Biography

Francesco graduated from the Conservatory of Monopoli, the Haute École de Musique of Geneva, the Instituto pareggiato of Aosta and the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik of Trossingen in the classes of Giuseppe Guida, Andrea Bandini, Stefano Viola and Abbie Conant respectively.

He has participated in numerous advanced courses with : Andrea Conti, Vincent Lepape, Christian Lindberg, Jay Friedman, Rex Martin, Nitzan Haros, Toby Oft, Jorgen van Rijen or Vinko Globokar.

In 2008 he won the second prize at the International Trombone Competition in Aosta and was awarded the István Kertész Scholarship in 2015.

In 2016, he obtained the Master of Music Pedagogy from the Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland where he was able to perfect his skills with Stanley Clark.

Francesco D’Urso is a trombone teacher at the Geneva Conservatory of Music for the “MusicEnsemble/Meyrin” project (coordinated by Maestro Domingo Hindoyan and sponsored by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel) as well as at the Multisite School of Music (Canton of Vaud, Switzerland).

Between 2011 and 2017, he was a trombone teacher and brass coordinator at the Geneva International Summer Academy. In August 2018, he also participated as a teacher at the Lucerne Festival orchestral camp and since 2019 he is regularly invited as a teacher at the summer camp of the Société Cantonale des Musiques Vaudoises in Sainte Croix (Vaud).

He has performed and collaborated with numerous institutions including: the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the National Orchestra of the Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome, the National Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Turin, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Royal Theatre in Turin, the Orchestre Contrechamps in Geneva, the Orchestra of the Zermatt Festival and the Ensemble Vocal et Instrumental de Lausanne, under the direction of prestigious maestri including: Daniel Harding, Ton Koopman, Marek Janowski, Michel Corboz, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Yutaka Sado, Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Vedernikov, Hannu Lintu, and Heinz Holliger. He has also accompanied famous soloists such as Joyce DiDonato, Renaud Capuçon, Nelson Goerner, Sonya Yoncheva, Benjamin Bernheim as an orchestral musician.

Since 2006, he has collaborated with the Sinfonietta Orchestra of Lausanne and since 2011 has performed regularly as first and second trombone with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, with whom he has taken part in several tours (Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy and Azerbaijan). He has also participated with this orchestra in several recordings such as the DVD of the nine Beethoven symphonies conducted by maestro Joshua Weilerstein and produced by the RTS.

His practice on period instruments (sackbut) led him to perform at the Lausanne Opera under the direction of maestri Diego Fasolis and Ottavio Dantone. The latter invited him in 2018 to join the tour of his orchestra, the Academia Bizantina of Ravenna in Oslo (Norway).

Since October 2016, he has held the role of principal trombone at L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève under the artistic direction of maestro Raphaël Merlin and previously maestro Arie van Beek. With the same orchestra, he has participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts and recordings including the album “Frank Martin” with the famous violinist Svetlin Roussev, conducted by maestro Arie van Beek for the Claves label.

In October 2019 he was invited to the Geneva Brass Festival as a soloist with the Geneva Chamber Orchestra performing Erik Larsson’s Concertino and Corrado Maria Saglietti’s Suite, the latter performed on alto trombone under the direction of maestro Philippe Bach at the Ernest-Ansermet Studio in Geneva. In March 2020, he performed as a soloist with the Harmonie Nautique de Genève under the direction of maestro Eric Haegi, playing the Concertino Op.4 by Ferdinand David and the Concertone by Corrado Maria Saglietti (world premiere) at the Victoria Hall in Geneva.

Various compositions have been dedicated to him: Concertone for trombones and wind orchestra by Corrado Maria Saglietti, Bear Bone (Song and Dance) for trombone and wind orchestra by David Short, Mouvement for trombone, string orchestra and percussion, Per il Mio Cuore for trombone and soprano voice by Alexandre Mastrangelo, Incredulae Rosae for solo trombone by Domenico Turi, Three Pieces for trombone and piano and Stella for solo trombone by Antonello Mastrosilvestri, Tromtchi for small ensemble and trombone by Khaled Arman, RuGva for solo trombone,Umat for trombone, string quartet and jazz trio by Massimo Pinca, Portrait for solo trombone by Michele Girardi, and Expressões Brasileiras by Ricardo Silva for trombone and organ.

In collaboration with Difem Music Publisher, he has produced two albums, Stella in 2015 and Paradise Bone in 2021. For the second album, he had the honour to collaborate with the soprano Marie Lys, the wind and percussion quintet composed of musicians from the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the string quartet Terpsycordes, as well as the Kabul ensemble.

Very active in chamber music, he is a member of the duo Bulgarelli & D’Urso (harp and trombone) and the duo Salvagnin & D’Urso (organ and trombone). Their concerts are an opportunity to share a new and original repertoire.

Francesco is a founder and administrator of the Moya Trombones ensemble, with whom he performs and has given materclasses in France, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, in prestigious settings such as the Conservatoire de Paris, Lille Trombone Festival, Master Brass, Geneva Brass Festival, Lausanne Trombone Festival, Internazional Posaune Symposium of Stuttgart, Freudenstadt Festival, the Conservatoire d’Aoste, and the Festival Fiati of the Conservatoire of Novara.

Francesco D’Urso is a Vincent Bach artist and ambassador for René Hagmann® systems, dedicated to trombone cylinders and developed by Servette-Music in Geneva.