SOP Podcast #85 - Maurizio Croci About the Parallels Between Bach's Organ and Harpsichord Works

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #85!

Today's guest is and Italian organist and harpsichordist ​Maurizio Croci. He holds diplomas in organ and harpsichord studies from the conservatoires of music of Milan and Trent (Italy) and spent four years at the Schola

Cantorum in Basle (Switzerland) on advanced courses in organ and harpsichord under Jean-Claude Zehnder and Andrea Marcon. He also graduated “Summa cum laude” in musicology at Fribourg University in Switzerland under Prof. Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini.

Prize-Winner of the Paul Hofhaimer international competition in Innsbruck (1998), Mr. Croci has concertized throughout Europe, Russia and Japan. He performed J.S. Bach’s complete organ works in Bern to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.

Several of his concerts were broadcasted by radio and television (RAI, SDR, RNE, RSI, RSR) and he had recorded several CD's devotes to G. Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, G. F. Kauffmann, G.F. Haendel, D. Scarlatti, A. Soler (Conciertos for two organs with Pieter van Dijk) and the organ music of Southern Germany. Among his most recent recordings, a monograph dedicated to Andrea Gabrieli for RSI Rete Due, works for two organs for National Radio España (live recording with P. van Dijk).

The debut recording with his ensemble Il Pegaso, first modern execution of newly discovered compositions of Monteverdi and Frescobaldi, has been praised by international critics by getting prestigious awards (5 Diapason, 4 Classica, Nomination for International Classical Music Award).

Maurizio Croci gives regularly Masterclasses on early keyboard music (Conservatoire de St-Petersbourg, Organ Festival Holland, Escola Superior de Música de Lisbonne, Yugakan Ishinomaki, Tokyo, Accademia Italiana di musica per Organo in Pistoia, etc.), and seats in the jury of international organ competitions (Alkmaar, Freiberg, Toulouse, Landsberg, Borca di Cadore, Premio delle Arti del Ministero Italiano dell’Università e della Ricerca).

Mr. Croci is currently working as Organ Professor at the HEMU (Haute Ecole de Musique Vaud-Valais-Fribourg) and at the Conservatoire de Fribourg (Switzerland), Harpsichord Professor at the Milano Civica Scuola di Musica, organist at the Basilica of the Holy Trinity in Bern and of the Collège St-Michel in Fribourg. 
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In this conversation, we will find out all about Maurizio's organ and harpsichord activities, including most recent CD recording "Bach Mirrored" in which he researched Bach's preludes, fantasias and fugues for organ and harpsichord and found interesting parallels in keys, modes, figures, and textures.

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Thanks for caring.

Relevant links:
http://www.mauriziocroci.com
​http://www.academieorgue.ch