Giovanni Battista Mazza trained at the ‘Giuseppe Verdi’ Conservatory in
Milan: organ, piano, composition and conducting.
Today, he is mainly a conductor and organist, but has always chosen to
experience music in its various possible expressions.
By doing so: conducting orchestras and ensembles (with an activity that has reached the United States, Latin America and throughout Europe) but also as a performer on the organ, his instrument of choice.
Building up opportunities: in Milan he is founder and conductor of the Orchestra
Paul Harris Youth Orchestra, while in Sondrio, his home town, for many years he has been one of the main soul of the musical organisation (director of the Circolo Musicale, involved in the restoration and reopening of the Teatro Sociale).
Finally, discovering and studying it: he is responsible for the rediscovery, after one hundred years, of unpublished and unperformed pieces by Ottorino Respighi, and more generally devotes particular interest in the little-known Italian symphonic repertoire (he conducted in Milan Cathedral the Concerto op. 100 for organ and orchestra by Marco Enrico Bossi, which had not been performed in this city for fifty years).
Among the institutions that have hosted him as a conductor in Italy are the Arena di Verona, the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, the Pomeriggi Musicali, the Orchestra Milano Classica, the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, I Solisti Aquilani.
He has made recordings for various radio and television stations and is present in the recording field with recordings dedicated to Bach and the Italian 20th century.
In both capacities of conductor and organist, Giovanni Battista Mazza (a composition pupil of Niccolò Castiglioni) devotes particular attention to today’s music: among other things, he was the recipient of world premieres by Paolo Castaldi, Carlo Galante, Marco Molteni and Arvo Pärt.
The operatic repertoire also includes titles such as Bohème (his debut opera), Così fan tutte, L’Elisir d’amore, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Cavalleria rusticana, includes contemporary works such as Ulisse innamorato by Giovanni D’Aquila and Sebastiano Cognolato, conducted at the Arena in Verona.
Recently published are his transcriptions for orchestra of early 20th century piano pieces by Milanese composer Aldo Finzi and Puccini’s Salve Regina,as well as his transcription for organ (published by Universal) of Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt.
He teaches organ and organ composition at the Conservatorio ‘Giuseppe
Verdi’ in Milan and gives lectures and masterclasses at Berry College University of Georgia (USA).
Giovanni Battista Mazza believes in the spiritual value of making music, a moment of knowledge and a luminous instrument of research and sharing.