Maurizio Balsano

Maurizio Balsano
He studied as a self-taught musician guitar technique and the discipline of composition.

The immanent Sicilian cultural root fed his early works, which took form through adaptations of traditional folk music of his homeland. Sciccareddu, Aria for flute and guitar and Vitalora formed the Artist’s first anthology, whose harmonies served as a musical guide for the critical edition of La pastorale di Fra’ Fedele Tirrito, edited by Marcello La Matina and Andrea Garbuglia. The Artist’s research on the melodies and the rhythmic patterns of the Corpus of Sicilian Folk Music by Maestro Alberto Favara fits into the same compositional path, where he found the fundamental elements for the harmonic reworking of ancient Sicilian dances and lullabies.
The teachings of the distinguished Maestro Alirio Díaz inspired a pluralistic breath to the folk background of the Artist’s early compositions, steering his creative activity toward the study of musical styles which are expressed in the harmonic relation between song and dance. The work presented in this Edition springs from the traces of this artistic insight.
The essence of the idea behind Canzoni e danze also inspires currently unpublished works, that combine the original expressive roots with an interest in new instrumental models. In this direction, the refinement and expansion of the solo guitar corpus go hand in hand with creative experiences for ensemble and orchestra, broadening the compositional scope to include the form of the suite, the mass and the concerto.
The Artist’s poetics are also defined by the cultural blending between music, literature and visual arts. Like his most recent compositions for solo flute, the collection of ten Canti for piano and string quartet and the Acquerelli for piano and flute all translate into harmonic language the emotion evoked by novels, poems and paintings most cherished by his creative sensibility.