Friday 3 May at 10pm at Raindogs House in Piazza Rebagliati in Savona
MOONCHILD – ANNIE BARBAZZA & MAX REPETTI
Doors open at 9.00pm Concert starts at 10.00pm
entry 15e (under 25 entry 8e) with Arci card
Online Tickets
– A Deep Journey Into The Music And Poetry Of GREG LAKE –
Annie Barbazza and Max Repetti’s project is not a tribute to Greg Lake, the project was in fact born from an idea of Lake himself: to propose the best of his career in new black and white, minimalist arrangements for piano and voice. Unfortunately, the terrible illness that struck him prevented him from completing the work, which however he wanted to entrust to Annie: his friend and collaborator, as well as Max Repetti, an extraordinarily talented pianist and arranger. Lake spent the last three years of his life in daily contact with Annie, they saw each other many times and he declared that he placed her artistic legacy in her.
Just as a composer’s talent can be seen better from a string quartet than from a symphony, these minimal and intimate versions of Lake’s pieces do justice to one of the greatest talents in the history of British music. Piano and voice at the highest levels for a powerful and refined show that crosses the best pages of King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Greg Lake’s solo career. A sort of “official tribute” that debuted at the Piacenza Conservatory on the occasion of the awarding to Greg Lake of the first honorary degree awarded by a conservatory to a rock star. A memorable show!
“Among the many projects Greg Lake and I had planned for Manticore was the rearrangement of his favorite songs into a contemporary ‘black and white’ version. A sort of return to the bones, simply voice and guitar. I remember Greg becoming a proponent of the modern concept of ‘less is more’ and often reminding us that ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’. As we moved forward with the project, we soon discovered that acoustic guitar might work for some songs, but wasn’t suitable for others, so Greg decided we should go with piano and vocals and asked me to look for a talented pianist. I knew Max Repetti who I considered the perfect pianist for Greg. Aside from the fact that he had the entire ELP songbook in his repertoire, he is a very accomplished musician. The audition lasted a few minutes, in a country restaurant, on an upright piano that had seen better days, slightly out of tune, where Repetti dared to propose a medley of “The Stones Of Years”, “Tarkus”, and “Take at Pebble.” Greg was so happy that he immediately asked Max to arrange a list of songs for him that he intended to include on the album, which we called “Moonchild,” after one of our favorite early songs. Unfortunately, in early 2014 Greg told me the worst possible news regarding his health. Soon after, he decided to ask his young friend and talented singer and musician Annie Barbazza to take his place and carry on his legacy with this album. He patiently trained Annie, using all available technology to keep up to date with our progress, while continuing to work with Max Repetti and me on the arrangements and production. We all spoke on Skype multiple times a week to ensure this project met his extremely high standards of perfectionism and musical integrity. When Greg received an honorary degree for lyrics and musical composition from the Nicolini Conservatory in January 2016, he was already too ill to attend the ceremony in person. I decided to surprise him by bringing Annie and Max to perform his music on his behalf in front of all the dignitaries. Greg was participating via Skype and you can still hear his encouraging comments on Greg Lake’s official YouTube channel. He was so happy with the results that he pushed Annie even more vehemently to increase her already extraordinary singing abilities. Annie Barbazza and Max Repetti performed “Moonchild” again in a sold out concert for Greg’s last birthday on November 10, 2016. As Greg wanted, we will keep the flame alive by playing his music. So this is for you, Great Gregory, wherever you are. May your music resonate forever in our hearts.”
(Max Marchini)
Annie Barbazza is the rising star of the international avant/prog scene. She began her career at a very young age as a drummer in a progressive band while she studied piano at the Nicolini Conservatory in Piacenza. Her talent was accidentally discovered by Greg Lake (King Crimson, Emerson Lake & Palmer) who encouraged her to deepen her vocal and compositional research and wanted her on stage, at just eighteen, alongside her together with Italian pro stars like Aldo Tagliapietra and Bernardo Lanzetti. Lake himself invents a show for her, Annie’s Playlist, where the young multi-instrumentalist explores the music classics that played an important role in her artistic education: from the Beatles to Nick Drake, from King Crimson to the Residents via Brian Eno and Claudio Rocchi. The association with musicians/friends such as Lino Capra Vaccina, Keith Tippett, Fred Frith and Paolo Tofani ‘diverted’ her towards a much less conventional form of song. Such talent certainly does not go unnoticed and requests for collaboration begin: Eugenio Finardi often wants her at his side live and Annie finds herself opening concerts for Ian Paice, Peter Hammill, Strawbs and many others, while artists such as Robyn Hitchock, Osanna, Giorgio Fico Piazza, Aldo Tagliapietra, John Greaves, Area and many others invited her to play live together. Paolo Tofani of Area invited her to sing Gioia e Revolution in their farewell concert. Greg Lake conceived the Moonchild project and produced the album for Emerson Lake & Palmer’s historic label, Manticore Records. It is a minimal and contemporary reinterpretation of the historical and iconic songs by ELP and King Crimson, arranged for piano and voice by Max Repetti, who performs on the piano. The album became an international success with both critics and the public. John Greaves, legendary founder of Henry Cow, wants Annie as lead vocals in Folly Bololey, a project where Craig Fortnam’s North Sea Radio Orchestra revisits Robert Wyatt’s legendary Rock Bottom under the benevolent aegis of the illustrious author. The work becomes one of the most important albums of 2019, becoming album of the year for many specialized magazines (Mojo and the authoritative The Wire). The ensemble closed the Rock In Opposition Festival in Lyon as headliners in May of the same year, triumphing a few months later live on Radio France in December of the same year. In 2020 he published his first solo album Vive which received 5-star reviews all over the world, while the authoritative English magazine Prog Magazine dedicated ample space to it, defining it as the revelation of the year: King Crimson biographer Sid Smith compares Tim Buckley’s opera Lorca. A river of authoritative critics including Ernesto Assante, Federico Guglielmi, Riccardo Bertoncelli and Gino Dal Soler wrote passionate reviews, and newspapers from La Repubblica to Libertà and La Stampa gave space to the work, writing flattering pieces. Blow Up magazine awarded it the best album of the year. The album features musicians of the caliber of Daniel Lanois, Fred Frith, John Greaves, Greg Lake, Paul Roland, Lino Capra Vaccina, Paolo Tofani, Olivier Mellano, Michael Tanner and others. Today Annie is busy on three different fronts, bringing her multiple projects into her live shows: Vive di lei sees Annie alone alternating with the guitars and the piano offering the music from her wonderful album together with some noble covers. John Greaves & Annie Barbazza duo: The Poet’s Game a refined show that was successful in the trendiest theaters from the Gare du Jazz in Paris to the legendary Café Oto in London. Repertoire of the legendary Welsh musician and songs by Annie with particular attention to the musical transcriptions of Joyce, Thomas, Verlaine etc. Moonchild: Annie in duo with pianist Max Repetti offers the show produced by Greg Lake in which songs by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and King Crimson are revisited in a contemporary key.
Max Repetti. Born in 1970, Max Repetti is a pianist, keyboardist, composer and arranger born in Piacenza. After graduating in piano at the “Giuseppe Nicolini” Conservatory with Maestro Midori Kasahara, he moved to Paris where he continued his musical education by studying Jazz at the CIM Ecole de jazz de Paris. In 1997 he went on tour with Alberto Garbelli in a tribute to the career of Charles Aznavour, performing in the most important French theatres. From 2000 until 2004 he moved to Rouen (Normandy) where he taught piano, theory and solfeggio and history of music. Upon returning to Italy in 2004, he began a series of important artistic collaborations at both an educational and concert level, including the foundation, in collaboration with Silvia Sesenna, of Artemusica, a music and arts school in Piacenza. In addition to being its Director, Max is a piano, keyboard and ensemble music teacher at Artemusica. He resumed his training and in 2011 obtained a two-year diploma in Sound Technology at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Among the most important concert collaborations of this period: pianist of the Placentia Gospel Choir, keyboardist of the Italian Gospel Choir (National Italian Gospel) and the singer Melody Castellari, with whom he presented the album “Cierà da Correre” in Italian theaters ”. He was keyboardist in the band of the Spanish singer-actor Sergio Múñiz and from 2013 to 2016 he collaborated as an arranger with the English singer Greg Lake, leader of King
