Mario Ciferri / Final Concert – Organ Summer in Hallgrímskirkja 2025

Sunday August 24th at 17hrs

Mario Ciferri organ San Giorgio Cattedrale

 

Tickets are available at Hallgrímskirkja and on tix.is

Admission ISK 3.900

 

Mario Ciferri from San Giorgio Cathedral concludes the summer series with warmth and emotional depth.

 

Mario Ciferri was born in Fermo – Italy. His extensive studies led him to receive Diplomas with brilliant results in Piano, Organ, Conducting of Orchestra, Harpsichord (with highest honours) and Sacred Music (cum laude) from the “G. B. Martini”Conservatoire in Bologna, the “S. Cecilia” Conservatoire in Roma and the “G. Rossini” Conservatoire in Pesaro, where he studied Composition too.

 

He enriched his music education by attending numerous specialization courses in Italy and abroad which won him the approval of internationally famous music teachers such as Christopher Stembridge, Gaston Litaize, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Michael Radulescu, Roberto Marini, Arturo Sacchetti, Ton Koopman for organ and harpsichord, as well as concert-prizes; Giovanni Acciai, Marco Boschini, Piergiorgio Righele,

Stephen Woodbury, Marco Berrini, Giacomo Baroffio for choral music.

 

He is the winner of a scholarship awarded to him by the prestigious “Rossini Foundation” of Pesaro in 1993. Furthermore, he is the winner of National and International Competitions, receiving the second prize (the first one was not assigned) at the XIV National Organ Competition in Noale (Venezia) in 1990 and the second prize at the “Fratelli Bernasconi” First International Organ Competition in Olgiate Olona (Varese) in 2003.

 

Pupil of the conductor Manlio Benzi, subsequently he took the Diploma at the Triennal Course of High Specialization in Conducting with Donato Renzetti at the Music Academy in Pescara. He performs regularly as organist into the most renowned International Organ Festivals in Italy and abroad, always getting alluring appreciations, plaing in the most famous Concert Halls and Cathedrals: France (Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier), Germany (Muenchen, Mainz, Fulda, Herford, Saarbrucken, Rheda, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim, Darmstadt, Ottobeuren, Ingolstadt, Wiesbaden, Potsdam), Austria, United Kingdom (Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and Temple Church in London, Lincoln, Rochester, Edinburgh), Czech Republic, Slovakia (Bratislava), Poland (Warsaw, Poznan, Katowice, Koszalin, Wadowice, Legnica), Switzerland (Lausanne, Lugano), Denmark (Copenhagen, Odense), Finland, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Belgium (Brugge), Sweden (Lund, Malmo), Norway (Oslo), Lithuania (Vilnius), Russia (Moscow Cathedral, St. Petersburgh, Ekaterinburg, Perm and Sochi Philarmonias), Siberia, Belarus (Minsk, Vitebsk), Canada (Toronto and Guelph) e USA (St. Patrick's Cathedral and Central Sinagogue in New York). In 2018 he performed as soloist the organ concert op. 100 with orchestra by M. E. Bossi in the Sochi Philarmonia (Russia) and recently he performed the same Bossi organ concert in the Katowice Philarmonia (Poland).

 

His big repertory goes from Ancient Music to Modern Music and includes the most important pieces by D. Buxtehude, J. S. Bach, F. Mendelssohn, A. G. Ritter, F. Liszt, J. Reubke, M. Reger, S. Karg-Elert, C. Franck, C.-M. Widor, L. Vierne, M. Duruflé.

 

Among organ concerts there are numerous inaugurations of restored historical organs in Italy and he also has presented first modern performances of composers from Marche Region: A. Cruciani, G. B. Mastini, B. Bittoni, C. A. Cristiani, L. Vecchiotti and others.

 

He has several times collaborated as organist with such orchestras as The Virtuosos of Bucarest, the International Orchestra of Italy, the Chamber Orchestra of Marche, the Philarmonic Orchestra of Marche and Symphonic Orchestra of Abruzzo, taking part in symphonic Festivals and registrations for radio and TV.

 

In 2004 he recorded a CD about complete organ works by Luigi Vecchiotti (1804-1863) for recording label “La Bottega Discantica” in Milano, as the first world recording.

 

He recorded also a CD as organist in “Oratorio de Noël” op. 12 by C. Saint-Saëns with Chamber Orchestra of Marche for recording label “Sheva”, and he took part in the DVD “Terra d'organi” playing on historical organs in Region Marche.

As Choir and Orchestra Conductor he works with several baroque ensembles, Italian orchestras and choirs performing with success great compositions by J. S. Bach, G. F. Händel, M. A. Charpentier, W. A. Mozart, A. Vivaldi, B. Galuppi, G. B. Pergolesi, G. Giordani, G. Fauré, C. Saint-Säens, ecc. with famous artists too.

 

In 2006 A.R.CO.M. (Regional Association of Choirs in Marche) invited him to conduct the selected Regional Choir performing Requiem KV 626 by W. A. Mozart and Motets by B. Britten in several concerts, one of them was at “Teatro alle Muse” in Ancona. In 2014 he won the First Prize at “A. Guanti” International Choral Competition in Matera and also the special prize for the best performance of a piece composed by an Italian contemporary author.

 

In 1998 he won the National Competition for exams and titles and so he is teacher of Organ, Gregorian Chant, Harpsichord, choral training and choral conducting at the “G. B. Pergolesi” Conservatoire of Music in Fermo.

 

He is the titular organist in St. George’s Cathedral in Porto San Giorgio where he is also the Artistic Director

of the International Organ Festival.