Adriano Ariani

Adriano Ariani was born in Rome on November 25th 1877.  He studied piano at the Rossini musical high school in Pesaro with M. Vitali and composition with P. Mascagni, graduating in August of 1901. He continued his studies with F. Busoni, G. Sgambati and A. Rendano, and in 1905 he won the first prize of the Accademia di S. Cecilia with a Suite for Orchestra, which was partially performed in a concert directed by P. Mascagni at the Academy of S. Cecilia. Ariani moved to New York where he worked as a conductor, and for six consecutive seasons, he appeared alongside Arturo Toscanini at the Choral Institution. In 1916 his oratorio for soloists, choir and orchestra, the St. Francis Oratorio, was performed by the Metropolitan Opera at Carnegie Hall; later, in 1920, he also directed an important season of Italian operas at the theater of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York).

In 1932, when he returned to Italy, Ariani taught piano and was appointed vice director at the musical high school in Pesaro. In addition to the Oratorio, he composed two symphonies, masses, vocal chamber music, piano selections, and a piano reduction of an opera written by his friend Pietro Mascagni (Paris 1905).  Ariani died on January 28. 1935.