MENOTTI: Trio
BARTÓK: Contrasts, Sz. 111
MILHAUD: Suite, Op. 157b
SCHOENFELD: Trio
In 2018, at just 22 years old, Kevin Spagnolo achieved a remarkable milestone by winning First Prize at the Geneva International Music Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious music competitions. In doing so, he became the youngest clarinettist ever to receive this distinguished award. This achievement marked the beginning of his international career, which has seen him regularly invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician at major festivals and on important tours around the world.
Kevin Spagnolo has performed as a soloist with numerous renowned orchestras. These include the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Anton Shaburov at the Musical Olympus Festival, performing Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, the Sofa Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquesta de Aguascalientes with Roman Revueltas, Brussels Philharmonic with Antonio Saiote, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève with Pierre Bleuse and Yann Kerninon, Orchestre des Nations with Vitor Fernandes and Antoine Marguier, Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Martin Fröst and later Michael Collins, Orchestra della Toscana on tour with Nil Venditti, Orchestre de Chambre de la HEM, Sanremo Symphony Orchestra with Cem’i Can Deliorman, Turin Symphony Orchestra with Giampaolo Pretto, Sicilian Symphony Orchestra with Alessandro Bonato and Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana with Diego Ceretta.
In summer 2024, Kevin made his debut with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Marc Leroy-Catalayud, performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. In spring 2025, he made his Brazilian solo debut with the Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, the Goiás Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro in Brasília.
His upcoming engagements include a tour of Spain with the Orchestra della Toscana and Diego Ceretta, a concert with the Turkish Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, performances with I Solisti di Pavia, the Sibiu State Philharmonic and the Transylvania State Philharmonic in Romania, as well as chamber music concerts in China and Italy.
In 2022, Kevin stepped in at the last minute for Martin Fröst on a tour with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, performing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto to great acclaim in Budapest, at the Grand Hall of the Frank Liszt Academy, and at Union Hall in Maribor. The two concerts were broadcast and recorded by Hungarian Bartók Radio and Slovenian Radio respectively.
That same year, he appeared as a guest on Rai 3’s Via dei Matti n.0, hosted by Stefano Bollani and Valentina Cenni, performing selections from his first album with Bollani and talking about music.
Kevin released his first album, Façades, in 2021 with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Michael Collins. The recording features works by C. M. von Weber, Jean Françaix, Rossini and Béla Kovacs. Supported by the Geneva International Music Competition and Breguet, the album explores themes of joy and the many emotional facets of life, reflecting Kevin’s artistic identity.
As a chamber musician, Kevin has collaborated with outstanding artists including Beatrice Rana, Emmanuel Pahud, Stefano Bollani, Liya Petrova, Carlos Sanchis, Chloë Ji-yeong Mun, Théo Fouchenneret, Aurélien Pascal, Lorenzo Soulès and Simone Rugani. He has also worked with string quartets including Quartet Voce, the Karol Szymanowski Quartet, Quartetto Guadagnini, Quartetto Prometeo and Quartet Terpsychordes, as well as artists such as Lise Berthaud, Sergey Ostrovsky, Ophélie Gaillard, Yubeen Kim and Sara Vidouvier. He has also performed in duo with Vitor Fernandes, accompanied by Serika Saito.
Many of his concerts have been broadcast by Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Rai Radio 3 and Radio Suisse Romande. He regularly performs in duo with pianist Simone Rugani, appearing at festivals and concert halls throughout Italy, including Classiche Forme, Perugia Classica, Lucca Classica, Amici della Musica di Firenze, Arezzo Classica, Bologna Festival and Filarmonica Laudamo in Messina.
Kevin began playing the clarinet at the age of eight and studied at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali Luigi Boccherini in Lucca, completing his Bachelor’s degree with the highest marks at the age of 17 under Professor Remo Pieri.
During his studies, he won several local, national and international competitions, giving him the opportunity to perform the first recitals of his career. After studying with Carlo Failli and Fabrizio Meloni, Kevin attended the prestigious Geneva Conservatory, where he completed his first Master’s degree with a special prize in 2017 and his second Master Soliste with Romain Guyot in 2019.
In addition to the Geneva International Music Competition, Kevin won Third Prize at the Jacques Lancelot International Clarinet Competition in 2016, Third Prize at the Ghent International Clarinet Competition in 2017 and First Grand Prize at the Berliner International Music Competition in 2019.
Since 2021, alongside his performing career, Kevin has also devoted himself to teaching, giving masterclasses around the world and teaching at the Avos Project International School of Music in Rome.
Kevin is recognised as one of the leading clarinettists of his generation and continues to make a significant contribution to the world of classical music.
Born in 1994, Andrea Obiso won the competition for Concertmaster of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the beginning of the year. Described by critics as an “enfant prodige”, he began studying violin and piano at the age of six with his musician parents and made his solo debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana at the age of twelve.
He has won prizes at numerous international competitions, including the 2017 ARD International Violin Competition in Munich, where he also received the special prize for the best world premiere performance of For Solo Violin, a work commissioned for the competition and written by Avner Dorman.
He also won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Prix Ravel in 2017, Second Prize and the Audience Prize at the XI A. Khachaturian International Violin Competition in Armenia in 2015, the Special Prize for Virtuosic Performance at the 6th Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Korea in 2008, and was a semifinalist and Audience Prize winner at the VII Sendai International Music Competition in Japan. He has also been overall winner of eleven national violin competitions, including the Vittorio Veneto competition.
Last season, Andrea made his debut at the Berliner Philharmonie with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, in a concert presented and recorded live by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and RBB Radio. That same year, he toured Germany, Finland and Japan.
Previously, he made his Moscow debut at the Kremlin Palace with the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Vladimir Spivakov, followed by appearances in China at the Shanghai Symphony Hall and in Latin America, including Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Santiago de Chile.
In 2017, he also made his debut at the Herkulessaal and Gasteig in Munich with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. He has been recorded live for numerous television and radio programmes, including BR Klassik, RBB, NDR and SWR in Germany, NHK in Japan, Rai Radio 3 and RAI 1 with Massimo Giletti and Massimo Ranieri, as well as at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Festival de Fontainebleau, Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and Sagra Malatestiana in Rimini.
In 2019, he graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Aaron Rosand and Midori Goto thanks to a scholarship from the Eileen Rosenau Fellowship Program.
Among the other disciplines he studied at Curtis, Andrea Obiso pursued orchestral conducting with two students of Otto-Werner Mueller, counterpoint and composition with students of Carl Schachter, and improvisation and musical aesthetics with professors Jonathan Coopersmith and Noam Sivan. During his time at Curtis, he also served as leader of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in numerous symphonic and operatic productions and studied in New York with Sheryl Staples, concertino of the New Philharmonic Orchestra and teacher at the Juilliard School.
From 2005 to 2015, he was one of the youngest full students admitted to the courses of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, in Boris Belkin’s class. He also studied with Belkin at the Maastricht Conservatory, graduating with full marks in 2016.
In 2008, at the age of fourteen, he graduated from the Conservatorio A. Scarlatti in Palermo with special honours.
Andrea Obiso has collaborated with Lilya Zilberstein, Antonio Meneses, Roberto Diaz, Gérard Poulet, George Pehlivanian, Steven Mercurio, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Michael Francis, Vladimir Spivakov, Andrea Licata, Stefano Ranzani, Yoko Matsuo and Nicola Paszkowsky. He has also studied with Pamela Franck, Augustin Hadelich, Peter Wiley, Arnold Steinhardt, Ignatius Solzhenitsyn, Ida Kavafian, Olivier Charlier, Philippe Graffin, Isabelle Duha, Alexis Galperine, Bruno Pasquier, the Ébène Quartet, Mikhail Kopelman, Gérard Poulet and Kimiko Nakazawa.
Andrea has an extensive knowledge of both solo and chamber repertoire. His repertoire also includes concertos by Strauss, Ziino, Khachaturian, Ernst and Britten, among some of the less frequently performed works.
His most significant performances have been with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Münchener Kammerorchester, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic, Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra of Japan, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, Orchestra of Teatro Bellini in Catania, Orchestra Filarmonica di Bologna, Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, Orkest der Lage Landen, Moscow Virtuosi, Orchestra of Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Limburgs Symfonie Orkest and Orchestra Arturo Toscanini in Parma, among others.
Andrea Obiso plays a 1741 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù violin, entrusted to him by NPO Yellow Angel, and an E. Pajeot bow owned by Nippon Violin Co. Ltd. in Tokyo.
Massimo Spada, born in Rome in 1986, began studying piano at the age of six and graduated with the highest marks and honours in 2005 under Pieralberto Biondi at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
He continued his studies at the prestigious Accademia Pianistica di Imola “Incontri con il Maestro” under Boris Petrushansky and Riccardo Risaliti, and later at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia under Benedetto Lupo and Stefano Fiuzzi. He has also attended international advanced courses with Lazar Berman, Elisso Virsaladze, Joaquin Soriano and Andrea Lucchesini. In 2009, he graduated with honours in Music History from Sapienza University of Rome.
He performs regularly both as a solo recitalist and as a chamber musician in duo and trio formations. His recital programmes, alongside the classical repertoire, often explore works by less frequently performed composers such as Albéniz, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Catoire, Medtner, Villa-Lobos and Barber.
Among the musicians with whom he has collaborated are Beatrice Rana, Andrea Obiso, Andrea Oliva, Roberto González-Monjas, David Romano and Diego Romano.
His extensive concert activity has taken him to numerous festivals abroad and throughout Italy, including performances in Rome at the Parco della Musica, in Turin as part of the MITO Festival, in Assisi for the Festival Internazionali per la Pace, at the Sagra Malatestiana in Rimini, and at other prestigious music series in Venice, Padua, Bologna, Cuneo, Matera, La Spezia, Sulmona, Catania, Syracuse, Campobasso and Aosta.
He is also regularly involved in the promotion and dissemination of contemporary music, often performing works dedicated to him. Since 2011, he has been the pianist of Ensemble Novecento, conducted by Carlo Rizzari, with which he has devoted himself to promoting new music by emerging composers.
He has been overall winner of numerous competitions, including the J. S. Bach Competition in Sestri Levante, the Rospigliosi Competition in Lamporecchio and the Sergio Cafaro Prize.
He is also deeply committed to teaching. He is Professor of Piano at the Morlacchi Conservatory in Perugia and, since 2020, has taught in Rome at Avos Project, a school of which he is one of the founders and artistic directors.
