Concerts again!

Hi everybody! It's been so long since the last time I posted something and I hope you are keeping well and safe!

The last few months have been one of the strangest periods in our lives, and our minds were quite busy trying to understand what was going on and how to go on in the best possible way, despite the stress, maybe fear, and the problems we all know very well now.

Many people found new ways of doing what they used to do, ways to get over the impossibility to meet other people, colleagues, friends, family. As musicians, we lost a lot of opportunities to make music and to play for an audience live, in a theatre, in a concert hall, or even in a living room. But now things are gradually getting better and better, and we shall be grateful for this, and very careful.

I came back to Italy nearly two months ago: I had, like all other teachers, to move my lessons online, so I tried to get the best out of this situation and I thought this would have been a wonderful opportunity to be at home with my family longer than usual. Finally, two weeks ago, I had my first concert after the lockdown. It was a very moving evening for me, the first opportunity to make music again with a great musician and friend, the pianist Alberto Miodini, and to sing again in my hometown for many friends and members of my family. It was amazing to feel the wonderful sensation of living the music together with so many people (well, not so many, as following the new rules to avoid the spreading of the virus, only half the seats available), so nice to feel again that incredible and magic connection between the artists performing and the audience. The theme of the concert was "Fathers and Sons" and we performed songs by Schubert, Loewe, Wolf, Mahler and Strauss which are about the relationship between a father and a son, and some songs by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and by Leopold, his father, and Franz Xaver, his son. Moreover, one of Alberto's friend, the composer Emilio Ghezzi, wrote for us a very beautiful piece, especially for this occasion.

Here you can listen to some of these songs:

Last Saturday I had a second concert, and that was something quite new to me. With Anna Viola and Raffaele Prestinenzi, we sang a selection from 3 musicals: The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story and The Man of La Mancha. Anna and Raffaele were first Christine and Erik from The Phantom, then I was Tony and Anna Maria in West Side Story; finally, Raffaele gave his voice to Don Quichotte, Anna to Dulcinea, and I was the funny and faithful Sancho Panza. Michele Bravin played the piano and we had great fun!

Now I will still be teaching this week, and then finally I will take some weeks off (even though I will have some concerts to do). In September I will start with the lessons again, and the concert schedule is getting busier, as organizers are trying to make up for the events they had to cancel. I look forward to coming back to the UK, hoping to be able to meet soon my students and my friends!