Andrea Mura (Italy)

"I graduated in composition under the guidance of Maestro Mauro Cardi, and in conducting with honors under the guidance of Maestro Alessandro Pinzauti at the Luigi Cherubini conservatory in Florence in 2011.

I have suffered from birth with spastic quadriparesis, caused by a twin birth and all of my body movements are slow.

After I finished my studies, I had many doubts about orchestral conducting. Coping with quick tempi ... emphasising the dynamics in specific points ... and so on ...

One afternoon in 2012, a colleague of mine, Gisella Cosi, advised me to watch a video of Ilya Musin rehearsing Beethoven's first symphony.

I immediately started looking to see who could teach like Maestro Musin, and I found only one name: Ennio Nicotra.

Just in that spring of 2012, the Maestro held his first specialist course at the Bicocca University of Milan.

Since then I have been his pupil. Since I met Maestro Ennio Nicotra, all of my problems in dealing with quick tempi, or how to be able to bring a symphony to an end, have disappeared, and luckily the desire to study scores has been reborn in me, focusing also on the direction and evolution of phrases.

The method of conducting by Ilya Musin, which M Ennio Nicotra continues to spread, is based on the deep study of the score.

This method not only embraces orchestral conducting, shown through gestures, but includes all aspects of how to approach a score: "Compositional, musical analysis and reading the score"

After this detailed and analytical study of the musical text, Ennio Nicotra's method takes over.

The nice thing for me personally, is not only being able to beat time from the beginning to the end, but moreover, being able to draw out the phrasing with my own hands. Finding out that you can take a musical phrase, with all of its counterpoint, and lead it to where the next phrase begins.

Knowing how to listen to the orchestra by standing still and giving directions, even with a simple glance.

The beauty of feeling on your hand "how heavy the sound is" to be able to transmit it to the orchestra.

Since I got to know Ennio Nicotra's Method I am very active as a conductor, and I receive invitations from various orchestras.

In 2019 the "Constellation Orchestra" was born, of which I am the artistic director and chief director ".

Andrea Mura