Principal flute of the orchestra of the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Riccardo Ghiani was born in 1961. He began his studies at the Conservatoire of his home town, Cagliari, under the tuition of Salvatore Saddi, completing his flute diploma in 1984 with full marks cum laude. He then continued his studies with Raymond Guiot at the H. Berlioz Conservatoire of Paris, where he was awarded the prize, “premier prix de la ville de Paris” in 1986. He then went on to study with Maxence Larrieu at the Conservatoire of Geneva, where he was awarded the prize, “premier prix de virtuosité 1988, premier nommé”.
Riccardo has also participated in masterclasses held by Alain Marion and Robert Dick for the flute and Bruno Canino and Maurice Bourgue for chamber music.
He has been part of the Ensemble Spaziomusica of Cagliari for many years, particularly active in performing contemporary music.
As well as his position as principal flute of the Teatro Lirico of Cagliari, Riccardo has also covered the same role in the following orchestras: ORT Orchestra of Tuscany (Florence); the Symphony Orchestra of San Remo; Ensemble Instrumental de l'Ile de France (Paris); Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan; the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra (Palermo) and the Orchestra of the Teatro Nazionale dell’Opera, Rome.
As principal flute of the Cagliari Foundation, he has been directed by conductors including: Gérard Korsten, Lorin Maazel, Carlo Maria Giulini, Pinchas Steinberg, Christopher Hogwood, Roberto Abbado, Guennadi Rozhdestvensky, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Emmanuel Krivine, Georges Pretre, Ivan Fischer, George Benjamin, Frans Bruggen, Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock, Peter Schreier, Luciano Berio and Serge Baudo.
Riccardo has also taught at the Conservatoires of Cagliari, Sassari, Reggio Calabria and Palermo.
From 1996 to 2001 he was assistant professor to Aurèle Nicolet at the Academy of Chigiana (Accademia Musicale Chigiana)
From 2001 to 2006 he taught alongside Nicolet at the Summer Academy of Hvar (Croatia).
He is currently professor of advanced studies at the Flute Academy of Madrid (Accademia Flautistica Travesera Siglo XXI).
In addition, he teaches at the Scuola Civica music school in Cagliari and is regularly invited to hold masterclasses in Italy and abroad (Spain, Croatia, France, Romania and Poland). Riccardo has also been a jury member in National and International competitions.
Riccardo is now in artistic direction with association “Der Rosenkavalier”of the international festival “le piace richard strauss” as partner of the Richard Strauss Institut – Garmish Partenkirchen
http://www.riccardoghiani.com/