BIOGRAPHY

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Passionate about sharing their love of chamber music with audiences worldwide, the award-winning Duo Sabatini-Rugani is a versatile ensemble actively performing in Europe and the US. Coming from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds on opposite sides of the globe (Australia and Italy), Daniele and Simone have a fresh, energetic approach to all kinds of repertoire, with a particular interest for contemporary music.

 

The Duo has performed in numerous concert venues, such as the Edsberg Castle in Stockholm (Sweden), Edinburgh Society of Musicians (UK), ORF Radiokulturhaus in Vienna (Austria), Archdiocese of Glasgow (UK), Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius (Lithuania). They have been invited multiple times to perform in New York City: twice at the New York University’s “Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò”, at the Italian Cultural Institute and in collaboration with the Consulate General of Lithuania.

 

In Italy they have given recitals in Sala dei Giganti (Padova); Palazzo Braschi, Villa Torlonia, Teatro Marcello (Roma); Palazzo Cavagnis (Venezia); Teatro Lottagono (Bergamo); and for music festivals and associations such as Roma Tre Orchestra, Torino Chamber Music Festival, Oratorio del Gonfalone, Università della Tuscia, Lunigiana International Music Festival, Campus delle Arti Festival, Asiago Festival, MoMùs, Il Castello armonico, Maggio della grande musica a Cantù, Monferrato Classic Festival and Campagnano International Chamber Music Festival.

 

Prizewinners at numerous international chamber music competitions, recent awards include: VIII International Stasys Vainiūnas Competition in Vilnius (2nd prize, with 1st not assigned); Pesaro International Chamber Music Competition (1st prize); Magliano Sabina International Chamber Music Competition (1st prize and Avos Chamber Music Prize); “Francesco Cilea” Competition (2nd prize with 1st not assigned, and Audience Prize); Gottfried Von Einem Prize at ISA Competition in Reichenau (Austria).

 

Aside from the standard repertoire for violin and piano, Daniele and Simone have a penchant for discovering and exploring new music. Recently they have focused on divulging Italian 20th century music, regularly performing works by Niccolò Castiglioni, Aldo Finzi, Gino Contilli and Silvio Omizzolo. Giuseppe Marino Bertolani dedicated his Third Concerto for Violin and Piano to the duo, which they premiered in 2019. They have recorded the first Sonata by Alfred Schnittke and were invited to perform Schnittke’s Piano Quartet at Asiago Festival with violist Duccio Beluffi and cellist Claudio Pasceri. In collaboration with Divertimento Ensemble, they participated in a series of concerts dedicated to the music of German-Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel.

 

As part of their musical mission, the Duo collaborates with AFCECO, a non-profit organization running orphanages and educational centers, including music projects, for orphans in Afghanistan.

 

Since the Duo’s formation in 2013, they have been studying under the guidance of Marco Fiorentini and Laura Pietrocini (founding members of the Ars Trio di Roma), and work regularly with Konstantin Bogino, Evgenia Epshtein and Maria Grazia Bellocchio. They are also obtaining a Master’s Degree in Chamber Music at Conservatorio “S. Cecilia” in Rome in the class of Roberto Galletto. 

 

For two consecutive years, Duo Sabatini-Rugani has been invited to participate in the International Summer Academy (ISA) of the Mdw, where they have had the honor to work closely with esteemed Professors such as Hatto Beyerle, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl, Patrick Jüdt and Vida Vujic. This experience has profoundly inspired the Duo to delve deeply into the score and refine all facets of performance, confident in the belief that the connections we create, and the stories we tell, when making chamber music on stage together, have an electrifying power of unification, bridging cultural chasms in a time when our society grows ever more fractured.