Pietro Argento

Born in Gioia del Colle in 1909, started his musical studies under the guidance of his father,a flugelhorn soloist and tenor of the Premiato Concerto Bandistico “Città di Gioia del Colle”.

He continued his studies at the Academy of music in Naples were he studied piano,organ ,oboe and got a diploma as a composer and a conductor under the guidance of F.Cilea. Later he got an advanced diploma as a specialized orchestra conductoe at Santa Cecilia Academy .

Then, his career went on as follows:
conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of S.Cecilia Academy in Rome;
permanent conductor of the RAI Symphony Orchestra in Milan;
conductor of the “Orchestra dell’urbe” in Rome;
conductor of the Chamber Orchesta of the “Società  del quartetto” in Rome;
permanent contactor of the Symphony Orchestra in Bari;

in 1952 he held the chair as a conductor of orchestra practice at the Santa Cecilia conservatory.

He was greatly successful in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, and in the URSS.

He did nationwide tours, particularly successful in Kiev, Moscow, etc and was the first western conductor to record with the State Symphony Orchestra in Moscow.

He conducted the greatest concert artists and composed symphonies,chamber music,stage music,sound tracks,documentaries.

He recorded with various record companies, RCA ,Mercurio etc.

He was awarded several honours. In 1961 he was awarded the “Medaglia d’oro di I classe di benemerito dell’arte della cultura” by the President of Italian Republic.

He died on 15 Jan.1994

Associazione Musicale e Culturale “D.Lobefaro”-via F.lli Rosselli, 1 – 70023 Gioia del Colle (BA) - Tel (+39) 080 3433405