Francesco Mander, (Rome, October 26, 1915 - Latisana, September 2, 2004) was an Italian conductor and composer.
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Francesco Mander was the only son of Pietro Mander, a film producer and owner of Mander Film, and Lucia Mercadante. While from his father he inherited his love for literature, it was his mother who discovered her son's passion for music, while still at a very tender age. Not so amazing, the fact that it was his mother to discover this, since she descends in a direct line from Francesco Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (1795–1870), in his time a famous opera composer, though today completely forgotten.
Only a little older, he accompanied his parents to concerts held in the most famous concert hall in Rome at the time, the Augusteo.
After the family moved to Milan Francesco Mander continued his piano study and also took up the cello. His teacher was Enzo Martinenghi, the solo cellist of the Teatro alla Scala orchestra, then under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.
Back in Rome he went to university (literature) and studied composition with Alfredo Casella and Cesare Dobici, obtaining his degree in composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome in only four years instead of the usual ten years required.
He studied conducting with Antonio Guarnieri in Siena, a city where not many years later he would teach himself, having amongst his pupils musicians like Zubin Mehta.
Mander conducted his first important concert at the Teatro della Fenice in Venice in 1942, after a period of apprenticeship at the same theatre. It was the beginning of a long career, which brought him in front of many of the most important orchestras worldwide.
In 1948 he was appointed principal conductor of the Orquesta Sinfònica de Madrid, taking it on extended tours through Spain and Portugal, conducting concerts in all the most important cities.
By 1955 he had become a well-known and appreciated guest in many countries: "Exceptional" is the comment of composer and critic Richard de Guide in.[1] The same adjective was used by many others in cities such as London [2]:"A formidable conductor". Or [3]: Mr. Mander proved himself a master of his players....He achieved a remarkable dramatic response from the LPO... A first rate musician. All in all, his Beethoven "V" Symphony was an exceptional performance). And Paris: Avec Mander l'O.N. brille dès les premières notes.[4]
With the same enthusiasm he was acclaimed in Milan, Moscow, Budapest, Sydney, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Chicago, New York, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, St Petersburg, and others.
In 1957 he toured the United States and Canada for three months conducting the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentina of Florence. That same year he leads the USSR State Orchestra in Moscow. From 1969 till 1976 he was chief conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in Johannesburg, in the mean time keeping up a busy concert schedule abroad.
Back in Europe, Mander and his wife retired to Latisana in the Friuli region, in northern Italy, the region of his ancestors (the name Mander goes back to 1378 in the R.K. Church archives of a tiny village, Solimbergo, a little further north from Latisana). From Friuli he continued his career, albeit in a more relaxed way.
During this period he also started writing more seriously. In the sixties he had already collaborated with several magazines, writing articles such as "The importance of music in Dante's Divina Commedia", published in Elsinore, April 1964, Elsinore Editrice. His literary production consists of three novels and numerous short stories. Two of them, titled "Due racconti" have been published by Editrice.i.l.a. Palma, (Palermo, Italy and São Paulo, Brazil) in the "Meridiana" series.
Francesco Mander also composed and/or conducted various soundtracks for films produced by his father.
He has recorded for RCA and Fonit - Angelicum
Idéal Audience: video/DVD Tschaikovsky violin concerto. Soloist Ivry Gitlis. EMI: DVD Tschaikovsly violin concerto. Soloist Ivry Gitlis
La conquista dell'aria at the Internet Movie Database. Piccolo alpino at the Internet Movie Database. Pia de'Tolomei at the Internet Movie Database. Black feathers at the Internet Movie Database. A tale of five cities at the Internet Movie Database. Mata Hari's daughter at the Internet Movie Database.