THE ARTISTS OF THE CINQUE TERRE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
Introducing the musicians in short
(Riomaggiore, 23 Jun 16)
LAUTARO ACOSTA
He was born in Turin in 1987 from Argentinian parents. Being a student under Edoardo Oddone at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Turin, he obtained the Diploma in Violin in 2008 and improved his technique at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under the guidance of Giuliano Carmignola. Since 2010 he has been a student under Sonig Tchakerian, and in 2012 he obtains the proficiency degree in violin and chamber music at the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome. He is the winner of many contests and he is often invited to take part in many international festivals.
GILBERT IMPERIAL
He was born in Aosta and studied at the Music Institute of the city he lived in. Later he studied in Germany and Switzerland at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg and at the Haute École des Arts in Bern. He often works as a solo artist and was invited as a guest by very important music institutions in China, Korea, Japan, Argentina and all over Europe. He regularly collaborates with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale of Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana, Verbier Festival Orchestra (Switzerland), Orchestra Sinfonica of Milano "G. Verdi", Orchestra Filarmonica "A. Toscanini" of Parma, Ensemble Contrechamps (Switzerland), Fiarì Ensemble of Turin. His performances were broadcast by RaiTre, Rai Radio3, Rts Radio Télévision Suisse Romande and Bayerischer Rundfunk.
GIANLUCA CAMPI
He was born in Genoa in 1976. When he was eleven years old he started studying the accordion, under the direction of Giorgio Bicchieri, and harmony with Paolo Conti. After having won many contests, at the age of thirteen he won the international contest entitled "Città di Vercelli", and he received the congratulations by Wolmer Beltrami, who called him the "Paganini of the accordion". Later he studied with important teachers, such as Gianluca Pica and Jacques Mornet. He played as a solo artist with many orchestras, such as that of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, directed by the teacher and composer Nicola Piovani. In 2000 he won the accordion worldwide trophy which took place in Alcobaça, in Portugal. He also collaborated with the famous singer-songwriter Bruno Lauzi. He performed on the occasion of several concerts and international festivals. He also recorded many CDs, in 2006 he published for Phoenix Classics a work dedicated to Niccolò Paganini, with which he realized the accordion versions of the Caprices and the Concerts by the great composer from Genoa.
EMILY KLASSEN
The soprano Emily Klassen became famous in Canada, her country of origin, and abroad too thanks to her clear and expressive voice and her stage presence. Her intense interpretation of the 17th and 18th century's music led her to perform as a solo artist with famous ensembles: Venetia Antiqua Baroque, Venezia Opera Project, European Opera Academy of Amsterdam, Gallery Players of Niagara, Toronto Continuo Collective, Cardinal Consort of Viols from Toronto, Essential Opera of Toronto, Capella Intima in Hamilton (Canada), and on the occasion of significant festivals, such as Early Music Centre of Toronto – "Musically Speaking", the Hammer Baroque in Hamilton and the Bach Music Festival in Canada.
LUCIANO ZECCA
He studied at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory in Milano, and obtained the diploma in music composition with Giuseppe Giuliano, and in pipe organ and pipe organ composition with Luigi Benedetti. He also carried out didactic activities in several state music conservatories and performed as a solo artist in many concerts, which allowed him to travel across Europe, America and Asia. He is a regular organist of the San Nicolò Basilica in Lecco.
JAN VERMEIRE
He studied with Robert Deleersnyder at the Music Academy in Belgium. He kept on studying at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under the guidance of the Professor Hubert Schoonbroodt, and he majored in music pedagogy with Hedda Szamosi. He also studied choir directing with Professor Florian Heyerick at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (Gand).
At present he is regular organist playing the new pipe organ called "Lapon" and built in 2011, situated at the Notre Dame des Dunes modernist church, in Koksijde, near the Flanders. He is often invited as a solo artist to take part in famous pipe organ festivals. He recorded many performances with historical pipe organs of the Flanders, and a series of programs were dedicated to him about this issue by the dutch Radio4. He is the artistic director of pipe organ festivals in his country and of the Pipe Organ International Festival in the Flanders, in France.
ANDREA GALLO
He studied with Franco Scala at the prestigious Accademia Pianistica of Imola, he performs solo and chamber concerts and plays with several orchestras in prestigious theaters of Italy, Netherlands, Israel, France, England, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Lebanon. His artistic choices range from the classic repertoire to the historical and contemporary Twentieth Century, showing a particular interest in the French composers from the Twentieth Century. There are many radio and TV recordings about him for the Italian mass-media company Mediaset, the public national Dutch television and Rai Radio3. Recently he was the protagonist of the documentary entitled "Pianisti" (Piano Players) produced and broadcast by Sky Classica. In 2006 he was awarded the prize Galarte 2006 - music section, which was given to him with the support of the President of the Italian Republic. Since 2013 he has been director of the Imola Piano Academy "Talent Development –Eindhoven" and teacher at the Accademia Pianistica "Incontri col Maestro" in Imola.
ELENI BRATSOU
Born in Athene, she graduated in musicology and ethnomusicology in both Cambridge and London, and obtained the diploma in classical singing at Athene's National Conervatory. Her research ranged between the study of Persian singing and the ancient music, and she improved with Michael Chance, Lynne Dawson and Aris Christophellis.
In 2015 she took part in the project Mi país se hunde (My country collapses) by the composer Antonio Placer, and in a project with texts by the Greek poet Nikos Kavvadias.
FOUAD DIDI
He was born in Tlemcen, Algeria, and since childhood he has played both the violin and the oud, a stringed instrument belonging to the lutes and widespread all over the arab-islamic world.
He studies both his repertoire and his technique with bdelKrim Dali, Redouane Ben Sari and many other teachers. He is a teacher of traditional music at the Conservatory of Toulon and at the Cité de la Musique in Marseille, and he is considered as one of the best interpreters of the Arab-Andalusian music.
JEAN-PAUL SERRA
He is a regular pipe organ player of the great pipe organs situated in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés abbey in Paris. His interest in ancient music led him to study with Odile
Bailleux and André Stricker. He majored in musicology at the Sorbonne. He founded and directs the Ensemble Baroque Graffiti, performing the music repertoire of the Seventieth and Eightieth Century.
MICHELLE CANDOTTI
She was born in Livorno in 1996, when she was only fourteen she obtained the diploma with highest honors under the guidance of Laura Palmieri. She was awarded many national and international prizes, such as the "Best Chopin and Scriabin", within the Ibla Foundation International Award in Ragusa and the XV Rassegna Migliori Diplomati d'Italia in 2010-2011.
She was awarded other important recognitions at the Madesimo International Piano Competition, the 15th Premio Pianistico Internazionale A. Scriabin, the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, the XXIII Concorso Pianistico Internazionale Chopin "Roma".
When she was only 17 she was among the finalists of the 59th Concorso Pianistico Internazionale Ferruccio Busoni. She was invited to play with many orchestras: the Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau, directed by Ovidius Balan; the Royal Philharmonic Concerto Orchestra, directed by Brian Wright; the Orchestra della Fondazione Goldoni directed by Mario Menicagli. She attended masterclasses with Petrushansky, Delle Vigne, Plano, Cappello, Soriano, Scott, Pollack and V. Ashkenazy, who praised her enthusiastically. Now she studies with Carlo Palese in Livorno and with Enrico Pace at the Accademia "Incontri col Maestro" of Imola.
FERRUCCIO BARTOLETTI
Once he started studying music and piano with Mario Fiorentini and Martha Del Vecchio he obtained the diploma with highest honors in pipe organ and composition for pipe organ, under the guidance of Giancarlo Parodi, at the "Cesare Pollini" Conservatory in Padua. Then he met Knud Vad and René Saorgin, who deeply marked his artistic path. He is a classical musician and one of the first ones in Italy who created with his instrument improvisation interactive works combining narration, poetry and images. For many years he has been devoting himself to the reconstruction of the soundtracks of the movies by Italian and foreign authors, proposing again the figure of the improvising instrumentalist of the early Twentieth Century. He performs all over Europe. He recorded his performances for the main radio and TV broadcasting companies, such as Rai, Mitteldeutsche Radio of Leipzig, Bayern Radio, Hamburg Radio, the Austrain television Orf, the Polish radio, the Andorra's television, etc. He also recorded many CDs, such as Vesprae, with the Ensemble Katharsis, which in 2007 won the selection of the famous American music award "Grammy". Now he is a teacher at the Scuola Diocesana di Musica Sacra in Massa Carrara – Pontremoli, and in 2016 the Bishop of the same Diocese appointed him as the official organist of the Cathedral of Massa.
ROBERT PAUKER
He was born in 1974 in Göteborg, Sweden. In 1995 he graduated as Kantor at the Folkhögskola in Oskarshamn and in 1999 he became organist at the School Music in Piteå, where he studied with Mattias Wager and Markus Wargh.
He continued to study with Hans-Ola Ericsson and collaborated with several choirs as organist and piano player, in particular with the Chamber Choir of the Music University in Piteå, directed by Erik Westberg, who appointed him as a honorary member in 2002. In March 2000 he was among the finalists of the Second International Pipe Organ Contest Feliks Nowowiejski in Poznan, Poland, where he was awarded the prize for the best interpretation. He took part in masterclasses with pipe organ players being known on international level, such as Olivier Latry, Daniel Roth, Joris Verdin, Martin Böcker and Harald Vogel. He performed in many concerts in England, Sweden, Netherlands, Finland, Spain, United States and New Zealand. Since 2002 he has been a regular organist of the Jukkasjärvi Church, in Kiruna, Sweden.
ALBERTO DALGO
He attended the three-year masterclass at the International Academy in Imola, with Leonid Margarius, and he graduated in piano with highest honors and a special mention at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali of Pavia, under the guidance of Andrea Turini, with whom he also obtained the master's degree too with highest honors. He attended several masterclasses with teachers of international fame, such as François-Joël Thiollier, Roberto Cappello, Humberto Quagliata, Andrea Turini, Maria Grazia Petrali, Maurizio Zanini, Samuele Amidei, Massimiliano Damerini.
He was awarded the first prize and the Grand Prix CMF at the Concours Musical de France 2016, an international piano contest, the first prize at the Concorso Internazionale di Bellagio and at the Acerbi International Music Competition. He performed as a solo artist with string quartet and orchestra. He took part as a guest in the radio program "I Protagonisti", broadcast by Radio Mozart Italia, during which he played the Piano Sonata in A minor D784 by Schubert.
He held recitals at the Ateneo de Madrid, the Robinson College of Cambridge, the auditorium Berlioz in Courbevoie (Paris), the Sala Eutherpe of León, in Spain. He teaches piano at the Music School of Casteggio.
