Nino Rota Honored at Columbia University’s Italian Academy

On Saturday, November 19, the Fall concert series at Columbia University’s Italian Academy in New York celebrates the centenary of Italian composer Nino Rota. The concert, which takes place in the theater of the Italian Academy, features works by Rota that span a period of creative output from 1945 to 1973 and includes a performance of Michele Marvulli’s Souvenir (divagazioni pianistiche su motivi di Nino Rota).

Nino Rota, born 1911 in Milan, is best known for his prolific and acclaimed output of music for film. Considered a prodigy, having written his first oratorio at the age of 11, Rota studied composition at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia and the Curtis Institute as well as literature at the University of Milan. Having provided scores for films by countless leading directors (including Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy, for which he received a 1975 Academy Award), Rota was considered a pioneer in cinematic scoring. Longtime Rota-collaborator Federico Fellini wrote of the composer:

The most precious collaborator I have ever had, I say it straightaway and don't even have to hesitate, was Nino Rota — between us, immediately, a complete, total, harmony...He had a geometric imagination, a musical approach worthy of celestial spheres. He thus had no need to see images from my movies. When I asked him about the melodies he had in mind to comment one sequence or another, I clearly realized he was not concerned with images at all. His world was inner, inside himself, and reality had no way to enter it.

Nino Rota’s chamber music is an extension of this ‘inner reality’ and in many ways a sort of abstract cinema. The concert includes Rota’s Trio for flute, violin, and piano (1958), Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano (1973), and his Fantasy in G (1944-5) for solo piano, along with Michele Marvulli’s Souvenir. Performers for the event are Emanuele Arciuli, piano; Chris Gross, cello; David Fulmer, violin; Henrik Heide, flute; and Carol McGonnell, clarinet.

Visit Rota’s Composer Profile for more on the composer. Additional info on Rota can be found at www.ninorota.com.

Check out www.italianacademy.columbia.edu for precise ticketing and programming info.

Nino Rota
Trio (1973)
for clarinet, violoncello and piano
11’

Fantasia in G (1944/1945)
for solo piano
14’