Matteo Messori (Bologna - Venezia)

Cembalo, historical Organ, Clavichord, Partimento and Basso Continuo

Matteo Messori is today recognized as one of the most important Italian organists, harpsichordists and early music conductors.

In November 2011, the German magazine Fono Forum found his complete recording of Bach's late works to be a “statement with which the still young Italian harpsichordist and organist has placed himself in the top league of international Bach interpreters.”

Matteo Messori was born on April 23, 1976 in Bologna, where he first studied Piano (until 1990 under Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's student, Franca Fogli), then Organ and counterpoint (diploma with honors) and Musicology. He then studied Harpsichord and historical keyboard instruments in Sergio Vartolo's class at the Mantua and Venice Conservatories, and completed these studies with honors. In 1998 he won first prize at the National harpsichord competition “G. Gambi” in Pesaro and received further awards for his musical activities.

He has been active for many years as a soloist on the organ and harpsichord, as well as a conductor and member of early music ensembles and symphonic orchestras, in Italy, Europe and America. In 2011 he worked as a Harpsichordist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Harding at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In 2023 he was Maestro al Cembalo with the world-famous ensemble “Il Giardino Armonico” under the direction of Giovanni Antonini in the opera production “Orlando Paladino” by Franz Joseph Haydn at the Teatro Real in Madrid and Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. Important recognitions of his work were the invitation to a solo organ recital at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig (2004) and as a conductor and organ soloist at the Philharmonic Sall in Saint Petersburg (2011 and 2012).

In order to deepen the musical relationships between the “Bel Paese” and music from beyond the Alps, from the 16th to 18th centuries, Messori founded the ensemble “Cappella Augustana” and recorded sacred music from Vincenzo Albrici (1631 – 1690/91), Kapellmeister in Dresden and organist in the Thomaskirche, for the Swedish label Musica Rediviva. Matteo Messori has conducted his ensemble in the 19 CDs of the Heinrich Schütz Edition with the most important works of the German composer. The CD-box with his recording of the third part of Johann Sebastian Bach's Clavierübung, on three historic Bach organs in central Germany, was awarded “5 de Diapason” by the French magazine Diapason in March 2008 and the German magazine Fono Forum in November 2011 recommended it as a “tip”. On the harpsichord, also with the ensemble “Cappella Augustana”, he recorded the Art of the Fugue, Musical Offering and the Canonic variations on “Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her”, BWV 769 ( Trost Organ in Waltershausen, 1724). This work was also recommended by the magazines Fono Forum and Der Freitag. In 2011 he recorded the Schübler Chorales and the Leipzig Preludes and Fugues pedaliter on two historical Central German organs from the Bach era. In 2011 he recorded the complete keyboard works of Luzzasco Luzzaschi, Frescobaldi’s master, for the first time (CD of the month, March 2015, by Musicweb-international). In 2012 he recorded the complete works of Johann Caspar Kerll for harpsichord and organ, as well as Bach's Inventions and Symphonies for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on the clavichord (in post-production). In 2015 he worked as a harpsichordist, composer and baroque orchestral arranger for the CD recording “Love” (Sony Classics) with the soprano Simone Kermes and “La Magnifica Comunità”.

As a conductor, Messori worked with the Chamber Orchestra of the Republic of Belarus at the Minsk Philharmonic and in more occasions with Capella Cracoviensis. He directed the first staged performance of Handel's Roman oratorio “La Bellezza ravveduta” in Italy, a production of the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana in Rimini, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at the Kraków Philharmonic, Bach’s motets (Bologna Festival, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Società Aquilana dei Concerti Baratelli), the Weihnachtshistorie by Schütz in France, concerts and cantatas by Bach at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and in Spain, as well as sacred works by Mozart and Haydn (International Bach Festival Schweidnitz).

Extremely active in the field of Bach research and interpretation, Messori published musicological, organological and performance practice articles, chapters and studies (MGG online – Baerenreiter, Bach-Jahrbuch, Schütz Jahrbuch, Enciclopedia Treccani, Fonti Musicali Italiane, La Gazzetta – Rossini Deutsche Gesellschaft). He also prepared the critical editions of the keyboard music and partimentos (Anonymous Canzonas, Vincenzo Antonio Petrali, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Andrea Basili)

From 2002 to 2014, Messori held a professorship for Organ and historical composition, harpsichord, clavichord and basso continuo at the Music Conservatory (Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali) “G. Donizetti” in Bergamo. Since October 2014 he has been Organ professor and professor of Historical chamber music at the Music Conservatory “N. Paganini” in Genoa, while working also as Harpsichord professor in Bergamo. In November 2022 he has been appointed professor of Organ and organ composition (historical counterpoint, partimento) at the Music Conservatory “B. Marcello” in Venice and since 2023 he teaches Harpsichord and Historical keyboard Instruments at the Music Conservatory of Reggio Emilia and Castelnovo ne’ Monti.

He worked also as a Visiting professor at the Vienna Music University and at the Music Academy in Poznan. As a composer, he has written and published works for keyboard instruments, choir, songs and chamber music (Da Vinci Edition, Osaka). He leads master classes and interpretation courses in various countries, and as an interpreter he is intensively involved in historical partimento and composition practice.