Biography
The American Record Guide praised his Scarlatti as “The best Scarlatti I’ve heard on solo guitar”, and Classical Guitar Magazine wrote: “Superb recording from the prodigiously talented Mesirca”.
The 29 year-old guitarist Alberto Mesirca was born in Italy in 1984.
He completed his Bachelor and Master of Arts at the Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto, in the class of the eminent teacher Gianfranco Volpato, ending them with highest score, “Summa cum laude” and special honor mention. Further studies were made at the Music Academy of Kassel, in Germany, with Wolfgang Lendle. His Konzert-Examen was praised with highest Honors. He won for two times the “Golden Guitar”, for best recording in 2007 and as Best Upcoming Artist of the Year in 2009.
With the collaboration of Hopkinson Smith and Franco Pavan he published the previously unknown and unpublished compositions by Francesco Da Milano which appeared in the Castelfranco Veneto 1565 Lute Manuscript, distributed now by Orphee Editions. The re-discovery led Dusan Bogdanovic to write a composition for Alberto on a theme of Da Milano called “Tre Ricercari sulla Compagna”.
He was nominated in 2009 assistant of the Guitar Class at the Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto.
In hundreds of concerts he had the chance to work with excellent musicians such as Dimitri Ashkenazy, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Martin Rummel, Daniel Rowland, Domenico Nordio, Marco De Santi, Andras Adorjan, Peter and Jonas Giger, Mirko Satto, the Enesco, Ardeo and Acies string quartets, Quartetto d’Archi di Venezia, ChamberJam Europe and Ex Novo Ensemble.
The past two years have been characterized by an intensive period of performances, lectures and masterclasses which brought him at the Auckland University (New Zealand), at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention (Georgia, USA), at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), playing the national premiere of a composition of György Kurtàg, after the recent collaboration with the composer, and for the Stradivari Foundation, at the Silesian Guitar Autumn in Tychy (Poland) and the Festival Classique in The Hague, at the Beethoven Festival in Melbourne (Australia) among many others, as well as performances at the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatro Regio in Parma, Auditori Nacional in Valencia, Kunsthalle Wien, and for the Italian Insitutes of Culture of Paris, Oslo, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Barcelona.
In collaboration with Marc Ribot he recorded the complete guitar works of the Haitian composer Frantz Casséus; for this recording he is candidate for “Best Solo Performance” at the 2012 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.
In december 2011 Alberto was responsible of the digitalization and creation of the Musical Archive of the Beyazit Library in Istanbul, Turkey.
Alberto Mesirca has premiered a composition at the 2013 Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival composed for him by Leo Brouwer.
In 2013 his recording British Guitar Music, published by Paladino Music OG, has won the Golden Guitar for “Best Recording of the Year”.
Prizes
1st Prize: Wettbewerb “Peredur Preis Fuer Juenge Kuenstler” Louis Spohr Stiftung, 2008, KasselYoung Artist of the Year, International Guitar Festival of Aalborg, Denmark, 2008
Young Artist of the Year, Rising Star, Festival Gitarre Wien, Vienna, 2009
Premio Rotary Club, Giovani Talenti, Cittadella-Padova
Golden Guitar, Best Recording of the Year, “Ikonostas”,
Convegno Internazionale “Pittaluga” di Alessandria – International Guitar Meeting of Alessandria (WFIMC), 2007
Golden Guitar, Best Upcoming Artist of the Year,
Convegno Internazionale “Pittaluga” di Alessandria – International Guitar Meeting of Alessandria (WFIMC), 2009
“San Liberale” Prize for Artistic Achievements – publication of the Manuscript of Castelfranco Veneto, 2010
“Davide Zambon” Prize as best student of the Year, Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto
“Memorial Tullio Besa” Prize, Thiene, Italy 2012,
Scholarship for an Erasmus project at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, given by the Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto, 2009-2010
Golden Guitar, Best Recording of the Year, “British Guitar Music”, Convegno Internazionale “Pittaluga” di Alessandria – International Guitar Meeting of Alessandria (WFIMC), 2007
Premières
Preludio de las campanas, by Leo Brouwer, world premiere and recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca)
Feuille d’album, by Giulio Regondi, world premiere recording
Errimina, by Padre Donostia, world premiere performance and recording.
Ikonostas, by Angelo Gilardino, world premiere recording.
Strepitus Noctis, by Mario Pagotto, world premiere recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca).
Sefer Torah, by Gianmartino Durighello, world premiere recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca).
Serenade, by Graham Whettam, world premiere recording (with cellist Martin Rummel).
Guitar Partita, by Graham Whettam, world premiere recording.
Allemanda, by Ivan Fedele, world premiere recording (transcribed by Alberto Mesirca).
Ciaccona del Giglio, by Claudio Ambrosini, world premiere recording.
Priapo assiderato, by Claudio Ambrosini, world premiere recording.
Sonata per chitarra, by Carlo Boccadoro, world premiere recording.
Serenata per chitarra, by Laszlo Spezzaferri, world premiere performance.
Cantico di Gubbio – Sonatina per chitarra, by Angelo Gilardino, world premiere performance and recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca).
Concertino del Falco, for guitar and chamber orchestra, by Angelo Gilardino, world premiere recording.
20 Studi facili, by Angelo Gilardino, world premiere recording.
Sette preludi, by Angelo Gilardino, world premiere recording.
Malvarrosa, concerto for guitar and strings, by David Eres Brun, world premiere performance (dedicated to A. Mesirca).
De la llum, by David Eres Brun, world premiere performance.
Tre Ricercari sulla Compagna, by Dusan Bogdanovic, world premiere performance and recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca).
Aetna, by Giuseppe Torrisi, for bandoneon and guitar, world premiere performance and recording (dedicated to Mirko Satto and Alberto Mesirca).
Your Country doesn’t exist, by Karolina Eiriksdottir, for soprano, trumpet and guitar, world premiere performance and recording.
Compositions from the Manuscript N99, by Frantz Casséus, world premiere recording.
Spiral: Ein Klanggestalt, by Andreina Costantini, world premiere performance with Ex Novo Ensemble.
Tre invenzioni a due voci, by Livio Torresan, world premiere performance and recording (dedicated to A. Mesirca)
Studies
Bachelor of Music
year 2004, score: 10/10 e lode (1 mit Auszeichnung).
Conservatorio di Musica „Agostino Steffani“, Castelfranco Veneto.
Teacher: Gianfranco Volpato.
Master of Music
year 2008, score 110, lode e menzione speciale d’onore (1 mit Auszeichnung – Honour Mention). Conservatorio di Musica “Agostino Steffani”, Castelfranco Veneto.
Teacher: Gianfranco Volpato.
Konzert-Examen / Aufbaustudium in Guitar, Musikakademie Kassel
year 2007, score: 1 mit Auszeichnung.
Teacher: Wolfgang Lendle.
Masterclasses with Manuel Barrueco (Koblenz Guitar Festival)
Alirio Diaz, Alvaro Pierri, Craig Ogden, Dale Kavanagh, Jason Vieaux.
Collaborations
Institutions:
The National Library of Istanbul, web link
Museo Giorgione, web link
Artists:
Daniel Rowland, violin, web link
Domenico Nordio, violin, web link
Marc Ribot, guitarist, web link
Dimitri Ashkenazy, clarinet, web link
Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola, web link
Martin Rummel, cello, web link
Duo NIHZ, flute and guitar, web link
Mirko Satto, bandoneon, web link
Luis Lanzarini, saxophone, web link
Peter and Jonas Giger, drums, web link
Ardeo Quartet, string quartet, web link
Enesco Quartet, string quartet, web link
Quartetto d’Archi di Venezia, string quartet, web link
Ex Novo Ensemble, contemporary music formation, web link
ChamberJam Europe: Daniel Rowland, violin, Marcelo Nisinman, bandoneon, Natacha Kudritskaya, piano, Zoran Markovic, contrabbass, web link
Endorsements:
Giuseppe Guagliardo, guitar maker, web link