Piero Farulli (13 January 1920 – 2 September 2012) was born in Florence into a working-class family; he grew up during the turbulent years of the regime and experienced the spirit of dissent that led Rolando, one of his six brothers, to die fighting with the partisans in the streets of Florence during the Liberation.
In Piero’s formative years, the figures of his father and mother were joined by that of his godmother, Ida Beni, who played a very important role. A deeply religious woman, she was a second mother who recognised the talents of the young Farulli brothers and supported them in adventures that would otherwise have been unimaginable. She paid for Piero’s and his brother Fernando’s music lessons and continued to support them until they completed their studies, passing on to them an evangelical spirit that was never narrow-minded. Piero would preserve these teachings throughout his life, experiencing his profession as a musician as a way of giving back to everyone the immense gift he had received.
Piero Farulli regarded music as an ethical way of life and communicated his message with visceral passion throughout his life, considering it a true moral obligation to bring great music to all social groups. This led to the project of a School open to everyone – children and elderly people, professionals and amateurs – offering the opportunity to experience the great masterpieces with absolute rigour, but with equal dedication and care.
For more than thirty years, Piero Farulli was a member of the Quartetto Italiano, contributing with uncompromising dedication to the success of this ensemble, whose performances have become part of the history of great interpretation. He collaborated with the Amadeus Quartet, the Alban Berg Quartet and the Melos Quartet, as well as with his close friends of the Trio di Trieste. In 1983, together with Carlo Chiarappa, Andrea Tacchi and Andrea Nannoni, he founded the Nuovo Quartetto. A quartet teacher at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, he was Gastprofessor for viola at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He held postgraduate courses in string quartet playing at the Conservatories of Lucerne and Lausanne and at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. He was also a member of the jury on several occasions at international competitions such as the Tertis Competition in London, the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Quartet Competition held as part of the Prague Spring Festival.
In 1974, he founded the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, to which he devoted all his energy and imagination, developing a wide range of effective, original and innovative educational projects, including the training programme of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana. For his educational work, he received the M. Mila Prize and the Abbiati Prize of the Associazione Nazionale Critici Musicali. A member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Meritorious Service to Art and Culture and the rank of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He received the Yehudi Menuhin Prize “a la integración de la Educación y las Artes” on the recommendation of the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. In June 2001, he was awarded the extraordinary Pegaso d’Oro by the Region of Tuscany “for his exceptional commitment as an artist, educator and citizen”. He received the Special Prize of the Associazione Toscana – USA, awarded to “distinguished and highly qualified figures from Tuscany and the United States for their contribution to strengthening cultural, economic and friendly relations between Tuscany and the United States of America”. He was honoured by the Nino Carloni Foundation with the first edition of its Special Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2005, on behalf of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, he received the Special Prize of the President of the Italian Republic, awarded on the recommendation of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He was Honorary President of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole.