Marco Pesci
Lute player
Marco Pesci, from Rome, studied guitar under S. Notaro and L. Calsolaro and earned his degree at the Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory in Bari. Afterwards he dedicated himself to the renaissance lute and the lute family of instruments studying under F. Marincola and J. Lindberg, and with his guidance he graduated brilliantly at the Royal College of Music in London. He completed his studies with Anthony Bailes, Paul O'Dette, Hopkinson Smith and Pat O'Brien.
He has co-operated with artists of international renown such as S. Accardo, G. Banditelli, A. Curtis, G. Ferro, C. Gasdia, S. Kermes, A. L. King, N. Rogers, G. Surian, and with ensembles specialising in Renaissance and Baroque music played on original instruments (such as 'I Delfici', 'Affetti Amorosi', ‘Complesso Barocco, 'La Cappella della Pietà dei Turchini' and 'Fête Rustique'). He has also worked as the continuo player in Rome's Opera House, the San Carlo of Naples, and the EAOSS of Palermo.
Since 1998 he has frequently accompanied the mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli both as a soloist and with the ensemble 'Le Musiche Nove' directed by Claudio Osele. He has played all over Europe and North America, performing in the principal concert halls (including the Internationale Musikfestwochen in Lucerne, the Théatre des Champs Elisées in Paris, the Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Symphony Hall in Boston, Philarmonie and Konzerthaus in Berlin, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Theater an der Wien and Musikverein in Wien) and he has made radio recordings for several European channels. He has also accompanied Cecilia Bartoli in live television transmission broadcasts from Holland, France and Italy.
As solo player he recorded a compact disc on italian renaissance lute music by Lorenzino del Liuto (Naxos, 2006) and furthermore he has made several recordings as solo and continuo player (e.g. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi-Sony, Emi Classics, Tactus).
In 2021, he published independently (Amazon) a didactic book with QR codes for demonstration videos: Renaissance Lute Technique. A video-handbook for beginners to advanced players.
As a researcher of lute sources he discovered an unpublished treatise on the basso continuo for the archlute, from which an unpublished tuning has been deduced, and in 2016 he published a tutor L'Armonico Pratico all'Arciliuto (Aracne ed.).
Further, he has found new sources which have contributed towards discovering the real identity of the Renaissance lute players known as ‘Laurencinus Romanus’ and ‘The Knight of the Lute’. The results of his studies have been published in the journal 'Recercare': Nuove proposte di prassi esecutiva fondate su un inedito trattato di basso continuo per arciliuto (vol. VIII 1996); Lorenzo Tracetti, alias Lorenzino, suonatore di liuto (vol. IX 1997); Il Cavaliere disvelato: Vincenzo Pinti, "nella corte di Roma detto il cavaliere del liuto" (vol. XV 2003); Lorenzini fra Parma e Roma. Nuova luce su Lorenzino ‘bolognese’, Lorenzino ‘fiammingo’, Lorenzino ‘romano’ e il Cavaliere del liuto (vol XVII 2005).
He has also collaborated with german ‘Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart’ and the italian ‘Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani’.
Marco Pesci teaches Lute at the Conservatorio di Musica in L'Aquila.