Mingle - Multidisciplinary Integrated Global Learning Experience

The Sounds of Music Professor Pietro Billi

FUA music professor Pietro Billi teaches courses on Italian opera and piano, seeking to communicate a deep passion for music to his students. He began to play piano at the local music academy in his home town of San Giovanni Valdarno at the age of 15 and his successive professional experiences have brought him back to the same academy as an instructor. He earned his degree in Orchestral Conducting from the L. Cherubini Conservatory in Florence and went on to attend several Master classes in Conducting in Italy, Austria, and Spain with important figures such as Piero Bellugi, Alessandro Pinzauti, Mark Stringer, George Pehlivanian, and Lior Shambadal. He has conducted and played at public concerts featuring the repertoire of great musicians including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, and Puccini; his chamber music expertise often pairs his playing with singers for works that range from opera to the Lieder.

Professor Billi will conclude 2010 with a soprano concert on December 22nd in Montevarchi, Arezzo, with music by Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, and Massenet. He is currently collaborating with the Conservatory of Florence on a production of Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." In 2011 he will conduct Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" in Bologna.