Below is a statement released by the organizers:
Acclaimed among the rising stars of jazz for her powerful and dynamic swing that draws directly from the great African-American tradition, the Roman pianist and singer Francesca Tandoi officially opens the Barletta Piano Festival in a duo with Stefano Senni, one of the most active and sought-after double bass players on the Italian and international scene. The duo, expected on Monday 1 July (9:15 pm) at the Hotel La Terrazza, presents itself with an intimate and chamber atmosphere, focused on the interplay between the two instruments through the interpretation of some jazz standards and the performance of original pieces, in an expressive combination of energy and refinement, strength and sense of melody, blues and swing.
Recognized by critics and the public as one of the most interesting talents on the international jazz scene, Francesco Tandoi is an extraordinary bandleader as well as an excellent composer, trained at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, in Holland, where she began her international career, so far studded from concerts and tours in some of the most important theatres, festivals and clubs around the world, both as leader of his trio and as sideman of some of the most important names on the Italian and international jazz scene. To her credit, Francesca Tandoi boasts seven albums in her name and appears on more than twenty recordings, three of which in a quartet with the famous American saxophonist Scott Hamilton.
In turn Stefano Senni, who has played all over the world with many jazz giants, from Tony Scott to Art Farmer, from Enrico Rava to Stefano Bollani up to Benny Golson, Cedar Walton, Lee Konitz, Randy Brecker, Han Bennink, Uri Caine and many others, is present in over one hundred recordings and has been a jazz double bass teacher for over twenty years.
So, the eighteenth edition of the Barletta Piano Festival directed by Pasquale Iannone starts off in the name of great jazz, coming of age and growing in its offering with a program that includes twenty-one concerts and a masterclass from July 1st to August 10th at the Hotel La Terrazza.
The city of the Challenge, which looks very carefully at the new generations of pianists, will welcome many top-level interpreters of the king of instruments, starting from Wednesday 3 July, when the winner of the Casagrande Competition 2022, the Scotsman of oriental origins Yuanfan Yang, will take the stage, determined to propose a series of improvisations outside the program at the suggestion of the public.
It will be a parade of stars, from Alessandro Taverna (24 July), who exploded onto the international scene after his success at the 2009 Leeds Piano Competition, to the Ukrainian Anna Kravtchenko (30 July), winner of the Busoni Competition in 1992, from the Polish Joanna Trzeciak (15 July) to the duo formed by Robert Andres and Honor O’Hea (2 August), musicians who are a couple in art and in life, up to our own Roberto Corlianò (6 July) and Antonio Di Cristofano (11 July), passing through several other international guests, with a focus on emerging talents from other countries, including the Cypriot Anna Avramidou (17 July), winner of the Franz Liszt Young Artists International Piano Competition in Weimar a year ago.
The concerts will all start at 9.15pm. Info 347.6194215 – barlettapianofestival.it – [email protected].
THE PROGRAM IN DETAIL
The eighteenth edition of the Barletta Piano Festival, scheduled in the Hotel La Terrazza, will officially kick off on July 1st to the rhythm of swing with jazz by Francesca Tandoi (piano) and Stefano Senni (double bass) before coming to life on July 3rd with the recital between Liszt, Debussy and Fauré by the British Yuanfan Yang, winner of the first prize at the 2022 Casagrande Competition, also ready to improvise by accepting the audience’s suggestions.
On July 5th Serena Valluzzi will be on stage with songs by Debussy, Sévérac and Albéniz followed on July 6th by Roberto Corlianò, who will also pay homage to Puccini on the centenary of his death.
On July 8th Giorgio Trione Bartoli (piano) and Silvia Gira (cello) will dialogue on the notes of Weinberg, Grieg and Rachmaninov, while on July 11th Antonio Di Cristofano will play together pages of Schubert, Liszt, Berg and Chopin, just as on July 12th Maurizio Zaccaria will play Liszt, Wagner, Skrjabin and Schumann as well as an unpublished work commissioned by the Apulian composer Carmen Fizzarotti, «Breath, and lights, and leaves».
On July 13th, the concert show with Francesco Nicolosi (piano) and Stefano Valanzuolo (reciting voice) will be inspired by the book «The secret of Sigismund Thalberg», which will precede the recital on July 15th by the Polish pianist Joanna Trzeciak who is also called to pay homage to her compatriot Chopin.
Only sixteen years old but with a talent beyond her years, Cypriot Anna Avramidou, winner of the Franz Liszt Young Artists International Piano Competition in Weimar a year ago, is expected on July 17 in a program between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including music by Scarlatti, Mozart, Chopin and Liszt.
After the concert on 18 July, when the violinist Maria Serena Salvemini will be accompanied by the pianist Pietro Laera, on 20 July the scene will be Viviana Lasaracina with a program entirely dedicated to Rachmaninov, while the recital on 24 July by Alessandro Taverna will be entirely Viennese with music by Gulda, Schubert, Berg and Johann Strauss.
Musica Nuova by Massimiliano Coclite inspired by Nino Rota will be heard on 27 July with the Pianofone Trio by Paolo Debenedetto (saxophone), Valter Nicodemi (sax) and Nicole Brancale (piano), while on 28 July there will be the debut as director of Pasquale Iannone in a non-subscription concert in the Castle’s Piazza d’Armi.
The highlight will be on July 30th with Anna Kravtchenko, the winner of the Busoni in 1992, who will play music by Rameau, Schubert-Liszt, Chopin and Mendelssohn in Barletta.
After the young violinist Paride Losacco, who will perform on July 31st accompanied by Fiorella Sassanelli, on August 2nd the pianos will become two with Robert Andres and Honor O’Hea and their refined program including music by Moszkowski, Barber, Milhaud and Rachmaninov.
The program is completed by the homage on August 6th to the composer Cristian Carrara, which will be interviewed by Livio Costarella and performed by Camilla Chiga, Angelo Nasuto, Modesto Picci and Filippo Alberto Rosso and the concerts on the 8th and 10th by the students who will participate from the 3rd to August 10th at the masterclass conducted by Pasquale Iannone.
