"Maestro Nicotra's teaching is based upon the physical relationship between your hands and the sound, not just the tedious process of memorizing every shade of ink in the score.  Thus you are always in contact with the music and ideally never making any movements that are unnecessary.  This has helped me tremendously as an instrumentalist as well, as I have largely eliminated "coasting" or "checking-out" from my playing.  Although I am a percussionist, I have learned how to breathe with my orchestra as though I was a wind player or a string player retaking a bow."

"Maestro ENNIO NICOTRA is a thoroughly devoted Master Teacher, an incredibly clear and expressive conductor ...

in addition, he has a warm and generous spirit. I highly recommend his Masterclasses in the legendary Ilya Musin Method."

LEE MUSIKER -  NYC based Grammy & Emmy Award winning Pianist, Arranger, Conductor, Music Director.

"I met Maestro Nicotra about 10 years ago for some master classes with orchestra which he held in Madrid for the Carlos de Amberes Foundation.

Afterwards I followed him everywhere, both in Spain and in Italy.

From the first moment I was struck by his teachings because above all he always referred to the appropriate gesture that illustrated music, its character.

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"The Musin method is simple, intuitive, communicative, solid and deeply detailed.

It provides the possibility to solve any expressive technical difficulty that presents itself.

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"I was very fortunate to start studying 'well and on time'. Well, because of the quality of tuition I received; on time, because often those who start studying orchestral conducting after having been instinctively self-taught, or after learning other techniques, find it difficult to deconstruct all of the knowledge they have learned. I was on the verge of being "on time" when I started studying orchestral conducting, aged 17.

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“Ennio’s teaching and techniques were truly transformative!  An enlightening experience to learn from him.

Ennio has given me new understandings and approaches to music and conducting.  My conducting improved dramatically in a short span of time thanks to Ennio and the pedagogy of Ilya Musin.”

"I attended a conducting Master Class in Mirano (Venice) Italy in the summer of 2014.

I was not sure what to expect at first, but as soon as I walked in the classroom people were having fun and laughing. Within minutes, I felt welcomed and that I belonged in the class.

Unlike anyone else, Maestro Ennio Nicotra, has the ability to break down a master piece of a great composer into a single measure to illustrate the importance of gesture of conducting, maintaining dynamics, rhythms, contour and all the elements of music, without losing the overall picture of the piece.

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“Studying Musin technique with Ennio Nicotra was an extraordinary and transformational experience.

As conductors we strive to connect sound with gesture, but we are too often trapped in monotonous beat patterns that prohibit our communication. Through Ennio’s passionate and patient teaching, he helps students to become freer and more deeply connected to the music and moment. Ennio is carrying on a tremendous legacy, and I would encourage any conductor serious about improving their musicality and skills to take advantage of the opportunity to work with him.”

Rachel L. Waddell - Director of Orchestras, University of Rochester (NY), Former Associate Conductor, Canton Symphony Orchestra (OH)

"I graduated in composition under the guidance of Maestro Mauro Cardi, and in conducting with honors under the guidance of Maestro Alessandro Pinzauti at the Luigi Cherubini conservatory in Florence in 2011.

I have suffered from birth with spastic quadriparesis, caused by a twin birth and all of my body movements are slow.

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“Ennio Nicotra was able to instruct me on the clarity of the gesture, which must be simultaneously expressive and an exact reference for the whole orchestra.

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"As an active collaborative pianist, I've had several opportunities to work with the finest musicians and conductors in the States, Europe, and the Middle East.

During a full week of a Conducting Master Class with Maestro Nicotra in Lebanon, I realised from day one that I was playing under the baton of one of the finest and most knowledgeable conductors I had ever met.

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"I met Maestro Ennio Nicotra in 2013, during one of his master classes in Rome. Thanks to this opportunity I got to know the Musin system and to enter this totally new world for me.

I want to emphasise that I was already a graduate in conducting and composition. I’d also spent 7 years studying the clarinet. I understood that it is a scientific system, conceived over the years by Maestro Musin, in a very complex way.

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"As a professional musician who has performed under batons of some of the best conductors in the field, I feel as though I know the “real thing” when I see it.

Ennio Nicotra is a world-class musician who has the grace and passion to transmit to his students not only the technique and craft of leading an orchestra in musical expression, but how to competently inspire joy and spirit- which are the reason we are in this business after all.

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"I first met Ennio in St Petersburg for a series of conducting masterclasses and was tremendously inspired by not only his insight into the pedagogy of conducting but also the stories and experiences that he so generously shared.

He brought energy and life to the music we studied and with humor, and much patience, guided the development of our gestures along the standards he himself learned from the legendary Ilya Musin. 

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“In Palermo there is not only an ideal climate and a culinary tradition to make your mouth water, but also the legacy of a legendary school of conducting, faithfully handed down by the great Ennio Nicotra!

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"Very often my courses are attended by composers. (Moreover, for a complete training of the student also the composition, like the management technique, must be an integral part of the young director's baggage).

A couple of times I happened to come across people who complained about a lack of contact with sound, and attributed the cause to the technologies that are nowadays used in recording rooms.

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"Ennio Nicotra is unquestionably one of the clearest and most communicative conductors worldwide. In my international concert activity of over 40 years I have rarely met a conductor who combines such qualities, essential for transmitting the interpretative spirit to the orchestra.

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“I have known Maestro Nicotra for many years now. Much of my conducting has been greatly influenced by his excellent teaching methods.

He invests a great amount of time as well as energy into his students and is able to respond to each and every student’s talents individually.

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"Great Ennio! The only true teacher of the art of conducting.

Innate talent, excellent technique and great ability to transmit it … and I still here to say Thank you!"

“Already, during my studies at the Moscow Conservatory, I had heard tales about Ilya Musin's conducting school in St. Petersburg.

And whilst continuing my conducting studies in Germany, I couldn’t believe how happy I was when I discovered that amongst us, there was one of his only students who had dedicated his life to this school.

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“I have studied conducting with Ennio and it was  transformatively positive experience.

I discovered Ennio through the Ilya Musin Society and his teaching through his excellent book and DVD. Prior to my studies with Ennio I had completed two degrees in conducting in Australia and studied with 2 other teachers from abroad.

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“After attending more than 30 conducting masterclasses around the world, I heard about this great teacher,

Maestro Nicotra, who is without  doubt the best orchestral conducting teacher in the world.

Thanks to his teaching in Italy during two years, I was able to conduct the National Symphony Orquestas of Argentina, Chile, Sâo Paulo, Fort Wayne, Ensemble Modern, among others.

Eternally grateful to Maestro Nicotra and Ilya Musin”

Francisco Brunner

....This is always a great week with Ennio and the orchestra. Nobody imparts the great man’s teaching like Ennio. And if you are wondering who the ‘great man’ is well, it’s our teacher the great Ilya Musin... 

"... on a personal note, I would like to add that keeping the legacy of this great teacher alive is an enormous challenge to us mere mortals.

Musin was a wonderful and hugely humble man, dedicated to the growth of his devoted students. The studies and the friendship I enjoyed with him will remain with me as some of the most important aspects of my life.

I feel it is of enormous credit to Ennio Nicotra that he manages to recreate this bond with his students and work with the most probing of expertise, whilst still keeping the humanity and humour we all enjoyed in the classes of Ilya Musin…"

 

Andrew Constantine Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra and Reading Symphony Orchestra chief conductor

'' The dream begins, most of the time, with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you on to the next plateau,  sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called truth. '' (Dan Rather)

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