Laura Andriani, born August 19 1975, studied at the
Conservatory of Music G Verdi in Torino where she graduated aged 17 under the tuition
of Elena Guizzardi. Laura went on to
study at the Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel (Switzerland) where she took a
Solisten-Diplom under the tuition of Adelina Oprean in 1996.
She has also partecipated to several masterclasses held by Franco
Gulli since 1993 (Riva Music Festival, Biella, Konservatorium Luzern). Since
1996 she has been one of the selected partecipants of the International Classes of the
most important italian Academy of Strings founded in Italy by Salvatore Accardo , Bruno Giuranna, Rocco Filippini and Franco Petracchi: the Walter
Stauffer Foundation in Cremona where she took part in several classes and concerts at
the Ponchielli Theater. She is Doctor in Humanities: she graduated at the Università
degli Studi di Torino (Italy) with the highest grade.
Laura won first prizes in ten important italian
competitions for young musicians since she was ten years old. In 1997 she won the most
important italian competition for violin in Vittorio Veneto and she obtained the
Special Prize for the best interpretation of the XX century violin composition at the
XLIV International Violin Competition Premio Paganini in Genoa playing the Sequenza VIII by Luciano Berio.
She founded in 1998 the Andriani String Quartet which was a
young group which studied under the tuition of Piero Farulli
(Quartetto Italiano) and Milan Skampa
(Smetana Quartet). When Laura was the
leader of this string quartet she took part to the Amadeus Summer Courses held by
Norbert Brainin, Sigmund Nissel and
Martin Lovett at the Royal Academy of Music in London and to
the Courses at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh (Suffolk, England). In 1999 the
Andriani String Quartet became the quartet in residence of the
Aldeburgh Festival (for the 2000 season) and won the International Competion for
Chamber Music Viotti in Vercelli and the Special Prize Leos Janacek of the
Musikhochschule of Wien.
Laura played as soloist with the Basler Sinfonie-Orchester
(Brahms Violin Concerto op.77 and Chausson Poeme), with the Orchestra
di Padova e del Veneto (Paganini Violin Concerto n.1 op.6), with the
Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean (Mozart
KV 364 and first performance of Miroir by Denis Dion) and the Orquesta Sinfonica del Nuevo
Mundo in Mexico City (Vivaldi’s Seasons). As a chamber music player, she
performed in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, England, Czech Republic,
United States, Canada and China. She also played in groups specialized in the
performance of contemporary music (Sentieri Selvaggi and
Divertimento Ensemble in Milan) and she played in the
Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala (with Muti, Sinopoli, Chailly,
Temirkanov and Moest conducting). She
used to work at the Teatro Regio di Torino and took part to many concerts of the OCI
(Chamber Italian Orchestra — Musical Director Salvatore
Accardo) around Italy and internationally (Europe, Asia).
In the spring 2003, after the selections of 154 candidates, she participated in the
Concours International de Montréal des Jeunesses Musicales. She was the only italian
violinist admitted and obtained a big success entering to the finals which were live
broadcasted by Radio Canada, Art Tv and diffused by internet. Laura
Andriani’s performance of the Tchaikovsky Concerto was lyrical and poetic.
Although her playing reminded the listener that she hails from Italy — where
lyricism in violin playing remains highly cherished and cultivated — she is an
individual, with a manner of expression uniquely her own. Andriani’ s originality and affinity for the new was recognized in
1997 for her performance of Luciano Berio’ s
Sequenza VIII at the Premio Nicolò Paganini International Violin
Competition in Genoa. Throughout this competition, Andriani
again made it clear that she does not merely re-iterate the precepts of old traditions.
The sense of individuality and newness that infuses her artistry makes her worth
watching and listening to. (Critique by Piotr Gawek and Mary Katharine Wallbridge-Gawek
— 5 June, 2003 — La Scena Musicale Online — concerning her final
round accompanied by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal,
director Asher Fisch).
Since the summer 2003, Laura Andriani is the first violin
of the Quatuor Alcan, one of the most dynamic chamber groups
of the canadian musical scene. The Quatuor Alcan is en
résidence at the Université de Montréal, pursuing a project of specific string quartet
training, and performed in Canada, United States, China and Europe. Several concerts
are often broadcasted by Radio-Canada, CBC and Radio-France. Since the summer 2005 the
Quatuor Alcan records for the label Atma Classique.
