Matesic has composed chamber music works, orchestral works and for theater: In October 2016 his family opera "Katze Ivanka" (commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera) premiered very successfully in Hamburg.

This was followed by new productions on Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (2017) and on Bulgarian National Theater in Sofia (2019).

"Katze Ivanka" and his orchestral version of Schubert's "Winterreise" have been published by Musikverlag Sikorski.

 

Radio and television recordings of his works have been made by Swiss Radio and television (SRF 2 and RSI "The Anatomy of Melancholy" 2018, RSI "Duo for Violin and Violoncello" 2004).

 

The "Duo for Violin and Violoncello" has been released in a CD recording on the Guild label.

 

Massimiliano Matesic is married to the violinist Daria Zappa and lives with her and their son Iskander at the Kaiserstuhl.

Since 2008 they organize together the music festival " Festival der Stille “.

 

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