Ruggero Barbieri, music director beloved by Filipinos, passes away
MANILA, Philippines — The former Italian born music director of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) Maestro Ruggero Barbieri has passed away aged 60 after suffering a blood clot in his brain at his home in Bergamo on March 10, 2022. Maestro Barbieri’s distinguished eight year reign from 1996-2004 as the musical director and principal conductor of the PPO was regarded by him as his “golden years”.
As music director of the premier orchestra of the Philippine, he raised the PPO to new heights of musicianship. He was also instrumental in spearheading the first ever tour of the PPO to Europe in 2001 where its concerts in the music capital of Madrid, Spain and several cities in Spain like Gijon, Pontevedra, Santiago de Compostela, Burgos, Miranda de Ebro; Klagenfurt, Austria; and Prague, Czech Republic received critical acclaim.
After his term with the PPO ended, Maestro Barbieri returned to his hometown in Bergamo from where he ventured out as guest conductor with several orchestras in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, including Principal Conductor of the Bergamo Musica Festival Gaetano Donizetti Orchestra.
But one of his favourite assignments was returning to Manila every December since 2003 to conduct the PPO at the grand annual “Christmas Concert at the Pen” which was a highlight of the Holiday Season in the Philippines until the Pandemic intervened in 2020.
Filipino musicians were always close to his heart, as revealed when he was guest conductor of the Zambales based Pundaquit Virtusi - founded by famed violinist Coke Bolpita to give underprivileged kids a musical future - on its tour of Europe in 2019 sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines. In highlighting the Maestro’s “passion, kindness and generosity” Coke added that “the group owed you some of its most memorable moments.“ He lamented that having the Maestro as Resident Conductor in 2020 was “one of the opportunities robbed us by the pandemic”.
Maestro Barbieri honed his conducting skills under acclaimed European conductors like Aldo Ceccato, Franco Ferrara, Alceo Galliera, Mario Gusella and Julius Kalmar and gathering himself a tremendous wealth of symphonic and operatic experience. He studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatorio in Milano, Scuola Superiore di Musica in Pescara, Civico Istituto Musicale G. Donizetti in Bergamo and Konservatorium für Musik in Vienna.
His international career started in 1989 when he was chosen as one of the six Conducting Fellows from among a hundred international applicants to study under the legendary Leonard Bernstein at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. After having served as assistant conductor of Maestro Aldo Ceccato for Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España in Madrid from where he came to Manila to take up his post with the PPO.
Armed with his distinct invigorating passion, profundity and uncompromising sensitivity to details, Barbieri reaped intensive orchestral engagements in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Canada. Among others, he has conducted the following orchestras: Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Klagenfurt Symphony Orchestra, Paris Sinfonietta, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Radio Television Orchestra of Madrid, Haydn Symphony Orchestra in Bozen, Symphony Orchestra of Lugano, Pomeriggi Musicali Symphony Orchestra of Milan, National Symphony Orchestra of Argentina, Orchestra of the State of Mexico, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Ashdod Symphony Orchestra from Israel.
Maestro Barbieri has also recorded "REQUIEM" and "MISERERE" in d minor by G.Donizetti with the "Kicco Records Classic" label.
In recognition of his diffusion of Spanish music and culture all over the world, Barbieri was awarded the “Cruz de Isabel la Catolica” by His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain, the highest honour given to artists.
He is survived by his 21 year old son Piolo and two sisters Daniela and Frederica.
