Biography

Stefano Burbi was born in Florence. At only 4 years old, he already showed a strong musical inclination and started taking piano lessons with Maestra Antonini. He continued his studies at the Conservatory Luigi Cherubini in Florence. From 1984 to 1992 he conducted many concerts under the aegis of the municipality of Florence, which were always appreciated by the public as well as by his critics. He was also the guest conductor with many other orchestras, such as “Antonio Vivaldi” orchestra.

In 1986, in Forte dei Marmi, Maestro Burbi conducted the Requiem that he had composed in remembrance of Maestro Abussi, a legendary concert master of Maggio Musicale Orchestra of Florence.

He then decided to leave Italy and move to Canada, to Toronto, where he had been summoned by important local institutions. He was also the cultural coordinator of the Italian-Canadian School Center in the Columbus Center. In this capacity he met various figures of the Italian culture, who were passing through Canada, like Uto Ughi, Roberto Benigni and Claudio Magris.

During these years he was often invited to appear on Canadian television for cultural debates on various themes dedicated to the Italian community, which was particularly large in Toronto. In this open and cosmopolitan North-American city, after improving as an orchestra conductor, the Maestro was officially declared a composer. He steadily conducted the Toronto Academy Orchestra and was the guest conductor of the eminent Canadian Chamber Academy. In 1993, as a token of recognition and appreciation for the music written by the Florentine musician, the musicians appointed him as “composer in residence”.

At the head of this orchestra, Mr. Burbi held a memorable concert in Toronto, dedicated to the city of Florence struck by the attack in “Georgofili Street”. The concert was sponsored by the Tuscan Region and by the Italian Consulate in Toronto. With this concert, which also included some of his personal compositions Mr. Burbi became popular in the musical environment in Canada, both as an orchestra conductor and as a composer.

His piece, which was specially written for Florence after the attack, ” a superb adagio for violin, viola and strings ” really impressed the public. After the concert a Canadian producer and a movie director approached him and asked him to write the soundtrack of a documentary about the famous Milanese, but Florentine by adoption, painter, Pietro Annigoni, “Annigoni: Portrait of an Artist“. Mr. Burbi enthusiastically accepted this offer and, in April 1994, returned to Florence with this pleasant commission.

He founded the Nova Harmonia Orchestra, with which he recorded the music he composed for the film “Annigoni: Portrait of an Artist”.

In 1996, he once again received an important acknowledgement from Canada: at the International Festival of Documentary Films in Toronto, the jury awarded his music the best soundtrack for documentary films. The record was sold in Canada and received unanimous approval from both the audience and the critics.

In 2006 he founded the New Italian Camerata Orchestra, with which he held many concerts in Florence.

Since 2007, Burbi has been the steady conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florence. In the last few years, Stefano Burbi has written (and is still writing) charming soundtracks which have immediate expressiveness. He has been  the president of Associazione Mozart Italia, Florence from 2007 to 2011. His works have been performed in 2012 at the famous Festival Pucciniano and Estate Fiesolana.