History
In 1974, Maestro Giovanni Piol, who at the time was directing a men’s choir in Pordenone called the Corale Cittadino, in a search for a broader and more varied polyphonic repertory, founded the mixed choir Coro Polifonico “Città di Pordenone”.
The group began immediately the study and performance of works by a wide gamut of composers: from Palestrina, di Lasso, da Victoria, Monteverdi, Schϋtz, Croce, Gallus, Gastoldi, Vecchi, Azzaiolo, Scarlatti, to 20th century composers.
As more choristers entered the choir, it became possible to expand the repertory, and to study works from the Baroque and the Romantic periods. Without abandoning earlier composers, the Coro Polifonico began to focus on religious music of the 19th and 20th centuries, performing both a cappella and with accompaniment, pieces by Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Kodaly.
Maestro Piol, who directed the Coro until 1996, often chose contemporary musicians who at that time were not very well-known to the Italian public, but whose music was received with enthusiasm. Works by Britten and Elgar, Baumann, Copland and Thompson, Grieg and Olsson, Hovland, Sibelius, Nees, Sisask, Ghedini, Rota, Durighello, Macchi, Lanaro.
During its more than thirty-year lifespan, the Coro has performed throughout Italy and Europe, receiving several distinguished awards.
Since 1962 the Coro has participated eight times in the international choral festival Europa Cantat, which takes place every three years in various European cities, working under the direction of well-known choral directors and sharing the experience with other choirs.
At home in Pordenone, the group has joined with other choirs to perform larger works; several Bach motets, Orff’s Carmina Burna, Britten’s St. Nicholas, Mozart’s Requiem, with conductors of international fame, such as Laszlo Heltay and Karol Borsuk.
Maestro Mario Scaramucci took over as conductor of the Coro Polifonico “Città di Pordenone” in 1996. Under his direction, the choir has continued to broaden its musical horizons, re-discovering composers important to the development of choral music, and further enrichening its repertory with Gregorian chant, works of medieval music, and regional, European and international folk music.
Mario Scaramucci, born in 1964, became the Director of the Coro Polifonico “Città di Pordenone” in 1996.
Currently he teaches Musical Theory and Solfeggio at the “Agostino Steffani” Conservatory in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy.
A student of Maestro Piol, he entered the choir when he was in his early teens, and in 1984 he began to accompany the choir and to act as Assistant Director.
Maestro Scaramucci received his diploma from the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, Italy, where he studied Organ and Organ composition, in Choral music and Choral conducting, and specialized in Harpsichord. He studied under Elsa Bolzonello Zoia and Sergio de Pieri. Later he attended master classes under W. Van de Pol (Organ composition), Annaberta Conti (harpsichord), Ireneusz Lukaszewski (Choral conducting), Jürgen Jürgens (Choral conducting), H. Vogel (Organ), H. Davidsson (Organ), B. Baroffio and N. Albarosa (Gregorian chant).
He has performed widely throughout Italy and abroad, in over eight hundred concerts, as soloist, in chamber groups and orchestras, and as choral and orchestra conductor. In 2008, several concerts were dedicated to his religious and secular compositions, for choir and organ.
He is interested in the performance of harpsichord and organ music from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
He is the director of Coro Polifonico “Città di Pordenone”, of the women’s choir “Primo Vere” in Porcia, Italy, of a children’s choir, Piccoli Cantori “Vittorino da Feltre” in Sacile, Italy, and he is the accompanying pianist of “Chancel Choir” on the US airforce base in Aviano.