Next Concert in Cambridge

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our concert in Cambridge a couple of weeks ago because Ralph Woodward was ill. But we are ready for the next one!

On Saturday 15th February 2025 at 7.30 pm, we will be performing in Cambridge one more time at the URC Downing Place: Anthony Howell - A Life in Poetry and Music.

Ralph and I will be joined by cellist Riccardo Pes to celebrate the multifaceted genius of Anthony Howell, a poet, novelist, dancer, and performance artist.

Anthony was born in 1945 and his first collection of poems called Inside the Castle was published in 1969. Since then, numerous other collections of poems, novels, and essays appeared - amongst the latest are Incomprehensible Lesson (versions of poems by Fawzi Karim); Consciousness (with Mutilation); Songs of Realisation; The Step is the Foot: Dance and its Relationship to Poetry; The Distance Measured in Days. Anthony is also a tango teacher (after being in his youth part of the Royal Ballet) and was the founder and director of The Theatre of Mistakes, which created notable performances worldwide in the seventies and eighties at venues such as the Paris Biennale, the Sydney Biennale, the Paula Cooper Gallery, the Tate, and the Haywood.

At the core of the concert program are the pieces based on Anthony Howell's poems composed by Michael Nyman, the popular composer of the soundtrack to the 1990 film The Piano, and Battista Pradal, my old composition teacher. Nyman wrote these songs as part of the cycle Body Parts for voice and piano in 2010, while Pradal composed his suite of pieces for the unusual tenor & cello duo in 2019. Pradal's songs were dedicated to Riccardo Pes and me, and we performed them in London and in Italy.

The rest of the program is also related to Howell's work: Field and Schumann had a key role in his exploration of the relationship between tango and classical music, while the songs by Vaughan Williams and German are based on poems by R. L. Stevenson and R. Kipling, who Anthony admires.

The concert will also include some of Anthony Howell's poems, read by the author himself.

 

Click here for more info and to reserve your seats!

Stay tuned, something else is also cooking and should be ready before Christmas... Don't forget to check out my Facebook and Instagram pages!

Next Concert - 'Fathers and Sons'

 Since last week I've been back in the UK after a fantastic summer spent in Italy: nice hot weather, being close to my family and friends and able to get to the beach with only a couple of minutes walk, and of course concerts (both being on stage and in the audience - a special one was when Sara Pegoraro and Tullia Melandri gave the first performace of my A Tale of Light and Fear, they did an amazing job and the audience was quite happy) - ah, it was amazing! I've also been lucky enough to find some nice weather on my return to England and spend the weekend before resuming my lessons exploring a couple of National Trust places with Claudia and our little Nora.

But now it's time to work, see again students old and new, and get ready for the Autumn and Winter concerts. The first one will take place on Friday, November 8th at 7.30 pm at URC Downing Place in Cambridge. We planned a fantastic night with my good friend and excellent pianist Ralph Woodward and the theme of our recital is Fathers and Sons. The programme will feature some Lieder by Schubert, Loewe, Mahler, and Wolf which, in various ways, offer an insight into the relationship between fathers and sons. Moreover, there will be songs composed by three generations of Mozarts (grandfather Leopold, the one and only Wolfgang Amadeus whom we all know, and his son Franz Xaver), plus one written especially to be part of this programme by the Italian composer Emilio Ghezzi.

For more info and to get your tickets, please visit https://bit.ly/fathersandsonscambridge

Hope to see you there!

A Tale of Light and Fire - First Performance!

 Hi everybody!

Save the date - I'm very happy to say that on Sunday 4th August in Pordenone (Italy) soprano Sara Pegoraro and pianist Tullia Melandri will be the first to perform my A Tale of Light and Fear, the song I wrote based on the beautiful poem by my friend Jennifer Freer!

I'm honoured that two fantastic musicians such as Sara and Tullia decided to include my piece in the programme of their next concert!

I can't wait... and if you happen to be in Italy next weekend please join us!

Summer Summer Summer!

Another summer is nearly here and we are getting ready to finally enjoy some nice weather - hopefully! - and for many musical events.

To begin with, in just a few weeks, at the beginning of July, my and my friend and colleague Alice's students' concert is planned: a garden party to have fun and share with old and new friends the musical progress made in the past few months!

After that, a few more lessons and then it will be time to go to Italy, where family, friends and many concerts are in line - including an hommage to Puccini on the 100th anniversary of his death, a concert performance of Elisir d'amore and my first performance of a wonderful and moving piece by Britten, his Canticle III, Still Falls the Rain.

But first - a quick trip to Italy in 10 days, to sing the chamber orchestra version of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, with the Windkraft Ensemble under Kasper de Roo. Cannot wait!

Our 'Italian Journey' in Egham

 Hi everybody,

in just a few weeks I'll have the chance to embark once again on our Italian Journey together with pianist Ralph Woodward!

On Sunday 16th of June at 3 pm we will perform at the United Church in Egham, for the Egham and District Music Club. The programme will include arias from operas set in Italy, some salon songs by Tosti, Respighi and Puccini, and some Italian piano music.

Here's a little teaser of the concert

Ralph and I look forward to seeing you in Egham!

Next Concert in Cambridge

Hello everybody, 

my trip to Edinburgh was fantastic - the concert went well (it was a real pleasure to perform for such an attentive audience at the Edinburgh Society for Musicians), and we had a lot of fun!

Now it's time to start preparing for our next concert in Cambridge: on Saturday 4th of May at 6 pm at the Downing Place URC, we will present a new Italian Opera programme! Soprano Naomi Rogers will join Ralph Woodward and me to perform a selection of arias and duets from some of the most loved Italian operas - Verdi's Traviata, Puccini's Bohéme and Donizetti's Elixir of Love.

Don't miss out on this extraordinary evening of music and emotion - book your tickets now and prepare to be captivated by the breathtaking performances at A Night of Opera in Cambridge!

Happy New Year!

Today I got back to the UK, ready to resume with my lessons and for a new year of concerts!

The first concert of 2024 will also mark my debut in Scotland: in just a bit more than two weeks, together with Ralph Woodward, we will travel to Edinburgh to perform again Schubert's Winterreise. I have a feeling that the cold of the North will help me to find new interpretative ways to my Winter Journey!

So on Saturday 27th of January, we will perform for the Edinburgh Society of Musicians:

Check out their website https://www.edinburghsocietyofmusicians.co.uk/events

See you soon!

Last concerts of 2023

 Hi everybody!

Christmas is approaching, and I'm getting ready for my last concerts of 2023 - one here and a couple back home in Italy.

On Friday 15th at 7 pm at Chatteris Parish Church I will be part of the line-up for the Concert for Hope, an event to raise funds for East Anglia Children Hospice and Hospices of Hope in Ukraine. I will be singing some Italian Opera arias and a few songs with Ralph Woodward at the piano. For more info and tickets click here.

 

A few days after this concert I'm heading to Italy: my friends Anna Viola, Silvia Regazzo, Michele Bravin and the amazing guys of Orchestra da Camera di Pordenone are waiting for me to perform in two Christmas Concerts - at the church of the town where I grew up, Lignano Sabbiadoro, and in another town not far from home. I will sing some sacred music and Christmas carols. After that - 2 weeks of holidays before coming back to the UK and start working again with my students!

Merry Christmas!!

Concert at the Andover Music Club

Hey everybody!

I got back a couple of days ago from Italy, a very quick trip home for a concert at a very interesting festival, as this year's main theme was madness! Together with pianist Federico Lovato we performed some Lieder by Schubert and Schumann, some opera arias by Donizetti, and Verdi, and the ultimate tenor mad scene: the end of Britten's Peter Grimes!

Now it's time to get ready for my next concert in the UK, as next week I'll be performing again with Ralph Woodward at the Andover Music Club in Hampshire. On Thursday 23rd November we will bring our Italian Journey programme to The Lights, the local auditorium.

Stay tuned for more news!

Great Britten in Cambridge!

 Hi everyone,

as anticipated in my last post, I look forward to my next concert in Cambridge with pianist Ralph Woodward! On Friday 10th November at 7 pm at Downing Place URC, joined by mezzo-soprano Bridget Hardy, we will present Great Britten, a night dedicated to Benjamin Britten and his songs.

The concert will start with a few of his folksong arrangements (The Salley Gardens, The Last Rose of Summer, Come you not from Newcastle? and many others), sung by both Bridget and me. We will then perform one short cycle each: I will sing the fiery and passionate Michelangelo Sonnets, the setting of seven poems by the Italian painter, sculptor, and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti, written in 1942 for the tenor Peter Pears, Britten's lifelong partner; Bridget will give her voice to the Cabaret Songs, gorgeous witty setting of W.H. Auden's poems, including the well-known Tell Me the Truth About Love.

Finally, the three of us will perform Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, the touching scene from the Old Testament as found in the dramatic Chester Miracle Play. I will be Abraham, Bridget Isaac, and together, singing in rhythmic unison, the other-worldly sound of the Voice of God.

Here you can listen to a small preview of the programme and here you can get your ticket.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Holidays and... more Britten!

Hi everybody!

I'm writing from Italy, where I'm finally spending some relaxing free time with my family and friends after some concerts in the last 10 days. The last one was a concert performance in Lignano Sabbiadoro of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, where I was joined by my school days old friend baritone Giorgio Caoduro, and mezzo Silvia Regazzo, soprano Sara Pegoraro and pianist Alessandra Sagelli.

I'll be on holiday for the next few weeks, before coming back to England to start teaching again and work towards my next concerts. The first one will take place in Cambridge on Friday 10th November, when mezzo Bridget Hardy, pianist Ralph Woodward and I will be waiting for you for an all-Britten night - a group of gorgeous folksong arrangements, the fiery Michelangelo Sonnets, the bluesy Cabaret Songs and the heartbreaking duet canticle, Abraham and Isaac.

Visit https://bit.ly/greatbrittencambridge to get your ticket!