Ambrogino Gold Award to Maestro Armando Trovajoli

On the evening of 22nd January 2007, a concert was held at the Teatro Strehler in Milan to celebrate Maestro Armando Trovajoli’s nintieth birthday. The Civica Jazz Band directed by Enrico Intra performed accompanied by prestigious guests such as guitarist Franco Cerri and the father and son duo Dino and Franco Piana, who are important figures of past and contemporary italian jazz.

During the course of the evening Vittorio Sgarbi, the Councillor for Culture at Milan Council awarded the guest of honour with the Ambrogino Gold Award in recognition of his artistic achievements.

Born in Rome on 2nd September 1917, Armando Trovajoli started learning music with his violinist father. He began to play the violin at the age of four. By the age of six he started to play the pianoforte and to learn music. Under the guidance of Maestro Libero Barni he was awarded his pianoforte diploma with full marks from the S. Cecilia Conservatory. He studied composing with Maestro Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, with whom he became best friends. It was this frienship that led to him learning about the technical secrets of cinematography as he followed courses held at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.

A big fan of jazz he was for years the italian jazz musician. He was invited as the Italian representative at the La Salle Playel International Jazz Festival in Paris. During this period he played with the most qualified jazz musicians in the world  (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Stephan Grappelli, Django Reinhardt amongst others).

He was invited to the S. Cecilia Academy to commemorate George Gershwin’s death anniversary, where he played under the direction of Maestro Willy Ferrero and the S.Cecilia Orchestra, at the Massenzio Cathedral, as a soloist in the Concerto in F and Blues Rhapsody, the concert was consequently repeated twice at the Teatro Biondo, Palermo. The same concert was then held at Teatro S.Carlo in Napoli under Artur Rodzinski’s direction. Maestro Trovatoli is without a doubt among the most eclectic musicians of his time and his music crosses all categories.

He composed music for the cinema that will leave a rich legacy from “Una giornata particolare” to “In nome del Papa Re”, from “La stanza del vescovo” to “Profumo di donna” which have entered into the annals of cinema history as the famous musical comedies such as the “ditta” Garinei and Giovannini, amongst which is “Rugantino” most famous and the everlasting  “Roma nun fa la stupida stasera”.

Amongst his latest most important works are “Concerto for C Basso and the Orchestra” (Ricordi Publishing) written for Maestro Franco Petracchi and performed at S. Cecilia in November 2002 with the S. Cecilia orchestra under the direction of Daniel Oren for the new auditorium “Puppet” (Ricordi Publishing) for the violin, strings section, piano and percussion, performed by Maestro Massimo Quarta with the S. Cecilia Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Gilbert Varga.