Author Archives: David Salvage

Biography (Scorrere verso il basso per la versione italiana.)

David Salvage (b.1978) is an American composer and pianist living in Bologna, Italy. Born into a family of non-musicians, at age four he asked his parents for a piano, a wish that was granted on the condition that he take lessons for five years. Instead, he took them for fifteen years, along the way developing an interest in composition, winning local and national competitions as a pianist and composer, becoming one of the first pianists selected for the prestigious Perlman Music Program, and winning a scholarship to Harvard University, where he shifted his focus to composition. He continued his studies at Manhattan School of Music and the City University of New York, earned his PhD with a dissertation on György Kurtàg, and went into academia full-time, teaching music theory and history. A lifelong Europhile, when the opportunity arose to live abroad, he took it, and now he is a dual citizen of Italy and the United States. He has been commissioned to write for orchestra, film, choir, and ensembles of all kinds and has received over a hundred performances at venues ranging from the Juilliard School in New York to the British Institute of Florence and the Minobu Town Center in Minobu, Japan. His music is published by Universal Edition, Vienna, and has been recorded on Deux-Elles and Navona Records. His most recent commission was a new work for the world-famous ocarina player Fabio Galliani. In Bologna, Salvage sings tenor in the Cappella Musicale di San Petronio and gives concerts with trumpeter Marco Trebbi (Duo Himmel). He is married with three children.

Versione italiana —

David Salvage (1978) è un compositore e pianista statunitense che abita a Bologna. Nato in una famiglia estranea alla musica, all’età di quattro anni ha chiesto un pianoforte ai genitori, un desiderio che è stato esaudito a condizione che prendesse lezioni per cinque anni. Le ha seguite invece per quindici anni, e lungo il percorso ha sviluppato un particolare interesse per la composizione, ha vinto premi regionali e nazionali come pianista e compositore, è diventato uno dei primi giovani pianisti scelti per il Perlman Music Program, e ha vinto una borsa di studio alla Harvard University, per poi decidere di concentrarsi sulla composizione. Ha continuato i suoi studi presso la Manhattan School of Music e la City University of New York, ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca con una tesi su Gyorgy Kurtàg, e ha trovato lavoro nell’ateneo insegnando a tempo pieno storia della musica e teoria musicale. Filoeuropeo da sempre, ha colto l’opportunità di trasferirsi all’estero quando questa gli si è presentata e ora possiede la doppia cittadinanza statunitense e italiana. Ha composto musica per orchestra, film, coro e insiemi di diversi generi e le sue opere hanno ricevuto più di cento esecuzioni in sedi come la Juilliard School, il British Institute of Florence, e il Minobu Town Center in Giappone. La sua musica è pubblicata da Universal Edition Vienna e è stata registrata su Deux-Elles e Navona. La sua commissione più recente è un’opera nuova per l’ocarinista Fabio Galliani, famoso in tutto il mondo. A Bologna Salvage canta tenore nella Cappella Musicale di San Petronio e dà concerti col trombettista Marco Trebbi (Duo Himmel). È sposato con tre figli.

“Piece with a New Pencil”

Albumleaf 187: December 27, 2021 (Bologna)

Moments from Proust IV

“The Baron Laughs and Françoise Starts Again” Albumleaf 186: December 3, 2021 (Bologna) M. de Charlus, with a tolerant, genial, insolent smile, replied: “Why, that’s not of the slightest importance, here!” And he gave a little laugh that was all his own–a laugh that came down to him probably from some Bavarian or Lorraine grandmother, […]

“Fast Horns”

Albumleaf 185: October 19, 2021 (Bologna)

FELSINA ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE

An hour-long disc of my piano compositions inspired by Bologna now out from Deux-Elles Records. For purchase here and streaming on all the platforms You can also purchase a signed copy directly from me. See the SCORES page for my contact information. Meantime, enjoy the music video we filmed last January here in Bologna!

“Two Draughts from Lago Lambin”

Albumleaf 184: September 10, 2021 (Bologna)

Moments from Proust. III. “Saint-Loup’s Watch”

Albumleaf 183: August 20, 2021 (Bologna) I heard the tick of Saint-Loup’s watch, which could not be far away. The tick changed place every moment, for I could not see the watch; it seemed to come from behind, from in front of me, from my right, from my left; sometimes to die away as though […]

Moments from Proust. II. “The Restaurant at Rivebelle”

Albumleaf 182: June 14, 2021 (Bologna) . . . this music that greeted our ears—arrangements of waltzes of German operettas, of music-hall songs, all of them quite new to me—was itself like an ethereal pleasure-dome superimposed upon the other and more intoxicating still.  [. . .]  But while I was humming softly to myself the […]

Moments from Proust. I. Dreams of Travel and of Love

Albumleaf 181: May 3, 2021 (Bologna) Thus, if I always imagined the woman I loved surrounded by the places I longed for most at the time, if I would have liked her to be the one who took me to visit them, who opened the way for me into an unknown world, it was not […]

“180”

Albumleaf 180: February 15, 2021 (Bologna) A cutesy one for the music-theory geeks. (A little circle of fifths and geometry, and you should get the idea.)

“Affannato”

Albumleaf 179: February 5, 2021 (Bologna) “Breathless”