Silvio Barbato

Silvio Barbato

Silvio Sergio Bonaccorsi Barbato (born Candeias (Minas Gerais) (Brazil), 11 May 1959; died either in or over the mid-Atlantic Ocean, on the Air France Flight 447, 1 June 2009) was an Italian-Brazilian opera conductor and composer.

Life and Career

Maestro Barbato was the son of Daniele Barbato and Rosalba Bonaccorsi, daughter of Silvio and Alvara Bonaccorsi and granddaughter of Celestino and Luigi Bonaccorsi, firsts descendants of Bonaccorsi brothers, originars of Fornaci di Barga, (Italy),who emigrated to Brazil at the end of the 19th Century . His grandparents were both doctors in Candeias (Minas Gerais), (Brazil). His father died in Brasilia, of a heart attack, in the 90s, when at the time he was a professor at the University of the capital.

He graduated in "Conducting" at the University of Brasilia; he studied Conducting and Composition first with Cláudio Santoro and then he moved to Milan where he continued with Azio Corghi at "Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi". In 1984 he received his merit degree at the "Accademia Musicale Chigiana" of Siena, and one year later he graduated from the "Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi", also receiving the gold medal in High Conducting, the first Brazilian to receive of this honour since Carlos Gomes . His conducting career started at the age of only 25, when he directed a performance of Tosca at the Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro becaming known as "maestro menudo" ("little conductor") as he was the youngest conductor in Brazil to direct a complete opera and as well because he had a very full head of hair. In Italy he also studied with Franco Ferrara, and he became the assistent director of M° Romano Gandolfi at the Teatro alla Scala. Master in "Italian Opera" at the University of Chicago in the class of Philip Gossett.

Barbato was two times director of the Orchestra of the Nazional Theatre of Brasília: from 1989 to 1992 and from 1999 to 2006.

In 1996, for centenary of Antônio Carlos Gomes, he was called by Placido Domingo to reconstruct the original partition of the opera "O Guarany", for the opening night of the Washington National Opera. This version had never been performed before, after its debut at Teatro alla Scala in 1870.

He was the musical director of the film “Villa Lobos, Uma Vida de Paixão”, and was awarded with “Grand Prize of the Cinema Brazil 2001”, in the cathegory "best soundtrack". In 2002 he received the "Medal for Cultural Merits" from the President of Brazil and he was also named "Commendatory of the Rio Branco Order".

In 2006 he directed the first europian performance of the opera “Colombo”, symphonic coral poem in four acts by Albino Falanca, music by Antônio Carlos Gomes, at Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania. The performance of “Colombo” at Bellini Theatre has been a great event, that also attracted the attention of the international press, because it had never been performed in Europe in 114 years, but only in the American Continent. In this occasion, a cd has been recorded by musical edition "Bongiovanni" of Bologna. In the same year he also received the commission of conducting the close of the Mozartian year, at the Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza.

The 1st of June of 2008 he conducted the Orchestra "Camerata Brasil" of Brasilia in the concert "Tribute to Pavarotti", con la participation of Luciana Tavares, Thiago Arancam, Andreas Kisser e Fernanda Abreu. In Novembre he conducted the mondial "prima", in pocket version, of his second opera, "Carlos Chagas" in the Sala Palestrina of Palazzo Pamphilj in Rome, at the presence of many members of the "Pontificia Accademia delle Scienze" and of eight Nobel Prizes.

During the last years he dedicated himself to composition, debuting two operas: “O Cientista”, based on the life of Oswaldo Cruz, and “Carlos Chagas”, based on the life of Carlos Chagas Filho. In Italia he conducted in Rome, Catania, Spoleto, San Remo, Lecce, Florence, Vicenza, Palermo. He worked together with great singers as Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Montserrat Caballè, Placido Domingo. At present he was permanent Director of the Symphonic Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro, Artistic Director of the Nazional Theatre Claudio Santoro of Brasilia and Musical Director of Sala Palestrina of Palazzo Pamphilj in Rome.

He loved his city, Rio de Janeiro, and, despite his internazional career required him to travel a lot, he always wanted to live in Brazil. He was a supporter of the football team "Flamengo".
Silvio Barbato's partner was the violinist Antonella Pareschi.

He also conducted choral works such as Berlioz's L'enfant du Christ (performed with the city's combined musical forces in 2004).
During his life he promoted the works of his teacher Claudio Santoro whose music he regarded as "indisputably composed in the mould of Soviet socialist realism" on a par with Shostakovich. He also championed the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Barbato was en route to Kiev where he was due to conduct and teach. He was on Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris early on 1 June 2009 when it mysteriously crashed over the Atlantic Ocean.

Works

• "O Guarani, Canto de Guerra, Canto de Vitória" - book - 2004
• "Terra Brasilis" - ballet - Mondial "prima" at Teatro Massimo Bellini of Catania in 2005.
• "O Cientista" - opera - Mondiale "prime" at Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janeiro in 2006.
• "Carlos Chagas" - opera - Mondial "prima" in poket version at Sala Palestrina of Palazzo Panphilj in Rome, 1st of November of 2008.
• "Simon Bolivar" - opera - His last work, remained incompleted. Should debute in 2009.

References

• Obituary in The Daily Telegraph 6 June, 2009 p.33