New musical partnerships and record deals are normally announced by means of an emailed press release. However, yesterday Italian Conductor Gianandrea Noseda announced his latest venture, Musica Italiano, at an event at the Italian Embassy in London. It was hosted by the Italian Ambassador Alain Giorgio Maria Economides, who described Noseda as 'universally admired and quintessentially Italian at the same time', and 'one of the main cultural ambassadors in the world for us'.

Musica Italiana is a three-way collaboration between Noseda, British independent record label Chandos, and the important Italian music publisher Universal Music Publishing Ricordi. Noseda will be working with two orchestras - the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester with whom he now holds the title of Conductor Laureate, and the orchestra and chorus of Teatro Regio Torino where he is currently Musical Director. They will record two discs a year under the Musica Italiana title. The venture will mean that, despite Noseda's recent departure from the BBC Philharmonic, his artistic ties with the UK will remain close. Speaking at the event, Noseda said how pleased he was with his continuing relationship with the BBC Philharmonic, as he didn't want to lose "the incredible music making and the incredible musical ability we achieved in the last decade".

This music making will now be channelled into broadening beyond opera the public knowledge of 20th-Century Italian music. The discs will focus on previously unrecorded symphonic repertoire by the main 20th-Century Italian symphonic composers including Alfedo Casella, Goffredo Petrassi and Ildebrando Pizzetti. The first CD, which is due for release in June 2012, will see Noseda conducting the BBC Philharmonic in works by Casella, including A notte alta, the symphonic fragments from the opera La donna serpente, and the Concerto per Orchestra. It follows on neatly from their recording première last year of Casella's practically unknown Symphony No 2. The first disc of the project is set for release in June 2012.

Essentially then, this is a marrying together through Noseda of the two musical worlds of Great Britain and Italy, their overall musical aim to push previously unheard Italian repertoire into the international arena. Richard Wigley, General Manager of the BBC Philharmonic, summed things up. 'Noseda is the common denominator here', he said. 'He is the person that, when I first arrived at the Philharmonic, was talking about Casella, and he'd already recorded a number of Italian composers that no-one had heard of. So, for me this feels like a very natural extension. Plus, it's with Chandos, the fantastic record company that plugs the gaps that nobody else does. Without them doing this, recordings such as Casella's Second Symphony wouldn't be heard'. He finished, 'It's nice to work with people you admire, but it's even greater to work with people you really like, and that's why I'm so pleased that Chandos, Teatro Reggio and Gianandrea, have pulled together this extraordinary thing'.

Charlotte Gardner