About Me
Born in Zavia (Libya), Maurizio Colacicchi has established a long career as accompanying pianist and voice coach of renowned opera singers both in Italy and abroad.
He studied piano in Zagreb (Croatia) and in Rome, obtaining a diploma in piano at Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia. Since then, he has never stopped studying and refining his skills with assiduity and passion, which allowed him to attend courses in Musicology at the Faculty of Modern Literatures (“Sapienza” University of Rome) and later earned him a Diploma of Associate Fellow in Vocal Chamber Music at the National College of Music and Arts in London and allowed. Travelling the world with his family first and as a professional pianist later has helped Colacicchi improve his knowledge of foreign languages, in particular Spanish, French, English, Japanese, and Croatian.
He has featured in prominent Italian concert Societies and opera festivals (Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago and Luglio Musicale Trapanese, among others) and his performing life has taken him across the world (in fact, he has worked in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Russia, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay, Chile and Australia) and to prestigious international theatres and concert venues, namely: Teatro Regio (Parma), Teatro Bibiena (Mantova), and Teatro Valle (Rome), Hamburg Musikhalle, the Royal Cultural Centre (Amman), the Bunka Kaikan, Bunka Center, Suntory Hall, and Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Sejiong Theatre (Seoul), the Jameos del Agua Auditorium (Lanzarote), Osaka Simphony Hall, Hong Kong City Hall, Teatro Leal in Tenerife, the Théâtre Municipal de Tunis, the Palais de la Culture (Algiers),the Al-Assad Theatre in Damascus, the Slovenska Filharmonija (Ljubljana), the KL&Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur, among many others.
During his long career, Colacicchi has been in close contact with world-renowned artists, establishing lifelong friendships as well as professional collaborations.
Some of the names that have crossed his path so far are worth mentioning: Piero Cappuccilli, Ghena Dimitrova, Mariella Devia, Katia Ricciarelli, Renato Francesconi, Veriano Luchetti, Giuseppe Giacomini, Daniela Dessi, Michela Sburlati, Maria Chiara, Bruna Baglioni, Roberto Scandiuzzi, Lando Bartolini, Flaviano Labò, Fiorenza Cossotto, Ivo Vinco, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Mariano Buccino, Pietro Ballo, Sylvie Valayre, Vladimir Chernov, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Lucia Lui, Kim Young Mi, Miwako Matsumoto, Yasuko Hayashi, Cecilia Yap, Ivàn Ayòn Rivas and Maria Pia Piscitelli.
Colacicchi expertise has also gained him renown on a wider level; thus, he has held the position of Artistic Director at several international academies, festivals and competitions, among which the Accademia Prenestina del Cimento (Palestrina, Italy), the Opera Festival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), “Primo Concorso Internazionale per Voci Liriche G. L. Volpi” (Latina, Italy, 1987).
He also occupied the same position at opera vocational training courses in Viterbo (1997-1999), Verona (2000), and Pineda de Mar (Spain, 2003), starring renowned opera singers (R. Bruson, P. Cappuccilli, G. Dimitrova, M. Chiara, L. Alva, O. Stapp, G. Tucci, G. Taddei, R. Panerai, among others). The programmes included the preparation and the performance of several celebrated operas (La traviata, Elisir d’amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Boheme, Suor Angelica, Don Giovanni).
In addition, as Artistic Director of Kume School in Chiba (Japan), Colacicchi also produced Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel in collaboration with the Japan Arts Fund at the Bunka Kaikan Theatre.
While his career as a performer mainly touches on Italian and Spanish vocal chamber music, Colacicchi has always cultivated his interest in opera repertoire, which he is also very keen on teaching.
A committed educator who enjoys helping singers use their voice effectively and a staunch believer in the importance of using the Italian language correctly in opera singing, Maestro Colacicchi has established himself both as a vocal coach and a piano professor in the academy, operating at several Conservatories of Music throughout Italy (Latina, Perugia, Frosinone, L’Aquila, Cosenza)
Since 1985 he has held regular courses in Italian vocal chamber music at the Accademia Lirica of Osimo, the Tokyo Hondai, the National University of Fine Arts & Music of Tokyo, the Showa Academia of Tokyo, the Mibe School of Sapporo, the University of Ankara, the International Course of Vocal and Lyrical Art of Santa Margherita Ligure, the Sejong University of Seoul, the Elisabeth University of Hiroshima, the Korean National Institude of Arts (Music School) of Seoul, the Columbus Center of Toronto, the Conservatorio Nacional de Music of Lima and Trujillo, Bellas Artes of La Plata, the Kume School of Chiba, Opera Introduction Course in Pineda de Mar (Barcelona), Conservatorio Superior de Musica Liceu of Barcelona, the Musikhochschule of Hamburg, the Higher Institute of Music of Tunis, the Queensland Conservatorium of Brisbane, the National University of Music of Taipei, the Higher Institute of Music of Algiers, the Lyric Academy of Kyoto, the “Rimskij – Korsakov” State Conservatory of St. Petersburg, the Music University of Ljubljana, the Segi University of Kuala Lumpur, Soloists of the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, the Teatro Bellas Artes of Mexico City, the Bellas Artes University of Panama, the Teatro Mozart of San Josè of Costa Rica, Seoul National University College of Music , the Universidad UNAM and the S.I.V.A.M of Mexico City, in August 2023 held three courses in South America, one at the Academia del SODRE in Montevideo, a course in Buenos Aires, at the Centro Cultural Masciadro and, lastly, a Course in Santiago de Chile at the Hurtado University.
So far, Colacicchi has held Master Classes on Italian “bel canto”, on Italian and Spanish vocal chamber music and on Spanish Zarzuela (including, baroque Zarzuela) both in Italy and abroad; his course on Spanish Zarzuela at the Accademia del Teatro del Maggio musicale fiorentino in Florence is worth mentioning.
Colacicchi’s performances have been broadcasted by the three RAI channels, RAI International, and by other Italian and foreign radio and television networks.
The international scope of Colacicchi’s career is also testified by his collaboration with several record labels based especially in the Far East. Thus, he contributed to important music collections, such as The Art of the Italian Vocal Chamber Music, an anthology of Italian vocal chamber music from the 16th to the 20th centuries for South Corean label Synnara Music (1998-99), Vincenzo Bellini, Composizioni da Camera (1995) and Riccardo Zandonai, Liriche da Camera (2002), both for the Japanese label Victor. Recordings of live concerts and vocal recitals are available on DVD, namely: a live vocal recital with baritone Piero Cappuccilli (Tokyo, 1989), a live vocal recital with soprano Mariella Devia (Tokyo, 1991), a live vocal recital with tenor Giuseppe Giacomini (Seoul, 1992), a live vocal recital with soprano Cecilia Yap (Kuala Lumpur, 2012) and a live vocal recital with soprano Maria Pia Piscitelli (Teatro “La Fenice”, “Sale Apollinee”, Venice, 2021). Live vocal recital with soprano Maria Pia Piscitelli (Teatro del Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid – 20 Giugno 2022), with soprano Emanuela Barazia (TNUA Concert Hall in Taipei and “Balai Resital Kertanegara Hall in Jakarta – november 2022) and with mezzosoprano Hiroyo Murabayashi and with soprano Meguri Hiro (Bunka Center in Ise, Japan).
Finally, over the past three decades, Colacicchi has collaborated to the publication of collections of chamber pieces from the repertoire of Italian Romanticism and the early 20th century for Japanese publishing houses.
In 2023, in June, he held a Vocal Recital with soprano Maria Castillo de Lima in Monterrey, New Leon in Mexico and, in August, he performed at the Teatro Sala Verdi in Montevideo, at the Centro Cultural Masciadro in Buenos Aires, and at the Hurtado University of Santiago of Chile. In December he played, with soprano Michela Sburlati, in Sofia at the “Galleria di Arte Civica”.
GIOVANNI MONTANARI – Artists Management.
