The Càlamus Clarinet Ensemble is a group based at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory in Catania.
Its musical director is Carmelo Dell’Acqua.
The ensemble members have attended masterclasses withRichard Stoltzman, Antony Pay, Karl Leister, Gervase de Peyer, Andrew Marriner, Alfred Prinz, Giuseppe Garbarino, Ciro Scarponi, Alessandro Carbonare, Fabrizio Meloni, Calogero Palermo, Vincenzo Paci, Antonio Capolupo, Giovanni Punzi, Michele Marelli, Kevin Spagnolo, Alessandro Cirrito, Joë Christophe, Sérgio Pires, and Vicente Alberola, Rossana Rossignoli; they are active in otherchamber music groups and have won various national and international competitions.
The ensemble has participated in major music festivals and productions across Italy and has performed at the 6th EuropeanClarinet Festival in Camerino (Macerata, Italy); the International Youth Music Festival at Heldburg and Tambach Castles in Rodachtal, Germany; the Het Swik Festival at the Kielzog TheatreKunstencentrum in Hoogezand-Sappemeer, Netherlands; the International ClarinetFest in Ostend, Belgium; the Gran Canaria International Clarinet Festival at the Teatro de Culturas in Arinaga; the 11th European Clarinet Congress at the Krzysztof PendereckiAcademy of Music in Kraków, Poland; the 12th European ClarinetCongress at the Fontys Academy of the Arts in Tilburg, Netherlands; the International ClarinetFest at the Convention Centre Auditorium in Dublin, Ireland; the 13th European Clarinet Congress at the Palatine Chapel in Salerno, Italy; the 5th and 6th „Portus Naonis” International Festival at the former Convent of San Francesco in Pordenone, Italy; and the 23rd „Clarinettissimo” Wind Festival at the „Guido Cantelli” Conservatory in Novara.
The ensemble has premiered more than 30 musical compositions.In 2005, they performed Philip Glass’s „Company” in the new version for clarinet ensemble composed by Thomas Lawrence Toscano: the piece was concerted and performed for the first timeduring a meeting with the famous American composer. In 2008, the ensemble participated in the creation of Paolo Buonvino’s soundtrack for the television series „Il commissario Manara,” produced and broadcast by RAI 2. In 2019, they performed pieces from KarlheinzStockhausen’s „Tierkreis” in the version composed for solo clarinetand clarinet ensemble by Michele Marelli.
The Càlamus clarinet ensemble has collaborated with: ElifAksoy, Vicente Alberola, John de Beer, Paolo Beltramini, Antonio Capolupo, Radovan Cavallin, Joë Christophe, Alessandro Cirrito, Ron Daelemans, Paolo De Gaspari, Andrea Fallico, Wenzel Fuchs, Corrado Giuffredi, Manuel Jodar, Michele Marelli, Andrew Marriner, Giovanni Mattaliano, Fabrizio Meloni, Patrick Messina, Gabriele Mirabassi, Susan Moss, Vincenzo Paci, Nicolai Pfeffer, Sérgio Pires, Giovanni Punzi, Milan Rericha, Kevin Spagnolo, and the Capriccio Clarinet Orchestra (NL).
The ensemble’s performances have been broadcast by Rai International, Rai 3, Filodiffusione Nazionale, Vatican Radio, and Mittel Deutscher Rundfunk.
The repertoire, both original and transcribed, includescompositions from the Middle Ages to contemporary music, includingpieces from ethnic music and jazz. The transcriptions, by Marco Monitto, are published by MDS-Edition, Ebensee (Austria) and SMP Press, Emeryville (California), while those by Natale Tomarchio are published by Eufonia Edizioni and Sheetmusicdirect.
In 2015, the Càlamus ensemble represented the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali „Vincenzo Bellini” of Catania at the EXPO in Milan.
The ensemble has recorded for Suvini-Zerboni, City Record, and RaiTrade.
