Composer and instrument player

On 27th April 1922 Nicodemo Bruzzone, one of the most important composer, instrumentalist and teacher of the local scene, was born in Sanremo.

He studied the violin under the guidance of Maestro Francesco Sfilio, and then began to work as a conductor and arranger.
He conducted the orchestras "Ritmo Bianco" and "Orchestra Bruzzone", he was founder of the band "Matüssia Canta e Sciuscia" (local folk Band) in 1949, then he was band master and director of mandolin formations.

He collaborated with the famous singer Nella Colombo.
He lived in London between 1957 and 1966.

One of his compositions was recorded in 1958 in Germany by Alfred Hause's Rhythmosinfonica Orchestra on a Polydor record, while his character music was recovered after his death by his pupil Freddy Colt, scientifically catalogued and partly recorded in various CDs.

He died in Fossano on 1st June 1998.

One year after his death, in 1999, he was proclaimed "Honorary President ad memoriam" of the "Stan Kenton" Study Centre.

In 2009 Maestro Carlo Aonzo chose a composition by Bruzzone as the object of study in one of his mandolin masterclasses held in New York.
Bruzzone and his music have finally crossed the ocean.

The following year the piece "Da un balcone ungherese" was recorded by the maestro from Savona together with the pianist Elena Buttiero in the CD "Fantasia poetica" next to music by Beethoven, Carlo Munier and Raffaele Calace.

Also in 2010 the Sanremo Workers' Federation named its "Atelier musicale" after Nicodemo Bruzzone.

(source: Marco Mauro)