Paolo Fazioli

Paolo Fazioli (* 1944 in Rome ) is an Italian pianist , engineer and founder of the piano manufacturing company named after him, Fazioli , which produces high-quality concert grand pianos .

Life

Fazioli was born in Rome in 1944 to a family of furniture manufacturers. At a very young age he showed a talent for music and a great interest in the piano. As a result, he began taking piano lessons and studying piano during his high school and university years. At the same time he developed a keen interest in the art of piano making, expanding his knowledge by visiting manufacturing and restoration workshops, and reading the relevant literature on the subject. In 1969 he graduated from La Sapienza University with a degree in mechanical engineering and in 1971 he received a degree in piano from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica “Gioachino Rossini” in Pesaro under the direction of Maestro Sergio Cafaro. At the same time he obtained his master's degree in musical composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he studied with the composer Boris Porena. In the meantime, his older brothers took over the family company, which now manufactured office furniture, and exported it worldwide under the MIM ( M obili I taliani M oderni) brand . The factory in Turin specialized in the manufacture of metal furniture, while the factory in Sacile made wooden furniture from rare and exotic woods such as teak , mahogany and rosewood .

Fazioli joined the company after graduating, initially honing his management skills as Head of Production Planning in Rome and later at the Turin plant, while at the same time expanding his woodworking expertise . But he soon left the family business to pursue his dream of designing and building new pianos . At first he devoted himself largely to contemporary grand piano production, analyzed its structure and playing style, and consulted with experts in this branch. His family, and especially his eldest brother Virgilio, who was an expert in wood technology, gave him the necessary support for research, development and production. In this first phase, Paolo Fazioli defined the outline of the plan he wanted to build. He believed that through a series of design changes based on the latest research in acoustics and materials development , he would be able to create an innovative and extraordinary instrument.

Career

Towards the end of the 1970s, Fazioli finally decided to found a new company with his expertise in traditional piano construction, coupled with his research, experience and creativity. The piano manufacturer Fazioli was founded within the furniture factory in Sacile, about 40 miles north of Venice . This choice of location met a number of organizational and production requirements: materials were in the immediate vicinity, as were research and analysis laboratories, and above all specialized craftsmen . In 1979 he began designing his first prototype for a baby grand piano . The company initially consisted of Fazioli himself, Pietro Righini , an expert in musical acoustics, Guglielmo Giordano , an outstanding wood technologist, and his brother Virgilio and Lino Tiveron . The prototype of the model F183 (length: 183cm) was completed in June 1980, at the end of the year the prototypes of two other models followed, the F156 (length: 156cm) and the F278 (length: 278cm).

In January 1981, Fazioli was officially founded. The prototypes of the models F183, F156 and F278 were presented to the press and the specialist public. In addition to Professors Giordano and Righini, the renowned musicologist Piero Rattalino also took part in the press conference . In February 1981 the same instruments were exhibited at the Frankfurt Musikmesse , where the presence of an Italian piano maker caused a sensation. In the second half of the same year, work began on the prototype of the F228 model (length: 228cm). In the meantime, the pianist Nikita Magalof accepted an invitation to tour the factory in Sacile and later performed successfully with an F278 concert grand.

Web links

• Fazioli's website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fazioli: Company profile (s). March 23, 2017, accessed May 14, 2020 .