Ugo Amendola's Piano Concerto

[Roy Bland]

Ugo Amendola (Venice, August 28, 1917 – February 20, 1995) was an Italian composer.

Music became a part of his life at an early age; in fact, he himself said: "I began to love music as a child, imitating on the keyboard what my father, a musician, made me listen to."
Entering the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory at the age of twelve, he immediately demonstrated his talent as a pianist, particularly in composition, graduating with honors in Piano, Composition, Choral Music and Choral Conducting, and Orchestral Conducting.
He also began teaching at the Conservatory in 1951, first in Theory and Solfeggio, and later in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue, and Composition. He then served as Director of the same institute from 1973 to 1985.
Since graduating, he has performed extensively throughout this period as a soloist and in duos with various soloists in Italy. Due to his recognized musical expertise, he has been frequently invited to preside over and serve on juries in numerous national competitions.
Maestro Ugo Amendola also explored the folk-popular musical genre, composing music for several Venetian dialect poems by the lyricist-poet Emilio De Sanzuane: "Nostalgia d'amore" and "Do' cuori e 'na gondola," published in the "Venezia Canta" collections by Edera Music Publishing.
In 1992, he received the ALTINO PRIZE as part of the Progetto Arcobaleno - "school, family, and territory" initiatives. This was the maestro's last piano performance. "Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra. Composer Ugo Amendola with the Sinfonietta Veneta Orchestra conducted by Liudmil Descev, Conductor at the Sofia National Opera."
He died on February 20, 1995; he left behind unfinished works such as the Eighth Sonata, a ballet, a sonata for viola and piano, as well as several educational works.