Roberto Bonati: musical composer, conductor, improvised Chironomy

Roberto Bonati is a double bass player, composer and conductor.

Having collaborated for many years with the great Giorgio Gaslini, in 1998 began studying conducting. He owes his expertise in this field also to several important in-depth educational experiences: in 1998 he attended a course at the Musical Academy of Pescara held by Gilberto Serembre; in 1999 he took part in another workshop led by Louis Salomon at Como’s Teatro Sociale; from 2006 to 2013 he participated in Symphonic Workshops at the International Conducting Institute in Kromeriz (Czech Republic) and studied in New York (USA) with Kirk Trevor, Tomas Netopil and Donald Schleicher.

The competence he acquired in orchestra conduction, his qualities as a musician and composer , his passion for jazz as a language of contemporary music as well as his long-standing career as a teacher at Parma’s Arrigo Boito Conservatory, have made Bonati one of the most interesting names within the panorama of jazz performance and composition for small and large ensembles alike.
Studious and creative, Roberto Bonati writes commissioned works, hold workshops in conduction and master classes for musicians and students, while he also takes part in performances of his own compositions and / or improvisations with local orchestras or groups. Recently, he has begun to take a passionate interest in the multifaceted world of what he calls “Improvised Chironomy”.
Examples of this new field of interest are his collaborative exchanges with Norway: in 2012 Bonati conducted Snow Flower at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, re-presenting a 2007 orchestral composition of his dedicated to the tradition of Japanese haiku; in 2015 the Bjergsted Jazz Ensemble of Stavanger commissioned a composition for orchestra which materialised as Nor Sea, nor Land, nor Salty Waves, a personal tribute by this Parmesan composer to the Sagas of Norwegian lore, the ancient poems of the Edda tradition.
In 2015, his most recent productions as conductor: Musica Totale - ParmaFrontiere Orchestra plays Gaslini and Il suono improvviso, performed for the Twentieth anniversary of the ParmaJazzFrontiere Festival.