The violist Piero Farulli, who played in the Quartetto Italiano for 30 years, has died in Mugello at the age of 92.

Born in Florence in 1920, he joined the Quartetto Italiano – then called the Nuovo Quartetto Italiano – in 1947, replacing Lionello Forzanti, who co-founded the group in 1945. The quartet toured frequently across Europe and the United States and made acclaimed recordings of the Mozart and Beethoven quartet cycles, the late Schubert quartets, and the quartets by Debussy, Ravel and Webern.

In 1977 Farulli fell ill and was replaced in the group, which disbanded within a few years. Farulli founded the Nuovo Quartetto in 1983 with Carlo Chiarappa, Andrea Tacchi and Andrea Nannoni. He also collaborated with the Amadeus Quartet, the Alban Berg Quartet, the Melos Ensemble and the Trieste Trio.

While still a member of the Quartetto Italiano, Farulli taught in Florence, and in 1974 founded the Fiesole School of Music. He was an influential teacher of young quartets, and taught quartet courses at the Lucerne and Lausanne conservatoires and the Queen Sofía College of Music in Madrid. He also held teaching positions at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena and at the Salzburg Mozarteum.

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