Hello guys!
It's been a while since the last time I posted something - let me try to recap what happened in the last few months!
First of all, some great news: in May I had the chance to perform for the first time in Athens! I had to step in for a colleague, so I joined a very interesting European project dedicated to Gioachino Rossini, involving musicians from Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. Here we are at the Topos Allous Theatre after the performance:
Of course, I could not leave without visiting the Acropolis, it is such an amazing place! After Athens, I went straight home to Italy to sing in an all-Disney concert: my friend Federico Lovato invited me to perform a few Disney songs with the amazing Anna Viola and Raffaele Prestinenzi, and the big band conducted by Igor Vlajnic. Here you can listen to me singing a little excerpt from the Italian version of Prince Ali from Aladdin - this was so fun!
So now back to Schubert - after a very exciting Winterreise (Winter Journey) in Cambridge in January, now between July and August I'm singing all 3 of Schubert's song cycles! At the beginning of July, I performed with Ralph Woodward Schwanengesang, the Swan's Song, which is a compilation of the songs Schubert wrote in his last months, before passing in October 1828. It was the first time I performed the whole cycle and the relaxed atmosphere of a private event in an XVIIIth Century country house provided the perfect environment for it:
I was very happy to spend a few days with Ralph and his partner Anna in Italy, rehearsing, eating fish, and visiting together some of the places of my childhood!
Now, after a little Gershwinian digression which took place last week, again with Anna and Raffaele and the amazing jazz pianist Rudy Fantin, it's Schubert time again! Next week I will join my old friend Michele Bravin to sing, again in Lignano Sabbiadoro, what is actually the first of the song cycles written by Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin, The Fair Maid of the Mill. It is also the cycle I have performed more often - even though not in the last few years - so it will be a sort of musical homecoming for me and I very much look forward to it.
Performing Die Schöne Müllerin, Winterreise, and Schwanengesang by Franz Schubert it's a very demanding job, and doing it in such a short amount of time is a long-cherished dream. I am really happy the time has finally come for it to become true and, let me say, I am quite proud of myself for this achievement!
Only a few days more of practicing and rehearsing, then I will finally enjoy a couple of weeks of holiday!
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