Maria Luisa Macellaro La Franca

Maria Luisa Macellaro La Franca is a pianist, conductor and composer whose repertoire encompasses both historical instruments and the modern piano. She has collaborated with musicians including Thibault Cauvin, Davide Alogna, Rudolf Koelman, Domenico Nordio, Ertuğ Korkmaz and Sarah O’Brien. She graduated with honours from the Conservatorio V. Bellini in Palermo, studying piano with A. Sottile, composition with Barbara Rettagliati and Stefano Canazza, and conducting with C. Caruso. At the Zürich Musikhochschule she studied piano with Konstantin Scherbakov, chamber music with Ulrich Koella and Nora Chastain, jazz with André Desponds, early music with Kees Boeke, and contemporary music with Matthias Ziegler, receiving the Konzertdiplom with highest honours. She also studied orchestral conducting with Lior Shambadal of the Berliner Symphoniker. She has won first prizes in national and international competitions, including Modica (1992) and the Ibla Grand Prize International Music Competition (2000). Her performance venues have included the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Amici dell’Opera in Piacenza, the Sala San Giovanni in Cuneo, the Konzertsaal of the Musikhochschule Winterthur, the Bleuer and Grosser Saal in Zürich, the Musikkollegium in St. Moritz, the Sala Boccadoro in Lugano and the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux. In February 2015 she made her conducting debut in Berlin with the Berliner Sinfonietta, following her success in the IBM International Conductor Selection. Her festival appearances as a pianist and conductor include the Festival du Cap Ferret, the Rio de Janeiro International Festival, Swiss Fest in Geneva, Balkan Fest in Zürich, the Festival d’Autunno in Cuneo and the Como Lake Festival. In the 2016–2017 season she appeared at the Opéra de Bordeaux and the Olympia in Arcachon; in 2017–2018 she made her debut with Orkestra Akademik Başkent in Turkey, performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Her conducting work has also included serving as principal conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique Unisson ACME Bordeaux and performing with the ensemble in French theatres.

Her awards as a composer include Envie d’agir France (2009), Label Iddac à la Création (2009), and “Ambasciatrice di cultura nel mondo” (2012) for her Cantata for the Death of Falcone and Borsellino. Its Italian premiere took place at the Teatro Golden in Palermo in November 2012, in the presence of senior state officials, and was broadcast by Sky TV, Tele-Trinacria and TVM; the cultural award was presented by the town of Villabate. Emes Symphony, commissioned by the French government to commemorate victims of the Holocaust, was performed at the Théâtre Jean Vilar in Eysines. Its four concerts attracted more than 1,200 listeners, and the work received the Prix du Conseil Général de Gironde. Another French government commission, Messe pour la Paix, addresses genocides in Africa and combines choir, theatre and orchestra. She has recorded for Lux Classics and Da Vinci Classics.