GIANNI FERRIO

Biography

16 November 1924, Vicenza - 20 October 2013, Rome

'the elegant musician and gentelman'

Born in Vicenza to father Berardo Ferrio, mother Adele Gautiero and brothers Alfonso and Antonio, Gianni Ferrio was attracted to music from an early age and studied violin with Mariano Frigo and harmony, counterpoint and composition with maestros Almerigo Girotto and Arrigo Pedrollo.

He began his career as a conductor in the 1940s in Vicenza and then launched his career in the world of cinema and pop music, meeting Lelio Luttazzi and Teddy Reno and then moving to Milan for a period and then at the end of the 1950s, to Rome. There, he met Alba Fossati (stage name Alba Arnova), a dancer and actress, and they married in 1956, living together for the rest of their lives with the friendship of many musicians and the affection of numerous animals.

In his long record, television and concert activity in the world of pop music, he has worked with artists such as Teddy Reno, Jula de Palma, Johnny Dorelli, Caterina Valente, Ellis Regina, Alice and Ellen Kessler, Milva, Christian De Sica, Ornella Vanoni, Loretta Goggi, Gigi Proietti, Fausto Leali, Amii Stewart, Monica Vitti, Mariangela Melato, Catherine Spaak, Franco Cerri, Enrico Intra, Severino Gazzelloni, Mario del Monaco, Anna Moffo, Astor Piazzolla, Toots Thieleman and Franco Ambrosetti. His long collaboration with Mina was particularly intense, both as composer and arranger and conductor.

He is the author of several internationally successful songs, often in collaboration with his friend lyricist Antonio Amurri: Piccolissima Serenata, Parole parole, Non gioco più, Chi non conosce te, Tipi da spiaggia, Quando mi dici così, Ciao, Stanotte come ogni notte, Ora o mai più, La lunga estate di Taormina, Una donna, una storia.

He has been composer, arranger and conductor in the most important Saturday night TV varieties produced by RAI under the direction of Antonello Falqui and other famous television directors.

Principle titles to be mentioned: Gran Premio, La prova del Nove, Nata per la musica, Bentornata Caterina, Speciale per noi, Teatro 10, Palcoscenico, Milleluci, Il ribaltone, Bambole non c'è una lira, Non cantare spara, Al Paradise, Giochiamo al varietà, Mille lire al mese, Studio 80, Un altro varietà, A come Alice, Palcoscenico, Fantastico, Cinema che follia, Telethon.

For film, he has written over one hundred soundtracks for directors such as Ermanno Olmi, Miklos Jancso, Steno (Stefano Vanzina), Luigi Zampa, Sergio Corbucci, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Duccio Tessari, Sergio Capitani, Juan Antonio Bardem, Marco Ferreri and Francesco Maselli.

Also worth mentioning are his works for the theatre 'Un coperto in più' with Aldo and Carlo Giuffrè and the musical comedies for the Teatro Sistina in Rome: "L'Onorevole" with Carlo Dapporto, "Bobby sa tutto" with Johnny Dorelli and Loretta Goggi, "Due ore sole ti vorrei" with Gianfranco Jannuzzo, "Alleluja brava gente" with Sabrina Ferilli, "E meno male che c'è Maria" with Enrico Montesano and Barbara D'Urso, "Un paio d'Ali" with Maurizio Micheli and Sabrina Ferilli, "Un Mandarino per Teo" with Maurizio Micheli, "Applause" with Rossella Falk and Ivana Monti and for the Piccolo Eliseo theatre in Rome, "KesslerKabarett" with Ellen and Alice Kessler directed by Peppino Patroni Griffi.

He also composed several pieces of music for TV series such as "Caccia al ladro d'autore", "Nata d'amore", "Un cane sciolto", "Doris - una diva di regime" and "Un figlio a metà".

He has also performed as an arranger and conductor with the Italian symphony orchestra 'Roma Sinfonietta'.

"I remember a passage from a book, by Philip Roth, 'in life you are only young once, but you can be immature all your life'. There is nothing worse than becoming an adult. We can improve, but it is not even about that: it is about taking out of ourselves what we already have inside. We cannot take it from outside. It's not that you mature: it's that it takes time, it takes the opportunity, you can't write everything down in a year. And it is not necessarily the case that what one writes when one is sixty is better... it is different, because years have passed, but not because we have matured ... because experiences, because it's a continuous research, even unconscious ...

Gianni Ferrio

[ credits: WIKIQUOTE - From the interview by Lele Cerri, Gianni Ferrio, MinaMazzini.it, 4 March 2002 ]

Gianni & Italian TV

Johnny Dorelli, Alberto Lupo, Gianni Ferrio e Mina - 1970

[ credits: photovintagefrance - Original photograph Silver print ]

He was a composer, arranger and conductor in the most important Saturday night television varieties produced by RAI under the direction of Antonello Falqui. (La prova del Nove, Nata per la musica, Bentornata Caterina, Teatro 10, Palcoscenico, Milleluci, Il ribaltone, Bambole non c'è una lira, Non cantare spara, Al Paradise, Giochiamo al varietà, Mille lire al mese, Studio 80, Un altro varietà, A come Alice, Palcoscenico, Fantastico, Cinema che follia, Telethon).

Ricordi

with Dalida

Gianni and Dalida (Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti)

1973

by Michel Ginfray/Sygma via Getty Images