Acclaimed throughout the music world as not just a performer, but an artiste, Italian violinist Roberto Cani has continued to bring his art to the highest of levels, captivating and delighting audiences in the United States and abroad, since his solo debut at the Gaveau Hall in Paris.
Beginning his studies at the tender age of seven, Mr. Cani has been a first and grand prizewinner of numerous competitions, including the Paganini International Competition in Genoa, the Courcillon International Competition, and the Jeunesses Musicales International Competition in Belgrade, where he also captured a special award for the best performance of a contemporary work. In addition, he has been the winner of the Minetti Prize and received honors at the Tchaikovsky Competition.
A current resident of Los Angeles, Mr. Cani has performed throughout the United States as well as in Italy, South Africa, Germany, Russia, Croatia, Belgium, Poland, Serbia, France, Taiwan, Japan, Austria and Spain. He has appeared as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic, the RAI Symphony, orchestra Cantelli (Italy), the Belgrade and Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestras, the Haydn Symphony, the American Youth Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, the Burbank Philharmonic, the Glendale Symphony, the West Los Angeles Symphony, the Paradise Symphony and the Marina Del Rey Symphony. His performances have been televised nationally for PBS, RAI in Italy, RB in Yugoslavia, NHK in Japan, ZDF in Germany and in Taiwan. He has been featured on several occasions in radio broadcasts on both KMZT and KKGO in Los Angeles. Other notable appearances include his widely acclaimed performance of the first concerti of Paganini and Szymanowski in Italy and his premiere of a piece by Polish composer, Gorecki, for violin and piano. Mr. Cani is a graduate of the Milan Conservatory, the Gnessin
Institute in Moscow, and the University of Southern California, where he got his artist diploma. He has studied with world-renowned violinists V.Tretiakov, A.Shtern, R.Lipsett, A.Schoenfeld. He currently teaches in Los Angeles, at the Summer Festivals in Positano in Italy, and gives masterclasses in Taiwan at the University of Arts, Tainan, at the San Francisco Conservatory, the Crowden school of Music in San Francisco. Mr. Cani had the pleasure of touring with conductor and pianist Justus Frantz and Riccardo Muti, participating in Chamber Music Festivals in Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, the Canary Islands, Malaga, Ljubiana, Ravenna. Recently, he has performed as Concertmaster for La Scala Orchestra in Milan, Rai Orchestra of Italy. Mr. Cani is also the first violinst of the New Hollywood String Quartet.
Mr. Cani has recorded the Vivaldi Four Seasons, sonatas by Respighi and Busoni with pianist Jeffrey Swann, and the solo sonatas of Bartok, Ysaye, Bloch, and Prokofiev under the Arkadia and Agora labels. His other recordings include the Mendelssohn violin concerto, and a cd of Debussy and Prokofiev String Quartets.
Mr. Cani currently plays on a Pietro Guarneri of Venice on loan from the Canale foundation in Italy.
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There are performers and there are artistes. Roberto Cani most certainly belongs to the latter category. His technique is unerring, his interpretation finely drawn, and his personal exposition a joy to the ear.
- Paradise Post
… this young violinist possessed by a strong musical temperament and gifted with an astounding technique revealed his talent to an eager audience Friday evening. With transcendent and virtuoso execution, Roberto Cani undertook the program with truly mad skill and enthusiasm. The musician found himself at home within the works of Ravel, Wienawski and Gershwin thanks to obviously intense inspiration and heart-felt emotion. At concert’s end, the public was far from satiated with the cascade of notes and recalled the prodigious instrumentalist and his accompanist to the stage many times.
- Provincia Pavese
We take note of the name Roberto Cani, destined to turn up in the music news.
- RAI
Roberto Cani took aim at the most swashbuckling solo virtuosity and hit his target with tranquil assuredness.
- La Repubblica
The Italian soloist, Roberto Cani performed the Paganini Violin Concerto very brilliantly and with extraordinary confidence. The public was very enthusiastic. Mr. Cani with a controlled and clean bow technique achieved the highest level of performance.
- Kultura
The soloist, Mr. Cani, successfully performed one of the most difficult of Paganini concertos. He proved to be a violinist of high caliber following the Italian tradition of the virtuoso violinist, Paganini. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was labeled as a great Italian violinist before and after the great Paganini.
- Kultura
…On stage we heard a rare concerto by Karol Szymanowski, not very often performed, with particular attention to the harmony, timbre and wonderful themes. The consensus was for an encore by Roberto Cani, who we remember for the Paganini Competition, and who in the meantime has increased the quality and tone with effective results, especially lyrically, all evident in his performance of a far from simple piece.
- Il Giornale
We don’t hear the Ravel Sonata performed often: the sonata with its blues and jazzy rhythms and a frantic last movement. Roberto Cani evoked our most intense emotions. The virtuosic cadenzas with the strong rhythms resulted in an exciting and brilliant performance. The last movement blew the audience away. Roberto played with high virtuosity and skilled fingers, all with a beautiful bow technique in Ravel’s Tzigane. He performed poetically the music of Saint-Saens, Wienawski and Frolov. The applause insisted several encores.
- Corriere della Sera
Cani’s superb technique and tonal projection lent a stimulus to his musical exposition that earned him a standing ovation at the concert’s close that continued far beyond the usual moments of high approval. His masterful control of the gloriously toned violin was almost unearthly in its beauty, from the shimmering harmonics to the powerful crescendos. It was a performance to be remembered.
- Columbia Missourian
Mr. Cani captured the hearts and minds of the audience.
- Savannah Morning News
Cani shows that he is at the highest level of the music world and his virtuosity carries him to this level. He is full of emotions and his fast technical fingers and bow arm put him at the top of the violin business.
- La Repubblica
Cani has a clear vision of the music, very thoughtful and passionate.
- Daily Breeze
The technical passages were achieved by his careful finger playing. The public showed their appreciation by insisting upon an encore.
- Il Giornale
Solo recordings have included Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, sonatas for violin and piano by Respighi and Busoni with pianist Jeffrey Swann, and solo sonatas by Bartok, Ysäye, Bloch and Prokofiev on the Arkadia and Agora labels. He has recorded the Tchaikovski Violin Concerto in D-major and is scheduled to record concertos by Paganini and Wieniawski with the Moscow Philharmonic.
Ken Hardin is artistic director/conductor of Twin Cities Concert Association/Orchestre Panache; conductor of Music in the Mountains’ Festival Chorus; pianist/harpsichordist for MIM’s Festival Orchestra; half of the popular piano duo “2x4” with Paul Perry; conductor of the Sierra College Choir and faculty member at Sierra College; has performed with the Reno Philharmonic, Chico State New Music Symposium, Nevada County Composers Cooperative, and various other West Coast presenters. Hardin is also noted as an accomplished jazz pianist. He works with Foothill Theatre Company directing their musical productions, most recently My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra. Hardin graduated from CSU, Northridge and continued on the faculty there until moving to Nevada County in 1984.