Uto Ughi is considered one of the most important violinists of our time, he is an authentic heir of the tradition of violin schools which were born and bloomed in Italy. Uto Ughi has showed an extraordinary talent since he was a child : at the age of seven he played for the first time in front of a public “Ciaccona” from Bach’s Partita n.2 and some “Capricci” by Paganini. He studied with Prof. George Enescu, who had been also professor of Yehudi Menuhin. At the age of twelve critics wrote : “ Uto Ughi must already be considered as a mature soloist, artistically and technically”.
He began his major tours in Europe playing in the most important concert halls. Since then his career has never stopped. He infact played all over the world, in the principal Festivals with the most prestigious orchestras : Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Washington Symphony Orchestra and many others, conducted by : Barbirolli, Bychkov, Celibidache, Cluytens, Chung, Ceccato, Colon, Davis, Fruhbeck de Burgos, Gatti, Gergiev, Giulini, Kondrascin, Jansons, Leitner, Lu Jia, Inbal, Maazel, Masur, Mehta, Nagano, Penderecki, Pretre, Rostropovich, Sanderlin, Sargent, Sawallisch, Sinopoli, Slatkin, Spivakov, Temirkanov.
Uto Ughi is not only interested in music, but he is very committed to the social life of his country mostly concentrated on the preservation of the country’s artistic patrimony. With this idea, he founded the festival “Homage to Venice” in order to raise funds for the restoration of historical monuments in Venice. After this experience, the festival “Homage to Rome” (from 1999-2002), inherited the same commitment , aiming to the promotion of the great international musical patrimony ; free concerts for the public, development of the young talents who study in Italian conservatoires. These ideals are today involved in the festival “Uto Ughi for Rome” of which Uto Ughi is the creator, founder and artistic director.
Recently the Italian Minister of the Culture has nominated him President of the Commission to study a communication campaign in favour of the promotion of classical music among young people.
Uto Ughi has been graced with several title for his artistic merits : on the 4th of September 1997, the President of the Republic named him Cavaliere di Gran Croce, in April 2002 he received the degree Laurea Honoris Causa in Communications at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and in July 2007 the City of Vicenza has graced him with the prestigious title of “Palladio d’oro”. He had an intense recording activity for BMG Ricordi, recording the concerts of Beethoven and Brahms with W. Sawallisch, the Concerto by Tchaikovsky with Kurt Sanderling, Mendelssohn and Bruch with G. Prêtre, some Sonatas by Beethoven with W.Sawallisch at the piano, the complete concerts by Mozart, Viotti, Vivaldi, “Le Quattro Stagioni”, three concerts by Paganini in the inedited edition conductor-soloist, Dvorak’s Concert with Leonard Slatkin and the Philarmonia Orchestra London; the Sonatas and Partite by Bach for violin solo..
Recent recordings are the following: “Il Trillo del diavolo” (“live” Cd with the most important virtuoso pieces for violin); Schumann’s Concerto conducted by M° Sawallish and the Bayerischer Rundfunk ; Vivaldi’s Concerts with the Filarmonici di Roma; the Spanish Symphony by Lalo with the National Orchestra of the Italian Brodcasting Corporation (RAI) and Fruebeck de Burgos. His next concerts abroad include a tour to Japan and Far East in May-June 2008 and a tour in South America in May 2009.
Uto Ughi is also involved in Television and Radio productions, and presents a very popular programme dedicated to the classic music on RAI 1 channel of the Italian National Television.
Uto Ughi plays a Guarneri del Gesù violin of 1744, which has a warm sound and a dark timber and is maybe one of the most beautiful existing “Guarneri” , and with a Stradivari of 1701 named “Kreutzer” because it belonged to the same violinist to whom Beethoven had dedicated the famous Sonata.
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