Gianneo Quartet
The Gianneo Quartet, consisting of Nicolás Giordano and Sebastián Masci on violins, José García on viola, and Esdras Campos on cello, was founded in 2000 and is one of the longest-standing ensembles in Argentina.
The ensemble has been honored four times with the “Best Chamber Music Ensemble” award by the Argentine Association of Music Critics (2007, 2009, 2015, and 2017) and was nominated for the 2015 Carlos Gardel Award in the Best Classical Music Album category. In addition, the Buenos Aires City Legislature designated the members of the Gianneo Quartet as “Distinguished Cultural Figures” in 2018. It also received the Konex Diploma of Merit and the 2019 Konex Platinum Award as the best chamber ensemble of the past decade, presented by the Konex Foundation.
He is highly active in the field of chamber music, having performed in over 500 concerts, with a particular focus on the repertoire of Argentine composers; he is recognized as the leading exponent of Argentine repertoire for this ensemble, having premiered over a hundred works.
The Gianneo Quartet has performed at Argentina’s most prestigious concert venues, including the Teatro Colón, the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, the Palacio Libertad, the Usina del Arte, the San Juan Auditorium, the Córdoba Cultural Center, the Misiones Knowledge Center, the San Martín Theater in Córdoba, the San Martín Theater in Tucumán, the Konex Foundation, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Decorative Arts, and Radio Nacional, among others.
Abroad, he has performed at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico (in 2010, as the sole Argentine representative), in Uruguay at the Mozarteum and the Teatro Solís in Montevideo, and in Colombia at the Buga International Classical Music Festival.
His first album, *“Integral para cuarteto de Luis Gianneo” Volume 1*, released on the Tradition label, garnered widespread attention and received glowing reviews from music critics. His second CD, designated as being of “Cultural Interest” by the Buenos Aires City Legislature, featured Argentine works in their world premiere recordings and was nominated for the Carlos Gardel Award.
The Gianneo Quartet performed Alberto Ginastera’s complete works for string quartet for the first time in Argentina during the centennial of his birth, including the Argentine premiere of his Third Quartet. He also gave the world premiere of Luis Gianneo’s string quartet in the Golden Hall of the Teatro Colón, as part of a tribute marking the 50th anniversary of the composer’s death.
He also performed as a soloist in the subscription series with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra at the Teatro Colón, giving the Argentine premiere of Eugene Ysaye’s “Harmonies du Soir.” He produced the series “Beethoven & Co.” on Radio Nacional, featuring complete performances of works for string quartet by Beethoven and Argentine composers.
He recently released his third CD featuring the complete works for string quartet by Luis Gianneo.
Members
Nicolás Giordano Pisano, a Uruguayan violinist and violist, is a professor of violin and viola at the University School of Music (UDELAR – Uruguay) and Sup. Soloist of the Teatro Colón Permanent Orchestra (Argentina).
He earned his degrees from the Municipal School of Music in Montevideo, CODARTS Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in the United States. He studied under Julio Levinas, Andras Czifra, Natasja Morozova, Fernando Hasaj, Gordan Nikolic, and Mauricio Fuks.
He has performed as a soloist with the OSSODRE, the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra (Uruguay), the YOA Orchestra of the Americas (Canada and China), the H. Ruvalcaba Chamber Orchestra and the Xalapa Philharmonic (Mexico), the CODARTS Chamber Orchestra (Netherlands), the Santa Fe Provincial Orchestra (Argentina), and the National Orchestra of Honduras.
He has given chamber music recitals in various venues throughout his country, as well as in Spain, Brazil, the Netherlands, the United States, Panama, Argentina, and Mexico.
He was a member of the Orchestra of the Americas (YOA) from 2003 to 2010, serving as concertmaster on tours of Mexico (2004), as principal violist on the 2009 U.S.-Canada tour, and as a soloist on the 2011 tour of China. Over the past 20 years, he has performed with various orchestras, collaborating with conductors and soloists of the caliber of Valery Gergiev, Claudio Abbado, Gustavo Dudamel, Benjamin Zander, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Joshua Bell, Julian Rachlin, Mistlav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Gordan Nikolic, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, Leonidas Kavakos, Gary Hoffman, Paquito D’Rivera, and Ilya Kaler, among others.
He was a permanent member of the first violin section of the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra (Netherlands) from 2006 to 2009 and principal second violinist of the Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra from 2009 to 2013. From 2015 to 2024, he served as guest concertmaster of the Concepción Symphony Orchestra (Chile).
He has taught at various international music courses and festivals in Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Jamaica, the United States, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Argentina, South Korea, and Mexico.
In recognition of his social and artistic contributions in Latin America, Giordano was awarded the “Hildegard Behrens Young Artists” Prize (U.S.) in July 2010 and the “Morosoli” Prize for Uruguayan Culture in December 2011.
Sebastián Masci, Argentine violinist and violist. National Music Professor at the “Carlos L. Buchardo” National Conservatory of Music< and holder of a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the National University of the Arts, specializing in violin.
Award for “Best Performer of Argentine Music” at the 2007 SADAIC Grand Awards in the Concert Music category. Prominent cultural figure
2019 Konex and Platinum Konex Awards for the Gianneo Quartet. Awards in 2007, 2009, 2015, 2017, and 2024 for “Best Chamber Music Ensemble” presented to the Gianneo Quartet and the Trío del Este. 2022 Radio Nacional Clásica Award for the dissemination and promotion of Argentine music.
Full professor in the Department of Violin and Chamber Music at the “Astor Piazzolla” Conservatory of Music. Full-time professor of the Argentine Music Workshop at the same conservatory.
He has led the 1st Advanced Violin Seminar on Argentine Music Repertoire at the Astor Piazzolla Conservatory of Music and the National University of Tucumán, as well as master classes at the Julián Aguirre Provincial Conservatory in Banfield, and in Dolores, Ushuaia, Córdoba, and Oberá, Misiones, among other locations.
In the field of chamber music, he has been a founding member of the multi-award-winning Gianneo Quartet for 25 years. He has a repertoire of Argentine music comprising more than 400 works and has recorded seven albums of Argentine music.
He was a member of the L.R.A.1 National Radio Youth Orchestra, the Camerata Bariloche, the Mayo Chamber Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Chamber Opera Ensemble and Permanent Orchestra of the Teatro Colón. He currently plays in the first violin section of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra.
He studied chamber music with Estela Kersembaum-Olevsky (University of Massachusetts), José Bondar, Elías Khayat, and Andrés Spiller. He received a scholarship through a competitive selection process from the Antorchas Foundation and the National Arts Fund to pursue advanced studies.
Luis Roggero, an Argentine violinist, studied violin with Doro Gorgatti, Humberto Carfi, and Ljerko Spiller. With a scholarship from the Shaw Foundation, he furthered his studies at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Gstaad under Alberto Lysy, Robert Masters, and Félix Andreyevsky, and took master classes with Sandor Vegh and Yehudi Menuhin.
He was a member of the World Youth Orchestra and the Camerata Lysy-Gstaad, performing as a soloist. He has performed in Argentina’s leading concert halls and as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, and the country’s most prominent orchestras.
He was a professor at the National University of San Juan and an instructor with the Teatro Colón Academic Orchestra. He was the concertmaster and a founding member of the Mayo Chamber Orchestra. He served as first violinist of the Argentine Quartet. He was the principal concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra. He made the world’s first recording of Luis Gianneo’s “AYMARA” concert.
He conducted the Chamber Orchestra of the Los Espejos Cultural Center in Santa Fe and the Chamber Orchestra of the Municipality of Córdoba. As a conductor and soloist, he toured the Netherlands, performing Vivaldi–Piazzolla’s “The Four Seasons” at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He conducted and performed as a soloist with the Camerata de Costa Rica and the Camerata Kiew. He is the first violinist of the prestigious Argentine string quartet, the CUARTETO GIANNEO.
Esdras Daniel Campos Kalaidjian, an Argentine cellist. He was born in Resistencia, Chaco Province, Argentina, on October 10, 1987. He began his musical studies at the age of 10 at the “Lilia Yolanda Pereno de Elizondo” School of Music, studying cello with Héctor Ruiz and clarinet with Alberto Campos.
In 2002, he received a scholarship from the Antorchas Foundation to further his studies in cello. In 2004, he was once again awarded a scholarship from the Antorchas Foundation for chamber music. He participated in the Campos de Jordão International Festival in 2007 and 2008. He received a scholarship from the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2011 and 2012. Winner of the “Nicolás Finoli” Award at the 4th Latin American Cello Festival (2012).
He was a member of the String Orchestra of the “Lilia Yolanda Pereno de Elizondo” Higher Institute of Music Education, the Morón Chamber Orchestra, the Student Orchestra of the “Astor Piazzolla” Higher Conservatory of Music of the City of Buenos Aires, the Neuquén Provincial Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra of Rio de Janeiro (2009–2010), the Córdoba Provincial Symphony Orchestra, the Teatro Colón Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Teatro Colón Permanent Orchestra. From 2014 to 2024, he was the principal soloist with the Bahía Blanca Symphony Orchestra.
He was invited to teach at the Sembrando Talentos Festival in 2011, 2012, and 2014 in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 2011, he taught an advanced cello course at the University of Music in Montevideo. En 2014 y 2015 dirigió y dictó cursos de violoncello en el Festival de Violoncellos, desarrollado en el Conservatorio de Música y el Teatro Municipal de Bahía Blanca.
He studied at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts under the guidance of Professor Jan Ickert.
He is currently the principal soloist of the National Symphony Orchestra and remains very active as a teacher and chamber musician.
