Biographical notes

 

Paolo Munaò is a sicilian musician, piano soloist and educator of humanist principles, he likes to remember his Bachian's day of birth (21th March), he possess an intimate acquaitance of piano repertoires and hystorical praxis, clavichord likewise Lied-repertoire. 

 

Formerly involved as visiting assistant at the Musik-Akademie Basel (Hauptfach - Klavier) later scholar at the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Paolo Munaò is about to make a unique "New Literature of Music and Hystorical Praxis in Florence", ie, a collection of unusual biographies and manuscripts linked to the Italian culture and identity.

His piano recitals and lectures draw today attention of many academic institutions as the University of Auckland, the Czech Academy of Sciences Prague, the Royal Northern College of Music Manchester, AKA Budapest, BNCF Florence, Rimsky-Korsakov" St. Petersburg Conservatory, Fryderyk Chopin Institute Warsaw, UniQuebec, Genus Bononie-Tagliavini Museum in Bologna, Rai and Radio3 Classica, RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.

 

Among his research works are:

  • Ernő Dohnányi' juvenile manuscripts (British Library)

  • Marie Wieck pianist in Florence 1866 ("Female composers" project)

  •  Émile Jaques-Dalcroze: mouvements of a piano composer (IJD - Institut Dalcroze)

  • Gisella Selden-Goth: piano manuscripts against Nationalism (Sibelius Foundation)

  • János Tamás' piano pedagogy and Bachian's relationships (Paul Sacher Stiftung)

  • The Abbott Vincentio Panerai and the early cimbalo a piano-forte (SS. Annunziata Fund)

 

His artistic guide was been the iconic pianist Sergio Fiorentino, achieves a familiar reception and the influence of the hystorical pianism of the first 20th century. 

 

Until 2021, Bart Van Oort, Pierre Goy and Andreas Staier introduced him around the hystorically informed performance (Den Haag, Genève, Venezia). As well Leonardo De Lisi (pupil of Baldwin, Gage, Ameling) is the mentor for the Art Song training (Firenze 2011-14). Before, he received precious advices from Antonella Salpietro, Franco Scala and Jeffrey Swann, Christian Zacharias and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, during the academic training at St. Cecilia State Academy Rome.

 

Paolo Munaò received the UNESCO Aschberg-Prize for Artists from the Belgais-Centre founded by Maria João Pires. Later, MIUR - italian Ministry of Education, University and Research awards him the "AFAM "Premio delle Arti Claudio Abbado", as the honorary italian prize for excellence in Music and Performing Arts. Lauréat de la Foundation Royamount ("Schumann au Piano" 2019), he received the Artist Diploma in Fortepiano by the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag. 

 

Today Paolo lives in Italy near Marradi hills.  He is pursuing research studies on hystorical performance in Germany (HfM Weimar) and Belgium (Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles), also attending the 3rd cycle Specialization School -"Beni Musicali" University of Bologna.

 

 

some references

 

"I am very glad I was able to work with him for his internship. He is an excellent performer and a deep and interested researcher. A perfect collaborator!  He has highest academic knowledge to contribute to a piano department abroad."
Prof. Filippo Gamba

Musik-Akademie Basel - Hauptfach Klavier

“It is my pleasure to write for the outstanding pianist Paolo Munaò.

I attended his concerts in Vienna with interpretations of the unknown piano music of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, the founder of modern rhythmic studies. However Dalcroze also studied composition with Gabriel Faurè, Leo Delibes, Anton Bruckner. I was deeply impressed by the beauty of his piano work and by the interpretation by Paolo and I am convinced that this piano music should be published and made accessible to a broader audience”.  

Prof. Dr. med. E. Altenmüller, MD, MA

MDW University of Music, Vienna

Dohnányi’s Day 2017

December 7 - Institute for Musicology, Bartók Hall

Archives for 20th-21st Century Hungarian Music of Institute for Musicology

"Thanks Mr Munaò, your left hand truly recalls the flowing playing of Dohnányi" (Prof. Richard Taruskin)

38° Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte Montepulciano

"Linie-Raum-Erinnerung" - Studie Nr. 1 fur Klavier - first performance 22.08.2013
(Paolo Munaò (Klavier): Walter Zimmermann zum 60. Geburtstag)


It's nice to hear, that this short version was well received from public and musicians. I really appreciate the expressivo and singing quality of your playing, your musicality and the way you intonate intervals" .
Prof. Manolis Vlitakis

UDK and HfM "H.Eisler" Berlin

Messina - Filarmonica Laudamo "Dear Mr. Paolo Munaò, I scoped out your live performance of the Chopin Concerto N°1 in E minor and the playing is magnificent".

Dr. Arthut Houle

Director of Keyboard Studies at Colorado Mesa University

Che Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950)  fosse un prolifico compositore oltre che un didatta è cosa quasi sconosciuta. Che le sue composizioni pianistiche vadano ben oltre i confini di un solido accademismo è cosa del tutto inaspettata. 
A restituire alla storia della musica il suo corpus pianistico sta provvedendo un laborioso pianista siciliano. 

Paolo Munaò da sempre interessato a repertori poco battuti, come rivela l'attenzione per la musica dell'ungherese Dohnànyi. Questo CD di prime registrazioni mondiali rappresenta il secondo volume dedicato da TOCCATA CLASSICS (TC 0532) a Jaques-Dalcroze ed offre all'ascoltatore il ciclo più importante del compositore svizzero, quello dei 20 Caprices and Rhytmic Studies, pubblicato a Londra nel 1920. 

A fare da contorno ci sono due piccole pagine di grande interesse, l'ipnotica Cascades composta intorno al 1910 come musica da balletto e la più asciutta Esquisse pur un exercise de cordes, databile intorno al 1930.

Basterebbero le interpretazioni di questi due brani a farci capire che Paolo Munaò oltre ad essere un serio professionista e un appassionato esploratore di rarità musicali è pianista di talento, sensibile alle sottigliezze di una scrittura elusiva e sfuggente sa cogliere le complessità di una scrittura come quella dei Caprices, in apparenza ariosi e leggeri in realtà complessi nel ritmo e nella tecnica, impeccabili le sue interpretazioni mantengono un sottile equilibrio tra un controllo emotivo richiesto da Dalcroze e suggestioni liriche continuamente affioranti nel corso della raccolta. 


Luca Segalla

musician and journalist MUSICA n°309 - September 2020

 

(with Paul Hille)

Symposium: Wanted: Émile Jaques-Dalcroze

10-12 May 2019

to celebrate 60 years of Music and Movement Education/Rhythmics at the MDW Wien

DALCROZE PIANO WORKS

Piano masterclass with prof. Paolo Munaò 

I would like to recommend Paolo Munaò to you.

As a pianist, researcher and curator, he made a sterling contribution to the 2nd lnternational Conference of Dalcroze Studies (Vienna, 2015), whose scientific committee I chair. Mr Munaò showed enterprise creativity and flexibility. Of particular interest to Mr Munaò is the repertoire of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, such as Impromptu-Capriccio op.44 no.3; Nocturne op.45 no.3; Caprices et Etudes Rythmiques, and the lmpressions Fugitives: 40 petites pièces pour piano. 
This repertoire is rarely heard and yet has beauty and charm. With the recent 150th anniversary of Jaques-Dalcroze's birth, there is renewed interest in Dalcroze's music and his influence on education, performance and therapy of various kinds makes this an opportune moment to support further explorations of his output.

I have no hesitation in recommending Mr Munaò to you. 

 

Prof. John Habron

Head of Music Education, Royal Northern College of Music, UK
Chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Conferences of Dalcroze Studies