Riccardo M Sahiti
Riccardo M Sahiti (* 1961 in the former Yugoslavia) is a Roma conductor . He is the founder and director of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic.
Life
Youth, training and first job
Riccardo M Sahiti grew up in Kosovska Mitrovica in what was then Yugoslavia . When he was young, his parents gave him a piano, which enabled their son to prepare for a music degree. In 1981 he began studying music education and conducting, both at the Faculty of Music Art in Belgrade with conductor, composer and pianist Prof. Stanko Sepic. He completed both courses with a diploma. He deepened this training phase with the support of a scholarship by conducting opera symphonies at the "PI Tchaikovsky" Conservatory in Moscow with Prof. Juri Ivanovich Simonov . As a result of the tragic events of the Yugoslav Wars, Sahiti came to Frankfurt am Main after completing his studies in Moscow , where he still lives today and works as a freelance conductor and music teacher. There he also studied as a guest auditor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts in the conducting class of Prof. Jiří Stárek . He also attended master classes with Prof. Jorma Panula and Péter Eötvös . He gained further conducting experience with orchestras such as the Belgrade Philharmonic , the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice , the Beograd Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of Szombathely , Hungary .
During the 1998/1999 war in Kosovo , his family lost their personal belongings and was threatened. The events of the war had a lasting impact on his desire to spread a message that unites people with the help of music.
Foundation and management of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic
Riccardo M Sahiti has been artistic director and conductor of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic since 2002. A year earlier he had founded the Philharmonic Association of Sinti and Roma Frankfurt am Main eV, of which he is chairman and artistic director to this day. The Roma and Sinti Philharmonic are part of the Philharmonic Association of the Sinti and Roma. In 2016, Riccardo M Sahiti received the Federal Cross of Merit from the then Federal President Joachim Gauck for his work with the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic. The city of Frankfurt am Main honored Sahiti in 2017 as an "Outstanding Personality with a Migration Background".
The Roma and Sinti Philharmonic consists of professional musicians of Roma and Sinto origins who are engaged in various opera and symphony orchestras in Europe. On November 3, 2002, the "Roma and Sinti Philharmonic" performed in the Clara Schumann Hall of Dr. Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main held their founding concert together with the famous Roma violinist Roby Lakatos and his ensemble.
The orchestra gained international recognition 10 years later with the performance of the "Requiem for Auschwitz", directed by Sahiti, which the Swiss Sinto Roger Moreno-Rathgeb had composed from 1998–2009. The huge funeral mass with choir, four soloists, organ and orchestra was premiered on May 3, 2012 in the Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam . Further performances followed in the Rudolfinum in Prague , in the Palace of Arts Budapest , in the Berlin Philharmonie , in the Alte Oper Frankfurt , in the Paulskirche Frankfurt, in the State Theater Wiesbaden , in the Frauenkirche Dresden , in the Berlin Cathedral and in the Jagiellonian University in Krakow . On August 2, 2019, the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic orchestrated the international memorial service in memory of the genocide 75 years ago at the memorial of the murdered Sinti and Roma in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp .
The Documentation and Culture Center as well as the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg are loyal and closely connected to the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic, cooperate with them and support their work to the best of their ability. Romani Rose , Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, is one of the orchestra's main supporters. The musicians also received significant funding from public authorities such as the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the EU, the Foreign Office and the Hessian state government. The Philharmonic is also institutionally funded by the City of Frankfurt am Main and the State of Hesse. Nevertheless, the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra are still dependent on supporters and sponsors for their large-scale orchestral projects.
The cultural broadcasters arte / rbb dedicated a 52-minute television documentary to Riccardo M Sahiti and the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra with the title "A conductor and his dream - the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic Orchestra". Filmmaker Margarete Kreuzer is the author and director of the documentary .
Source and web links
- Website of the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic: www.rsphil.com
- Ronny Blaschke: Music against clichés , in Süddeutsche Zeitung, November 27, 2012 [1]
Individual evidence
- ↑ Conductor Riccardo M Sahiti awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany , on Zentralrat.sintiundroma.de, accessed on April 17, 2020
- ↑ Riccardo Sahiti: The Fighter , Frankfurter Neue Presse, accessed on April 17, 2020
- ↑ Welcome to the Roma and Sinti Philharmonic! , at rsphil.com, accessed April 17, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sahiti, Riccardo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sahiti, Riccardo M (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Roma-born conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1961 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | near Pristina , Kosovo |