Music at Third: Carlo Aonzo, “The Timeless Voice of the Mandolin”
Join us for an unforgettable evening of music from one of the world’s premiere Mandolin performers, as Music at Third presents: Carlo Aonzo, “The Timeless Voice of the Mandolin” on Thursday, June 4th, at 7:30 pm!
Carlo Aonzo is one of the world’s great mandolin virtuosos, and is coming to Third Church for an extremely-rare Pittsburgh performance!
About Carlo Aonzo:
Carlo Aonzo, worldwide known Italian mandolin performer, former teacher at the Conservatories of Music in Bari and Ferrara (Italy), was born and grew up in Savona where he started playing under his father’s guidance in the “Circolo Mandolinistico G. Verdi”.
Graduating with honors from the Conservatory in Padua, he has played for several prestigious institutions like the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Regio Theatre in Turin, the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa, the Verdi Theatre in Trieste, the Antonio Vivaldi Orchestra of Sondrio, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra (USA), the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal (Canada), the Philharmonia of San Petersburg (Russia), the Minsk Chamber Soloist (Belarus), Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany).
Among his several awards are the first prize at the Concorso Internazionale “Pitzianti” in Venice including the “Vivaldi” special mention, and first prize at the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Contest in Winfield Kansas.
Carlo’s deep interest in outreach activities focused on his instrument is witnessed by his countless collaborations with mandolin orchestras around the world, namely New York, Seattle, Portland, Providence, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Denver, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Montreal, Milan, Genoa, Turin, Udine, Lugano, Kochi, Nagoya, Osaka, Sendai, Wuppertal, Berlin, London, San Petersburg, Saigon.
He is often invited as musical director and visiting faculty by the most important international mandolin institutions namely CMSA (Classical Mandolin Society of America), FAME (Federation of Australasian Mandolin Ensemble), EGMA (European Guitar and Mandolin Association) and called to judge in international music contests: Saigon Guitar Festival (Vietnam), Osaka Mandolin Competition (Japan), Yasuo-Kuwahara Competition Schweinfurt (Germany), Concorso Internazionale per Mandolino Solo in Modena (Italy).
He teaches seminars and workshops worldwide; since 2000 he has been leading the annual Carlo Aonzo Mandolin Workshop in New York, Milwaukee and Nashville and in 2006 he founded the International Italian Mandolin Accademia (www.accademiamandolino.com). that he is still successfully directing and constantly expanding with new activities and camps. Since 2019 he is artistic director of “Cremona Mandolini in Mostra” at Cremona Musica Exhibitions & Festival, and since 2023 of the International Mandolin Festival of Savona.
As a researcher, he has been working on the history of his instrument, collaborated with the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and recently published a monograph on Pietro Vimercati in the Quaderni of the Philharmonic Society of Trento. Furthermore he has given presentations on the iconography of the mandolin, in renowned institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum and St. John’s University in New York, Dartmouth College, Boston University, New England Conservatory, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Vanderbilt College of Nashville, Vancouver Italian Cultural Centre, Italian Cultural Centre Minneapolis/St. Paul and National Instrument Museum in Rome.
In 2020 he invents and produces the series “L’Italia dei 1000 Mandolini”, short documentaries on the mandolin and its fascinating world, a project which attracts great interest from Australia to USA, from Japan to France, from Ireland to Malta.
He often appears in national Radio and TV programs in Italy and abroad, in the last few years he has toured Japan, USA, Panama, Australia, India, Switzerland, France, Norway and Germany collaborating on several occasions with the local Italian Consular Offices and Cultural Institutes and performing in such prestigious venues as the Carnegie Hall in New York, the National Music Museum in Vermillion (SD), the Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata, the Teatro Massimo in Catania, the Monreale Cathedral in Palermo and the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa.
He has lately worked with the conductor Enrico Maria Sardelli and with the legendary master pianist Bruno Canino; in 2025 the duo has released an album focused on the original mandolin and piano compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven.