Davide Formisano (Italy)

In 1997, Davide Formisano became the youngest-ever principal flutist of the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Born in Milan in 1974, he graduated with the highest marks plus distinction under the guidance of M° C. Tabarelli, further perfecting his abilities with Bruno Cavallo, Jean-Claude Gerard at Stuttgart Musikhochschule and Aurele Nicolet in Basel.
While still a teenager, he won the First Prize at the Galileo Galilei competition and at the Stresa International Competition, earning high honors in all the major international competitions. At seventeen, he took part in the Jean-Pierre Rampal Competition in Paris, gaining the “Prix Special du Jury”. During the next few years he was awarded the 1st prize at the Budapest Flute Competition, and 2nd prize (the 1st was not awarded) at the renowned ARD Competition in Munich.
As the First Italian Flautist to receive such honors, the young Davide Formisano had already performed with the major European youth ensembles, such as the Italian Youth Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and the European Community Youth Orchestra, led by such prominent conductors as Lorin Maazel, Carlo Maria Giulini and Kurt Sanderling.
In 1995 he obtained the principal flute position at the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, getting the same position in the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra one year later. Now he is Principal Flute in the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. In this capacity he has worked with major conductors, including Carlo Maria Giulini, Zubin Mehta, Wolfgang Savallisch, Valery Gergev, Myung wun Chung, George Pretre, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Riccardo Muti, Daniel Baremboim, Daniele Gatti and Riccardo Chailly.
Davide Formisano combined his orchestral role with a brilliant and growing career as chamber music player and soloist. He performed all around Europe and Japan with such partners as Bruno Canino, Radovan Vlatkovic, Phillip Moll, Sergio Azzolini and Fabio Biondi, and has been soloist with distinguished orchestras; among them the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Dresdner Kapellsolisten, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Tonhalle Ensemble in Zurich. From the autumn of 2007 he hold a professorship for flute at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, as successor to Jean-Claude Gérard .