Giovanni Menna

Biography

Giovanni Menna was born in 1988 in Perugia and started his viola studies at the conservatory of music there. He then moved to Berlin to continue his studies with professor Hartmut Rohde and the Artemis quartet at the University of Arts, followed by a continuation of his studies with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler school for music where he completed his Masters degree in 2019. He has taken masterclasses with Yuri Bashmet, Bruno Giuranna, Lorenzo Corti and Hatto Beyerle.

Giovanni won the first prize at the “Rassegna Musicale” Vittorio Veneto and received the sponsorship prize from the “Amici Della Musica di Perugia”. He has given many concerts as a soloist and chamber musician including at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, in the chamber music series of the BRSO, And at the Lingotto Festival in Turin. He also regularly performs with his trio in and around Munich and recorded ‘Chant d’Opression’ for the label Brilliant Classic André Jolivets. 

He has also coached the Viola sections of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and the Vbw-Festivalorchester at the Festival der Nationen. 

In the season 2010/2011 he was in the orchestral Academy of the DSO Berlin and then member of the Berlin Philharmonic Academy until 2013. As a substitute he has regularly played with the Filarmonica Della Scala, symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Turin, As Principal with the Hyogo performing arts centre Orchestra and as sub principle with the Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. 

Since 2014 he is a member of the Symphonieorchester of the Bavarian Radio in Munich.