Giuseppe Balbi

Giuseppe Balbi held the position of Solo Principal Clarinet in the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo from 1974 to 2017. He also held the chair of Clarinet Teacher at the Conservatories of Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia and Messina until 1993.

In 1981 he was invited to participate in Tanglewood (USA) to attend the conducting course held, among others, by masters S. Ozawa and L. Bernstein. In 1977, 1978 and 1985 he taught Clarinet among the Lanciano International Summer Courses. He has held hundreds of concerts in chamber ensembles (trio, quartet, quintet etc.) and from 1976 to 2006 he was the founder and the Conductor of the “THEATRE MASSIMO WIND ENSEMBLE”. Even as a soloist in the orchestra he has repeatedly performed both in the classical and modern repertoire.

Giuseppe Balbi is the first Italian clarinetist who performed W.A. Mozart Concerto in A Major KV 622 in the original version on a Bassett Clarinet in 1991 in Palermo, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the author's death, with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo. Subsequently he also performed it in 1993 in Lanciano with the Youth Orchestra of the Specialization Courses. With the Basset Horn he performed the two F. Mendelssohn Konzertstück op. 113 - 114 and Carl Stamitz Concerto for Basset Horn and Orchestra. In 2014, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss, he performed at the Teatro Massimo the “Duetto Concertino” for Clarinet, Bassoon and Orchestra and in May 2016 he performed the Artie Shaw Clarinet Concert under the baton of Todd Reynolds.