Vagnini studied organ, composition and electronic music at the “G. Rossini” conservatory in Italy and at the Georgia State University in Atlanta, USA. He graduated in organ, organ composition with Professor Armando Pierucci and in electronic music with Professor Eugenio Giordani from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica in Pesaro (Italy).
He attended several prestigious Organ masterclasses with famous organists such as Monserrat Torrent, Michael Radulescu, Liuwe Tamminga, André Isoir, Sarah L. Martin.
Vagnini has taught organ and composition at the Conservatories in Verona and L'Aquila (Italy).
From 1986 to 2013 he has been Art Director of the International Organ Festival at Santa Maria Nuova in Fano, Italy, where internationally acclaimed organists performed, including Liuwe Tamminga, Michael Radulescu, Arturo Sacchetti, Gaston Litaize and Odile Pierre.
In 1997 he starts developing a new composing methodology, specifically applied to music, called ModulArt, which is today his main field of research.
Since 2003, together with soprano Giorgia Ragni, he forms a musical duo in art and in life called Aidaduo. Aidaduo researches, elaborates and creates new kind of concerts and Modular performances which are presented through seminars and conferences in Universities and cultural centers around the world.
Works
Concerts as organist and choir director in Italy,[1] U.S.A (’86,’08,’09,’10,’11,’12), Germany (’92,’93,’99,’06, ’12), Austria (’99), Switzerland (’99,’10), Russia (‘95), Brazil (’95,’98), Argentina (’95,’98), Uruguay (’95,’98), China (’98,’16,’17,’18), Spain (’05,’07) England (’11), Scotland (’12), Denmark (’12), Poland (’12,’14), Finland (’12), Holland (’12), South Korea (’13,’14,’15,’16,’17), Japan (’16,’17,’18), France (’89,’06,’12,’19 ).
Vagnini has conducted the Slave Song gospel choir[2] and the Mezio Agostini opera choir in Fano, Italy.
Compositions and performances
Ballet
Cappuccetto Rosso: Saint-Ouen-l’Aumône, performed in France and Fano (Italy)
Le Fou de Notre Dame: choreographer Sylvie Roukhadze’
Kroma
Theater
Waiting for Godot: Transteatro Fano Production, director Massimo Puliani, Napoli and Roma (Italy)
Beijing Concert Hall (China), 1998, first sacred opera authorized by the Chinese Popular Authority;
Fano (Italy), Corte Malatestiana, 1998
Sao Paulo, Monasterio de Sao Bento, 1998
Montevideo, 1998
Buenos Aires, San Telmo Cathedral, 1998
Berlin, Kaiser Wilhelm Kirche, 2003
Salzburg (Austria), Dome, 1999
Lausanne (Switzerland), Cathedral, 1999
Potsdam (Germany), 1999
Biberach (Germany), 1999
Rastatt (Germany), 1999
Geislingen an der Steige (Germany), 1999
Warstein (Germany), 1999
Darmstadt (Germany), 2000
Tolentino (Italy), Saint Nicola Sanctuary
Fossano (Italy)
Cermenate (Italy)
AiDADUO
AiDADUO Style is a combination of classical music (piano and soprano) incorporating literature, cinema and fine arts mixed with a constant innovative, experimental and ironic research.
AiDADUO Performance-shows
Aenigma: performed in
Alessandria (Italy), 2004
Viareggio (Italy), 2005
Il Viaggio Sospeso: performed in
Tolentino (Italy), Cappellone of San Nicola, 2005
Back to Bach: performed in
Narbonne (France), 2006
Fabrezan (France), 2006
El Medano, Tenerife (Spain), 2007
Ouroburos: performed in Fano (Italy), Santa Maria Nuova church, 2007
Toccate, Voli e ricercari su Salve Regina: performed in Bologna (Italy), San Giacomo Maggiore Church, 2007
Gabersuite: performed in Fano (Italy), in the “Testi e Tasti” Festival, 2009
EatalianGrandpianofood: performed in Washington D.C. (USA), Italian Embassy, 2010
Sacrariae: performed in
Rome (Italy), St Paul's Within the Walls Cathedral, 2010[3]
Small Packages from Italy: performed in Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Carrollton Cultural Art Center, in November 2010
Christmas Alio Modo: performed in Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Tanner Hospital Harmony for Healing, in December 2010
Visions: performed in Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Carrollton Cultural Art Center, in January 2011
The Gothic Dream: performed in Carrollton, Georgia (USA), University of West Georgia, in February 2011. Modular project comminssioned by the University of West Georgia
The Zoo Modular project: performed at the West Georgia University, Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Masterclass, Music Department, January 2011
Sweet Suite Life: performed at the West Georgia University, Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Masterclass, Music and Silent Movie, Music History class, Music Department, April 2011
ModulArt in Poetry: performed at the West Georgia University, Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Masterclass, Creative writing class, English Department, February 2012
Assembling Forests: performed at the West Georgia University, Carrollton, Georgia (USA), Masterclass, Theater class, Theater Department, February 2012
FaceBach: performed at the Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland. Masterclass on Bach's interpretation and combination of his works together with contemporary composers such as J. Cage, C. Berberian, K. Stockhausen, by Giorgia Ragni and Stefano Vagnini, June 2012.
KosmodulArt: Mitocosmi and Slamodie Subliminali: San Francesco church, Fano Italy. Modular performance for piano (Stefano Vagnini), Soprano (Giorgia Ragni), Narrators (Marco Florio and Ardo Quaranta) and video. Produced by Stefano Vagnini and Giorgia Ragni. Narrators' script by Ardo Quaranta. August 2012.
Sono Ergo Sum: performed at the S. Domenico Pinacoteque, Fano Italy. First Baroque, Contemporary and Modular Music Festival, July 2014.[5]
Piano solo
Il Punto G: Cagli Teatro Comunale (Italy), “Testi e Tasti” Festival
Aspettando Godot + Not Film: Fano (Italy), “Testi e Tasti” Festival
ModulArt
ModulArt in a new composing methodology theorized and applied to music by Vagnini.[6] The modular composition system extends its procedure to compositions licensed by the musician as completed works of art. To these compositions, new modules can be overlapped. The new modules can be added by the same author in a different moment or by different authors. Greek History University Professor Umberto Bultrighini describes "Vagnini's ability to satisfy old needs and combine them with modern technology. ModulArt as the key answer to the need of defining the artist's work, finding the right balance between art, audience and copyrights".[7] Vagnini's ModulArt is theorized and applied in a theoretical book,[8] in a book + DVD of modular poems[9] and a cd.[10] Writer, painter, and art theorist Gian Ruggero Manzoni described the modularity of Vagnini's compositions as “circular like the existence, his works are not finished, but merely stimulus for new voices”.[11]
Vagnini's ModulArt in musical composition coincides and was developed independently during the same period of time with Leda Luss Luyken'sModulArt in the realm of painting.
ModulArt Projects
Via Crucis
Zoo – world modular project performed in Italy June 2002, Festival Villa e Castella, art director Nino Finauri[12] and in Sunny Isles Beach Miami, May 2009[13]
Zero
Aenigma
Messa Picena
ModulArt Performances
Back to Bach
Sconcerto
Gabersuite
SacrAriae
Small Packages from Italy
Visions
The Gothic Dream
Sweet Suite Life
Volare
FaceBach
KosmodulArt
Sono Ergo Sum
Publications
1986 – Isola di Koch – LP recorded and performed in Notre Dame de Paris (France), “L’orgue du Dimanche” Organ Festival (Ed. Nautilus, Fano)
1994 – Nicolaus – CD (Ed. Bongiovanni, Bologna)
2002 – Via Crucis – CD (Ed. Falcon Valley Music, Roma)
2002 – The Modular Method in Music – Book (Ed. Falcon Valley Music, Roma)
2003 – Messa Picena (Ed. Falcon Valley Music, Roma)
2007 – Salmodiesubliminali – Poems’ Book + DVD (Ed. Campanotto, Udine)
2014 – De Revolutionibus, Homage to Nicolaus Copernicus – CD – Modular Project for Organ (Stefano Vagnini) and Soprano (Giorgia Ragni) Recorded and Published in Przeczno Poland.
2018 – Ergo Sum, deep music experience- Book, a new program/therapy which combines music with mathematics in order to re-organize and rehabilitate emotional disorders and slow down degenerative diseases (Dementia and Alzheimer).[14]
Notes
^EDT Editor, Opera 2006. Annuario dell'Opera lirica in italia, 2006, pp 74
^Primavera Organistica, Ligornetto, Switzerland "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-07-06. Retrieved 2011-03-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
