Piero Gamba (16 September 1936 – 30 January 2022), also known as Pierino Gamba, was an Italian orchestral conductor and pianist.

Biography

Born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 16 September 1936, Gamba came to attention as a child prodigy. He won the

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral musi ...

Memorial Medal in 1962 and during the 1960s he conducted the

Philharmonia The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

, and the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, with whom he also recorded for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. From 1971 to 1980, he was the musical director and conductor of the

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba. The WSO presents an average ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He was the chief conductor of the

Adelaide Symphony Orchestra The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is a South Australian performing arts organisation comprising 75 full-time musicians, established in 1936. Based in Adelaide, South Australia, the orchestra's primary performance venue is the Adelaide Town Ha ...

in Australia from 1983 to 1986, and conducted many other Australian orchestras during this time. He was the musical director and conductor of the SODRE National Symphonic Orchestra of Uruguay from 1994 till 1995 as well as from 2001 till 2004. Gamba was one of the founders of Symphonicum Europae Foundation, an institution whose aim is to promote greater harmony of mankind through the arts. Gamba lived in New York City, pursued his career and teaching orchestra conducting. He died on 30 January 2022, at the age of 85.A los 85 años murió Piero Gamba, el maestro italiano con un fuerte vínculo con Uruguay
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Collaborations

During his long career of some seventy years he has worked with many artists, who have performed under his direction. Amongst them: *

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* Marjorie Mitchell * Ieuan Jones en Jame Peters.

Honours

Gamba was an Honorary Conductor for Life of the following orchestras: * Philharmonia Antwerpen * Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid * Orquesta Filarmonica Barcelona * Orquesta da Camara Barcelona * Orquesta A.P.O. Buenos Aires * Orquesta A.U.D.E.M. Montevideo * Asociacion Coral Porto.

Discography

Gamba mostly recorded with the following orchestras: *

(

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

), *

and the New Philharmonia (

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

), * The

Royal Danish Orchestra The Royal Danish Orchestra (''Det Kongelige Kapel'') is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The Danish name for the orchestra indicates its original function as an ensemble geared to supplying the music for court events. The Royal Danish Orch ...

(

TONO TONO is a Norwegian corporation that administers copyrights for music in Norway. It is owned and governed by its members; composers, music publishers and text-writers. Through the managing agreement the originators give TONO an exclusive right to ...

), * The Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, * The

(

CBC Records CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest h ...

), and * The Symphonicum Europae Orchestra. These are a few of his available recordings: *

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

: Piano Concertos Nos. 3-5, Piero Gamba conducts the

, and

(Audio CD 1996) * Beethoven: The Piano Concertos; Choral Fantasy; Diabelli Variations, Piero Gamba conducts the

, and

(Audio CD 2007) Box set *

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

: The Piano Concertos, Ataulfo Argenta, Piero Gamba conducts the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony and BBC Symphony ...

, and

(Audio CD 2002) *

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

: Overtures, Piero Gamba conducts the

(Audio CD 1990) * Rossini: Overtures, Piero Gamba conducts the

(Audio CD 2004) Original recording remastered

References

External links

Official website

''La Grande Aurora'' (''The Great Dawn'') is a semi-biographical account of Pierino Gamba's early musical genius.

Video of Pierino Gamba conducting an orchestra aged 11 in 1947.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamba, Piero 1936 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century Italian conductors (music) 21st-century Italian male musicians 21st-century pianists Child classical musicians Italian male conductors (music) Italian male pianists Musicians from New York City Musicians from Rome