Tommaso Ussardi

About

Composer and conductor, he graduated in composition, orchestral conducting and choral conducting at Conservatorio G.B. Martini in Bologna.
He continued his studies in Orchestral Conducting with internationally acclaimed conductors such as Luciano Acocella, Deyan Pavlov, Donato Renzetti and Daniele Gatti.
He conducted many productions with internationally renowned orchestras, theaters and festivals such as Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Haydn Orchestra, Bologna Festival, Musica Insieme, Stresa Festival and Anima Mundi Festival.
In 2023 he won the Abbiati prize from Italian music critics with the project “Opera Accessibile” (accessible opera) together with Orchestra Senzaspine, of which he has been founder and musical director since 2013.
Ussardi has collaborated with several internationally renowned artists such as Carolyn Carlson, Eric Vu-An, Mario Brunello, Enrico Dindo, Simone Alberghini, Bruno Praticò, Domenico Nordio, Pablo Zigler, Anna Tifu, Olaf Laneri, Laura Marzadori, Sofya Gulyak, Dejan Bogdanovich, Jonathan Roozeman, Salvatore Sciarrino, Silvia Colasanti and Carlo Boccadoro.

His expertise in contemporary repertoire allowed him to conduct world premiere works with Ensemble Istantanea (of which he is currently music director), Ensemble Res Umana, FontanaMix Ensemble, Quartet Fauves and Ensemble Contemporain de Lyon ensemble.
As a composer he is the winner of the following awards: Premio delle Arti and S'Illumina 2018 SIAE with Masnada “circus opera”. In 2023 he conducted his own composition, a new contemporary opera "E BUIO FU" commissioned by Comune di Bologna and premiered in Bologna.
He recorded several musical works, including Fantasie su temi verdiani (Fantasies on Themes by Verdi) by Pasculli together with oboist Paolo Grazia released by Tactus, the piano concerto No. 3 by Sergej Rachmaninov and Rhapsody in blue by George Gershwin together with pianist Pietro Beltrani for Da Vinci Classics label and the new work by composer and saxophonist Luigi Grasso entitled Dantesca released on the French record label LP3 45.
Tommaso Ussardi is always been very focused on musical education aimed at expanding and involving the audience, in particular he has developed several projects for children and for new listeners of classical music. In 2020 he was a judge for YAM Award.
Since October 2022 he has been teaching Harmony and Counterpoint at the Imola International Academy Foundation.