Founded in 1970 beneath the Basilica del Sacro Cuore Immacolato di Maria, Forum Studios are based in Rome, in the beating heart of Parioli neighborhood: piazza Euclide.
The Studios were founded as ‘Ortophonic’ by four composers Armando Trovajoli, Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, and Piero Piccioni, together with the manager Enrico De Melis, the sound engineers from RCA Sergio Marcotulli and Pino Mastroianni, and the composer and conductor Bruno Nicolai.
From 1970 to 1979, led by the Four Maestros and De Melis, the studios are one of the top recording facilities in Italy, hosting artists as Fabrizio De Andrè, Mireille Mathieu, and Gato Barbieri – together with the Founding Maestros -, being part of the creation of huge masterpieces between pop music and soundtrack: from ‘Storia di un impiegato’, to ‘Concerto Grosso per i New Trolls’, the soundtrack of ‘Last tango in Paris’, ‘Deep Red’, ‘Febbre da Cavallo’ and the music for ‘Aggiungi un posto a tavola’, for the first staging with an unforgettable Johnny Dorelli.
The perfect acoustic, the capacity of Studio A built to catch the sound of large symphonic ensembles, the wise and skillful work of the sound engineers, and the intense creativity and mastery of the most important stars of pop and film music increased the development and the credibility of the Studios. In less than a decade, Ortophonic were considered both in Italy and internationally an authentic “temple of sound”, everyday witness of the creation of thousands of unforgettable music productions.
In 1979 the studios changed their name in ‘Studi Forum’, being detected by Franco Patrignani: a very respected sound engineer with a long time experience in RCA and Sonic Studios, together with his wife Emma Gibellini. The two led the studios for more than twenty years, stimulating the growth and reputation on both technical and management sides, continuously working on updating old technology from analogical to the digital era.
This is the age of the largest international development of the studios, which will host artists as Duran Duran, George Garvarentz, Inti-Illimani, Leonard Bernstein, Alex North, Chet Baker, Maurice Jarre, Gerry Goldsmith, Evan Lurie, Roman Vlad, Vangelis and many more. With them, also italian big names as Renato Zero, Raffaella Carrà, Claudio Baglioni, Fred Bongusto, Nicola Piovani, Domenico Modugno, Adriano Celentano, Renzo Arbore, Riz Ortolani, Massimo Ranieri, Zucchero, Francesco De Gregori, Jovanotti, Alex Britti, Franco Battiato, Andrea Bocelli and many many more.
Also, the Four Founding Maestro are often hosted in the studios, and right during these years, big masterpieces were created as the Academy Award Winners ‘Nuovo Cinema Paradiso’ (E. Morricone), ‘Il Postino – The Postman’ (L. Bacalov), and unforgettable soundtracks as ‘One Upon a Time in America’ (E. Morricone).
The awards won by all of the music created in the studios during these years are uncountable: Gold and Platinum Records, Academy Awards, David di Donatello, Bears of Berlin, and Nastri d’Argento.
In the middle of the Nineties, the studios were ready for a change, needing a severe updating both on technical and management areas.
That’s when ‘Forum Music Village’ was born, in 1996, with Marco Patrignani (the son of Franco and Emma), executive producer and cultural entrepreneur, getting the lead of the company and the responsibility to preserve the legacy of the historic recording rooms in piazza Euclide: expanding the activities through the production of international live events and cine-concerts.
Between all the activities, the foundation in 2010 of the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema – chair by Patrignani himself -, the first ensemble dedicated to perform Italian and international film music masterpieces, bringing for the first time ever in the theatres and auditoriums all over the country the ‘Harry Potter Concert Serie’ and inside the Colosseum arena ‘The Gladiator’ in cine-concert, for a benefit event in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rotary Club, attended by the Academy Award Winner Russel Crowe.
But life at the studios didn’t stop: following a huge technology update, to coordinate the activity of the recording rooms comes Fabio Patrignani, Marco’s brother and one of the best sound engineers still today, boasting such remarkable Italian and international collaborations, from film music to pop, rock, and jazz – among others E. Morricone, N. Piovani, J. Lennon, D O’Riordan, Vangelis, Danger Mouse and 2Cellos.
From the foundation of ‘Forum Music Village’, uncountable artists and composers worked in the historic recording rooms, bringing music and production on a larger level, shaping the studios to a real cradle of big success: from Academy Awards Winners as ‘Life is Beautiful’ (N. Piovani) and ‘The Hateful Eight’ (E. Morricone), to the Platinum Records of Morrissey, Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Il Volo, Renato Zero, Claudio Baglioni and Giorgia, hosting producers like Brian Eno, Bob Ezrin, Rob Ellis, Joe Ciccarelli, Michael Beinhorn, Cam Blackwood, Tony Visconti, Mike Hedges, Robert Kraft, and world-renowned directors as Brian De Palma, Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Sergio Leone, Federico Fellini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuseppe Tornatore, Mario Monicelli, Franco Zeffirelli, Dario Argento, Steno, i Fratelli Taviani, Pupi Avati, Dino Risi and many more.
After twenty-five years of huge success between the studios, the orchestra, and the international events, after fifty years from the foundation, in the year 2020 ‘Forum Music Village’ with all of its wide experience, begun a new rebranding operation, creating ‘Forum Studios’ which include: the historic recording studios in piazza Euclide; the Forum Theatre (ex Theatro Euclide), an immersive interdisciplinary theatre, from acting to live music, corporate events, and movie screenings; the Limbus Club, a private club based inside the studios with a restaurant, cocktail bar, and an exclusive events program; the strengthening of all the environment and expertise dedicated to the live events production, video streaming, and multimedia events, with top technologies both on audio and video side; the continuation and the enlarging of the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema tours and concerts, in Italy and all over the world: China, Saudi Arabia, and many more countries.
“Proud past, promising future” is the new claim of the company, leaning on new challenges and big projects, with courage and creativity.
DAVIDE DELL’AMORE
Technical Inquiries
Booking & Management
+ 39 06 80 84 25 9
booking@forumstudios.it
info@forumstudios.it
