ITALIAN
A native of Milan, MARCELLO CONATI graduated from the conservatories in Parma and Milan in piano, composition and conducting. From 1953 to 1960 he undertook a number of activities: conductor of orchestras in small theaters in Lombardy, chorus director, and repétiteur. Engaged by Herbert Graf at the opera house in Zurich from 1961 to 1971 he assumed the duties of music director, substitute conductor and assistant director, as well as serving on the faculty of the affiliated Opernstudio.
Upon his return to Italy in 1971, he took up residence in Parma and was engaged by the Istituto di Studi Verdiani as a researcher and librarian. Conati was named professor of “Arte scenica” at the Conservatory “Niccolini” in Piacenza in 1971, and thereafter at the Conservatory “Boito” in Parma. From 1991 to 1994 he was a contract faculty member at the University of Macerata, teaching musical dramaturgy and theatrical techniques.
Since 1966 Conati has been active in musicological research and participated in six Congressi Internazionali di Studi Verdiani, as well as in numerous musicological conferences held in Europe and North America. In 1979 he developed a “Festival Verdiano” project from which several authentic performances of Verdi operas and nineteenth-century Italian instrumental music were realized, and in 1982, for the Paganini centenary, he organized research on the orchestras in Emilia-Romanga from the nineteenth century to the present day. For the European Year of Music in 1984 he was author of the “Ernani project” produced at the Teatro Comunale in Modena for the authentic performance of the mise en scène of Verdi’s Ernani. In addition, Conati has contributed to the publication Discoteta, worked actively as a music critic, and served the Società Italiana di Musicologia from its foundation as a member of the editorial board (1982-1984), and as a counselor and director (1992 to the present). Conati’s many fields of interest have also led him to conduct research in ethnomusicology, and to participate as a joint founder of the Società Italiana di Etnomusicologia.
His record of publication is extensive. Among his many volumes are: Carteggio Verdi-Boito, a cura di Mario Medici e Marcello Conati, (1979) [awarded the Raffaele Mattioli Prize]; Interviste e incontri con Verdi, Milano, (1980); La bottega della musica. Verdi e la Fenice (1983); Verdi. Autobiographie à travers la correspondance [Textes réunis et présentés par Aldo Oberdorfer. Nouvelle édition revue par Marcello Conati], (1984); «Rigoletto». Un’analisi drammatico-musicale [nuova edizione riveduta e aggiornat], (1992).
In 1980 Conati collaborated with H. Robert Cohen in creating the Répertoire international de la presse musicale, and has acted as both editor and collaborator for the Italian-language portion of the series.