Already from an early age on, Andrea Pestalozza was an assiduous and habitual frequenter to the most important Italian composers such as Berio, Nono, Donatoni, Sciarrino, and Bussotti and became a profound scholar of modern music.
After a period of time as a percussionist and a pianist he made his debut as a concert conductor when he conducted the Ensemble Orfeo, founded by himself, after which followed Berio’s invitation to conduct the Orchestre National de France in Paris.
In 1990 he met Kurtág for the first time and the meeting was to leave an indelible mark on his approach to interpreting. Having conducted Messages of the Late R.V. Troussova in Paris, with the Ensemble Itinéraire, he was invited by Kurtág to conduct the UMZE and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Budapest during a festival to honour his eightieth birthday.
He has conducted the most prestigious ensembles as Scharoun Ensemble of the Berliner Philharmoniker, MusikFabrik, Itineraire, Oslo Sinfonietta, Ensemble UnitedBerlin etc. in the prestigious institutions of Paris, Berlin (Festwochen, Konzerthaus), London, Milan (Teatro alla Scala, Orchestra RAI), Florence (Maggio Musicale), Venice (Teatro la Fenice), Brandenburger Symphoniker, etc.
During the festival Milano Musica 2009 he presented Toshio Hosokawa’s masterpiece Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI and the Hiroshima chorus, in 2010 Cassandra by Jarrell with the Sharoun Ensemble and Fanny Ardent and in 2011 Concertini by Helmut Lachenmann with the Orchestra Verdi of Milan.
He had his debut at the Salzburger Biennale in 2011 with the OENM, Oesterreichischer Ensemble fur Neue Musik, in 2012 he conducted the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berliner Philarmoniker at La Scala in Milan and in 2013 he conducted the Musik Fabrik Ensemble in Stuttgart.
He has also had a principle role in the organizing of musical events and was artistic director of Milano Musica.
He has worked with eminent musicians including Cathy Berberian, Sara Mingardo, Luisa Castellani, Renaud Capucon, Luigi Gaggero, and conducted in the presence of Nono, Donatoni, Berio, Kurtág, Hosokawa, Dufourt, Lachenmann, Seither compositions of theirs.
He has recorded CD’s of piano compositions by Janacek and Marij Kogoj (Dynamic), …quasi una fantasia… for piano and orchestra by Kurtág conducted by Zoltan Pesko (Ricordi) and Vanitas by Salvatore Sciarrino (Ricordi).
Recently a CD (Stradivarius) has been published dedicated to Hosokawa with the Saarbruecken Radio Orchestra and a DVD of the opera Mr. Me by Luca Mosca performed for the very first time in Venice.
He studied the piano with Martha Del Vecchio, orchestral conducting with Piero Bellugi, percussion playing with Franco Campioni and David Searcy and composition with Salvatore Sciarrino.
Visit the website