Stefano Corradi

Stefano Corradi was born in Milan in 1964. He studied clarinet with Primo Borali at Milan’s Civica Scuola di Musica, graduated from the Conservatorio in Piacenza and obtained an advanced diploma at the Accademia Lorenzo Perosi in Biella with Antony Pay. He furthered his study of historical instruments and Classical and pre-Classical performance practice in Basel with Pierre-André Taillard.

A first-prize winner in competitions in Italy and abroad, including Città di Stresa, he has performed as a soloist with classical and chamber orchestras and in folk, klezmer and jazz ensembles, playing modern and historical instruments. He has served as principal clarinet of the Orchestra Nuova Cameristica di Milano and appeared at international early-music festivals.

From 2000 to 2006 he worked with Moni Ovadia’s Stage Orchestra in productions including Il violinista sul tetto, L’armata a cavallo, Es Iz Amerike and Kavanàh, touring major Italian theatres. From 2003 to 2012 he was a co-founder and performer with the multiethnic Orchestra di Via Padova.

In 2012 he released Milano, ritagli di tempo, a quartet project devoted to his own compositions. In 2013 he presented his children’s musical work Pierino e il Bruco at the Sala Verdi of the Milan Conservatorio, as composer and conductor, with Claudio Bisio as narrator.

His projects include MyOwnGrooveProj, combining solo wind instruments and live electronics in music ranging from dreamlike to urban sound worlds, often accompanying short films or historical cinema; Wind & Harp, with harpist Dora Scapolatempore and electronics; the klezmer trio XILO Ensemble, with Giampiero Marazza on accordion and Luca Garlaschelli on double bass, which recorded A Paris for Tranquilo; and the multidisciplinary free-improvisation group Sfere-v, with pianist Mell Morcone, dancer Silvia Alfei and painter Sarhtori. He has also performed in Mitoki Trio with Donat Munsila and Pegas Ekamba.

The Stefano Corradi Matheric Quartet brings together Corradi, harpist Dora Scapolatempore, bassist Luca Garlaschelli and drummer and percussionist Tiziano Tononi. Its programme of original compositions inspired by Don Quixote appeared in 2016 and was subsequently issued by Da Vinci Jazz in 2018.

Corradi has collaborated with Stefano Barzan on projects combining wind instruments, electronics and Barzan’s arrangements, and with Milanese poet Vincenzo Costantino Cinaski from 2015. Alongside concerts and recordings, he works in education and leads business-development and team-building activities in which music serves as both a practical tool and a metaphor for organisation and teamwork.