Bio

From 1994 to 1996 he participated in the advanced study course of Maestro Massimo Quarta organized by the Regione Emilia Romagna and the European Economic Community in Bologna.

He attended numerous lessons and master classes with distinguished Italian and foreign teachers including Franco Gulli, Enzo Porta, Cristiano Rossi, Viktor Tretiakov, Thomas Brandis, Pavel Vernikov. From his youth he played as soloist with the Orchestra del Conservatorio “G. B. Martini” and with that of the Teatro Comunale of Bologna with notable success.

For his advanced studies in December of 1995 he moved to Lubeck, Germany, and subsequently to Cologne, where he was the only Italian student under Maestro Zakhar Bron of the famous Russian school of David and Igor Oistrakh.

In March 1998 he performed with spectacular success in a nationally important concert in Bologna together with Maestro Bron playing for the “Conoscere la Musica” association.

In 1999 after an entrance competition, he was accepted for advanced study with the Scuola di Alto Perfezionamento “Walter Stauffer” in Cremona under Maestro Salvatore Accardo. Then he travelled to London where for several years he studied under the renowned Romanian concert violinist Eugène Sarbu.

In December 2001 he completed a very successful tour in Romania and Bulgaria playing Sibelius’s Concerto for violin and orchestra with the “Oltenia” Philharmonic Orchestra of Craiova and with the “Jora” Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau under the direction of the Maestro Ovidiu Balan.

In February 2002 he held a concert together with Maestro Eugène Sarbu and the Orchestra da Camera of Bologna for the presentation “Musica Insieme in Ateneo” playing the J. S. Bach Concerto for two violins. After this performance Sciarretta was described as “one of the most promising violinists of the new generation”.

Among the numerous engagements in the year 2002, the most memorable was that of February 23rd in Gstaad, Switzerland where he inaugurated the celebrated international festival “Les Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad” playing alongside world famous musicians such as Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lynn Harrell, Grigorij Sokolov, Cecilia Bartoli, Vadim Repin and others.

Additionally, Maurizio Sciarretta has won national and international awards. On November 20th, 2002 he won First Prize and the special “Paolo Borciani” award for the best performance of the Sonata for violin and piano at the well known International Violin Competition “Michelangelo Abbado” in Milan. Together with his work as violin soloist he has performed in numerous concerts in various duets and chamber ensembles in Italy and abroad.

From 2001 to 2004 he took part at the Orchestra Filarmonica “Arturo Toscanini” of Parma, Italy, wich he held numerous concerts in Italy and abroad under the direction of famous conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Georges Prêtre, Mstislav Rostropovich, Charles Dutoit, Yury Temirkanov and others.

Maurizio Sciarretta is teaching violin at the acclaimed “Incontri col Maestro” International Academy in Imola and is also assistant to Maestro Zakhar Bron in his Masterclasses in Zurich, Germany, Italy and abroad.

Maurizio plays a J. B. Vuillaume made in Paris in 1850.

Violin

Vuillaume’s ideal, and by constant study and cultivation of his own rare natural powers of observation he acquired such an intimate knowledge and judgement of Stardivari’s work in every detail, that he might almost be said to be better acquainted with the maker’s instruments than the master himself. Vuillaume soon found the sale of violins, issued as new works without any semblance of antiquity, an unprofitable undertaking and, recognizing the growing demand in all parts of the world for instruments resembling the great works of Cremona, he determined to apply his great skill as a workman, and his extraordinary familiarity with Stradivari’s models, to the construction of faithful copies of the greatmaster’s works.

This was the foundation of his success, for the modern copies found a ready sale, and orders poured in upon Vuillaume from all parts of the world. These instruments, imitations though they were, had high intrinsic merit; and it is to be remembered that they were copies made from unrivaled models, with fidelity and care such as only a devoted worshipper and a great master of his art could attain. He spared no pains in striving after perfection in the quality of his materials, and he treated the obscure and difficult problem of the varnish (the secret of which, as applied by the old Italian masters, seems to have died with them) with a success which has probably not been equalled by any other maker since their time.

The number of these instruments bearing his name is enormous, upwards of two thousand five hundred being known to exist; and many of them he made throughout with his own hand…. and we have it on the best authority that every instrument was varnished by his own hand.”

— W.E. Hill & Sons, London 1902

Wikipedia