Aldo Ferraresi

ALDO FERRARESI (Ferrara, 14 May 1902 – San Remo, 29 June 1978) Aldo Ferraresi was born in Ferrara historical centre at Nr.21 of Via Vittoria – formerly Via di Gatta marcia – in the Jewish ghetto, on 14 May 1902. His father Augusto, an artillery marshal and passionate mandolin player, and his mother Marcella Jesi, having noticed their child’s gift for music, sent him to the Frescobaldi Institute of Music of Ferrara at the age of five to study with professors Federico Barera and Umberto Supino. At the age of twelve, after a successful audition, Ferraresi was accepted at the Conservatory in Parma under the guidance of Mario Corti, who later accompanied him to Rome at the Academy of Santa Cecilia, where he received a violin degree with top marks aged fifteen. Aldo Ferraresi started his concert career at the Music High School in Bologna, and at the City and Verdi Theatres of Ferrara: a career of an “enfant prodige” with a bold and informal spirit, characteristic of his whole life. In Ferrara, while still very young, Ferraresi performed at the Apollo Cinema, in the orchestra of the silent cinema, and in the Café-concertos of Viareggio and Florence with his “Orchestra Ferraresi - Cortopassi”. His life was almost parallel to that of the great colleague Váša Příhoda (who was discovered by Arturo Toscanini at the Café Grand’Italia in the Gallery of Milan!). Only poets who have truly suffered are capable of creating real poetry. As Ferraresi recalls in his recorded life memories (CD18), Jan Kubelik presented him to Eugène Ysaye who afterwards held the young Aldo in great esteem, considering him his best pupil. [from Rhine Classics RH-001 booklet]