Francesco Traversi – Italy
Francesco Traversi (Global Music Awards Winner 2016-Usa) is an italian multi-awards winner composer also based in Los Angeles where he works as arranger and orchestrator. Currently he’s nominated “composer in residence” from IBW International Brass Festival of Florence (IT) and guest composer and choir conductor at the Florence Choral International Festival 2018-19. Formed in the world of European avant-garde and tightening immediately a close relationship with the new languages and modern technologies, Traversi composes works that move freely between contemporary idioms and rhythmic and melodic innovations, combining intricacy and technical virtuosity with sound research and experimentation, without forgetting the teaching of composers of the twentieth century. Traversi’s major works have been programmed by several orchestras in Europe and also in the United States. His music, available in print also from Wichy Edition, have been released on several CD’s. He has won many international awards for orchestral compositions and original soundtracks. Recently, he won the Gold Medal (as best classic composer and best classic composition) at the Global Music Awards 2016 in San Diego after the Bronze Medal (2014, as best movie soundtrack) and he obtained a prestigious nomination for Hollywood Music Awards in Los Angeles. In Italy won the First Prize at the competition Best Soundtrack 2014 for short films and the First Prize at the “Sound in motion” as best soundtrack for animations. He distinguished himself also in several national and international competitions in contemporary music winning prizes and awards such as the Special Prize 2004 at the “Modern International Composition Competition” in Dublin and the second prize at the International Competition of Contemporary Composition “Alice BelColle” 2005, First Prize at the XIII National Competition “The Golden Baton” in Rome, “the Golden Aldobrandesco 2010 ” and “Guido d’Arezzo 2012” for his artistic and cultural activities, just to name a few. For the season 2017, he received a prestigious commission from the Opera Theater of Florence for a new Symphonic Fantasy entitled “The Titans” for 10 brass soloists with international fame and symphonic orchestra. In 2016 the Opera of Florence and IBW commissioned him a symphonic poem for the anniversary of the tragic flood of 1966 performed on the bank of the River Arno from an orchestra of over 100 musicians. He obtained a commission from the prestigious Stanford University in San Francisco for a new symphonic poem performed at the Bing Concert Hall during the music season 2013-14. In 2013, he moved in Usa where he’s worked as score assistant and orchestrator for leading film composer “Golden Globe Nominee” Christopher Young in his Studios in Los Angeles. This collaboration is still active. In 2009, the Ministry of Culture, Legambiente and the ICOM commissioned him a symphonic work performed at the closing of the L’Aquila G8 Summit in the presence of many personalities from the world of international politics and culture. In 2008, his mass for soloists, choir and orchestra received a special praise from Pope Benedetto XVI. From 2005 to 2007 he held the position of Artistic Director of the “BolsenArte Festival” and since 2006 the Principal Music Director of the “Ladies Italian Chamber Orchestra” (L.I.C.O). He was appointed “composer in residence” from 2003 to 2010 of the “International Festival of Santa Fiora” who commissioned him new works for various ensembles. In 2001 he made his debut in the Opera during the 65th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino with a committee of the Municipal Theatre of Florence, in collaboration with the “L. Cherubini” Conservatory of Music and the “FineArts Academy”. Since 1999 he has regularly worked both as a Conductor and as a Composer with several international orchestras and choirs like the Orchestra and Chorus of “L. Cherubini” Florence Music Conservatory, the “Italian Chamber Orchestra”, the “Modern Ensemble”, the “Kammerconcert”, the “Arcadia Wind Orchestra”, the “Rome Philharmonic Orchestra”, the “Grosseto Symphony Orchestra”, the “Tartini Symphony Orchestra “, the “Italian Wind Orchestra”, the Roman Choral Institution, the “Lviv Symphony Orchestra”, the “Bratislava Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir”, the “Ladies Italian Chamber Orchestra”, the “Stanford Wind Ensemble” and the “Premium London Symphony”, just to name a few. He studied the piano in Siena and then in Florence where he majored also in Composition and Conduction at the “L. Cherubini” Conservatory of Music. In the meantime, through specific professional seminars and concert-lessons, he came in contact with musicians of the calibre of Stockausen, Xenakis e Berio, who influenced the development of his own personal style of composition. He improved his skills in many other important international music academies and further pertinent studies were: Jazz music in master courses held in Perugia by Berklee College of Music of Boston (R.Santisi, L. Monroe, G.Tommaso), Music for Movies in the courses organized by the Accademia Chigiana of Siena under the guidance of Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani (Academy Award Winners), Choir Conduction under Prof. Morelli and Informatic and Elettronic Music under Prof. Marco Stroppa, Orchestra Conduction under Prof Trasimeni (Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra-Korea) Prof J. Perez Gomez (Music University of New Mexico – USA). In his career he composed works especially for chamber music, symphonic music, sacred music, wind orchestra, pieces for solo instruments, string quartets, pieces for large orchestra, symphonic poems, operas, scenic paintings for voices and orchestra, pieces for chorus and young performers, arrangements, transcriptions, instrumentation for wind ensemble, but also music for images, new age, pop, rock and experimental for over 150 titles. He started also his “film music scoring” career in 1998-99 with soundtrack of the documentary movie series entitled “The ways of art” produced by Cosmofilm ltd for the national italian television (RAI). Then he worked in some short films, commercials, documentaries, theater multimedia performances both as a composer of original music, additional music and as an orchestrator and arranger. In 2011 he composed the music for the short movies “Exodus”, “The Light over the stone” and in 2012 signed the entire soundtrack of the film “L.over.S” (Love over Sickness). After this, he became part of the staff of Ilsley Music inc in Los Angeles (USA) where he worked on soundtracks of various major movie (GODS BEHAVING BADLY with Sharon Stone, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Walken, John Turturro, Edie Falco, Oliver Platt – MADEA AT CHRISTMAS with Tyler Perry – SINGLE MOMS CLUB with Nia Long, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Zulay Henao, Cocoa Brown, Amy Smart). Currently works as a music supervisor for the Italian television station NTI. He is often engaged as orchestra and choir conductor.
Luca Benucci – Italy
Luca Benucci’s vast performing and didactic career spans over 30 years and has left an indelible mark on the international music scene. Championing all genres of music under the batons of the most notable Orchestral Directors of our time, developing unique and varied Jazz, Chamber and Solo programs collaborating closely with Jazz and Classical Virtuosi and Pop/Rock stars alike, and by innovating new pedagogical approaches to performance and practice methodology, Mr. Benucci has positively influenced and enriched the lives of numerous professionals, amateurs, students, and audience members throughout the world. Mr. Benucci has been invited to play as Guest Principal Horn in many prestigious Orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, Staatskapelle Solisten Berlin, Super World Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Teatro alla Scala di Milano, World Master Orchestra and ConcertGebouw in Amsterdam. He still holds the full-time position of Principal Horn in the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra since 1995, under the direction of Zubin Mehta. When he isn’t working in the Orchestra, many of his other projects are done in collaboration with artists and musicians in chamber groups such as the Nuovo Quintetto Italiano, Italian Brass Ensemble, the Brass Dimension Ensemble and he is member of the Italian Wonder Brass. In addition to his musical work, Mr. Benucci founded and acts as Artistic Director of the Italian Brass Week, an annual International brass Symposium and Festival now in its 18th season, and the World Brass Association in order to provide easily accessible world-class education to students from both Italy and around the globe. He has also established musical organisations and groups such as the Italian Chamber Orchestra, Mimesis Formazione, Maggio Formazione, Sardinia Brass Festival, Santa Fiora in Musica, Note di Viaggio, and Meet the Soloists – a project that brings Principal players and Soloists from the All over the world together for intimate and informal concerts and lectures. As a highly sought after instructor, Mr. Benucci has held masterclasses in the most acclaimed Universities and Conservatories in the world, including Boston University, Roosevelt University, Juilliard School of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Boston Conservatory, Indiana University, Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Ankara University, Ionian University of Corfu, Maastricht Conservatory, Barcelona Conservatory, Valencia and Madrid Conservatories, Tel-Aviv and Jaffa Universities, Musashino Music College of Tokyo, and the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatory, Singapore University, Manaus University, Puebla (Mexico) and Danzig University. He has also been invited as a guest soloists and teacher to international Brass Festivals in Japan, Cina, Costa Rica, Spain, USA, Mexico, Brasil, Uruguay, Germany, Austria, Swiss and many others. In his spare time, Luca is an avid chef and gastronome and loves to spend time with his two sons, Giacomo and Niccolò.
Crystalla Serghiou – UK
Crystalla is a classically trained Composer, Pianist, Singer and Conductor. Crystalla’s musical versatility allows her to take part in performances of many different genres including Classical, Musical Theatre, Jazz, Pop, Contemporary, Film and Media. Crystalla is currently completing a Masters of Music in Composition at London’s Royal Academy. In 2020, Crystalla graduated with a First Class Honours from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, as a BMus Honours student of Composition. Crystalla often takes on additional roles such as performing in her own works, music directing and conducting. She enjoys being a multi-facetted, collaborative composer, taking on interdisciplinary projects and working alongside other art forms and genres. During her Undergraduate course, Crystalla opened up her own, new music ensemble called ‘Dias Ensemble,’ taking on the role as Conductor, Composer and Musical Director. She has experience in teaching piano, singing and composition; She has also been a member of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Chorus. Since leaving her home country Cyprus, Crystalla has been involved in a range of projects throughout the UK. She was a selected composer to compose a new, orchestral work for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a collaborative show called ‘Last Futures’. Crystalla also worked with one of Scotland’s leading new-music ensembles, Red Note Ensemble, where she was commissioned to write a chamber work for Plug Festival 2019. She wrote a string quartet for the Edinburgh Quartet for Stirling University’s Art Collection. She has recently collaborated with CHROMA Ensemble, where she wrote a new work for the Music and Time Festival 2021. In August, 2021, Crystalla performed for a sound installation project set up in the Robert Burns Monument, Edinburgh by sound installation artist Emeka Ogboh. She sang in Greek Cypriot to contribute to the ‘Song of the Union’ project, co-commissioned by Talbot Rice Gallery and Edinburgh Art Festival as a response to the UK’s departure from the European Union. She has also written for other art forms, such as composing for a musical for Edinburgh Fringe Festival and composing for a short film, premiered at the Glasgow Film Theatre, which was nominated Best Scottish Short Film for the Glasgow Short Film Festival 2020.
Leonardo Sagliocca – Italy
LEONARDO SAGLIOCCA is an italian bass-baritone. He was born in Florence. After an audition with the world famous baritone Gino Bechi, he was encouraged by him to begin the Opera singing career. He began singing studies in the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole under Elio Lippi, Donatella Debolini and Gianni Fabbrini. This school of music was founded by the world famous viola player of the “Quartetto Italiano”, Piero Farulli. After that, Leonardo Sagliocca continued his formation in the University of Music of Florence, the “Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini” under the Scottish soprano Kate Lafferty Gamberucci. At the age of 23 he was noticed by the world famous italian baritone Rolando Panerai who immediately invited him to join his class of international singers and engaged him for the operas “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” by Gioachino Rossini, “La Traviata” by Giuseppe Verdi and “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini. In 1996 he was invited also by the great baritone Leo Nucci to sing beside him in Verdi’s “La Traviata” and to join his class. Leonardo Sagliocca won the 1998 edition of international competition “William Walton – the actor-singer”, sponsored by The Prince of Wales, Charles, which gave him the chance to improve his acting and singing talents with world famous artists like James Lockhart, Graziella Sciutti, Jonathan Papp (Royal Academy of Music, London), Harriet Lawson (Rossini Opera Festival), Corradina Caporello (Juillard School, New York) and perform the opera “Gianni Schicchi” by Giacomo Puccini in front of the Prince. During this Master Class Leonardo Sagliocca was invited for a scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music of London. Other peaks of his career: In 1999 he was singing in the Dome of Genova (Genua,Italy) with the Orchestra of Teatro Carlo Felice, the main theater in Genua, under Herbert Handt. The same year he was invited by the great specialist of Rossini’s Operas, Luis Alva, to sing the role of Mustafa in the Opera “L’Italiana in Algeri” of G.Rossini in Lima, Peru. Also in 1999 he was invited in Lucca by the american former tenor and conductor Herbert Handt to sing world premiere of works by eminent composers. The most famous one, winner of the Academy Award for his career, Ennio Morricone, author of many unforgettable soundtracks of famous movies like “Days of Heaven”,”The Mission”,”The Untouchables”,”Nuovo Cinema Paradiso”. Ennio Morricone was present at the rehearsals and at the concerts, cooperating with Leonardo Sagliocca and the other musicians. In 2005 Leonardo Sagliocca is invited at a very important season, The South Bank Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the season of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Following, a “resumé” of the entire career of Leonardo Sagliocca: He began the soloist career in 1993 in Italy and all over the world, in the fields of symphonic, oratorial, operatic music and from the middle age music to the contemporary. He performed as soloist with the following Associations and Musical Institutions: Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (Florence main theatre and one of the oldest Festivals of the world), Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto (Umbria), Sagra Musicale Umbra (Perugia), Festival Puccini di Torre del Lago (where Giacomo Puccini composed many of his masterpieces), Ravenna Festival (organized by the wife of the great italian conductor Riccardo Muti), Nuova Cappella di Palazzo (Lucca), Associazione Musicale Lucchese (Lucca), Amici della Musica Firenze (Florence), Centro Busoni (Empoli), Festival Internazionale di San Gimignano (SanGimignano, Siena), Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina (Florence), Centro Internazionale di Musica Antica (CIMA, Rome), Tuscia Opera Festival (Viterbo, Italy), Orchestra della Toscana (ORT,Florence), Estate Regina (Montecatini Terme), South Bank Centre (London Philharmonic Orchestra Festival, London), Jeszienny Salon Muszyczny, Szceczin (Poland), Musiksommer Loisachtal (Germany). He performed together with world famous artists like: Gino Bechi, Rolando Panerai, Leo Nucci, Luis Alva, Gennaro Sica, Susanna Rigacci, Victor Micallef, Giorgio Casciarri, Duccio Dal Monte, Marina Comparato, Barbara Di Castri, Filippo Adami, Leonardo De Lisi, Alfie Boe etc. He performed with the following conductors: Salvatore Accardo, Claudio Scimone, Alberto Veronesi, Lu Jia, James Lockhart, Massimo De Bernart, Jeffrey Tate, Vinko Globokar, Claudio Desderi, Filippo Maria Bressan, Herbert Handt, Alessandro Pinzauti, Marco Balderi, Jonathan Brandani, Elisabetta Maschio, Riccardo Cirri, Giuseppe Lanzetta, Federico Bardazzi, Fabio Neri, Riccardo Martinini, Federico Maria Sardelli, Sergio Siminovich, Marco Severi, Augusto Vismara, Giovan Battista Varoli, Piero Papini, Carlo Moreno Volpini, Franz Schottky, David Boldrini etc. He performed with the following directors: Paolo Miccichè, Luciano Alberti, Aldo Tarabella, Luca Ferraris, Riccardo Diana, Gennaro Sica, Graziella Sciutti etc. He sang for the first time in the world works by Ennio Morricone, Luca Lombardi, Franco Mannino, Fabio Cifariello Ciardi, Riccardo Riccardi, Francesco Traversi, always in front of the composers and under their supervision. He has also performed many recitals with piano players, small vocal groups, small orchestras and big orchestras in cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Munchen, Frankfurt, Koln, Kassel, Sczeczin, Innsbruck, Klagenfurt, Zurich, Lugano, Auckland, Melbourne and regularly in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Niigata). He has been permanent member of high level Ensembles like the “Ensemble San Felice” of Florence,Italy, the “Nuova Cappella di Palazzo” of Lucca,Italy and the “Cappella Musicale di Santo Stefano” of Prato, Italy. He is co-founder of the “Ensemble San Felice”, a vocal and instrumental group specialized in early music, with original instruments. With the Ensemble he performed, among others, “Vespro della Beata Vergine” of C. Monteverdi, Haendel’s “Messiah” and “The Fairy Queen” by H. Purcell. He cooperated as talent scout, teacher and soloist singer with the “Maggio Fiorentino Formazione”, the formation agency of the main theater in Florence and one of the more historical and important festivals in Italy, the “Maggio Musicale Fiorentino”. He recorded actually 8 cd’s published and sold all over the world for the following labels (Tactus, Bongiovanni, Kicco Classic, Clavis, Brilliant Classics) He was invited as member of the Jury in important Festivals like The Singing World in Saint Petersburg, the Choral Festivals in Bratislava, the Credo Festival in Tallinn, the Nederlands Koor Festival in Haarlem, the Mozart Festival in Prague, the Juozas Naujalis and Kaunas Cantat Festivals in Kaunas, the Monteverdi Choral Competition in Venice, the Mundus Cantat Festival in Sopot, the Silver Bells Festival in Daugavpils, Summa Cum Laude in Vienna, Cantemus Festival in Nyiregyhaza (Hungary), Jeju International Choral Festival and the World Youth Choral Festival & Competition (South Korea). He is also regularly invited as member of committee in official auditions. He was invited, in August 2014, as lecturer in the 10th World Symposium on Choral Music in Seoul, South Korea. In May 2015 has been invited for masterclasses on opera repertoire for soloists in China in very important institutions like Peking University (PKU), Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing and Xi’an Conservatory of Music (XACOM). In August 2015 he held a masterclass in Russia for Opera young students of Moscow and Saint Petersburg Conservatories. In June 2016 he has been invited to give masterclasses in China in important institutions such as: East China Normal University, Shanghai International Studies University, Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Zhongshan University, South China Normal University. Also in 2016 he performed concerts in USA in important Festivals and halls such as Castelton Festival, founded by Lorin Maazel, and Strathmore. In 2017 he was in Taiwan for Opera recitals in Feng Chia University in Taichung and masterclasses in Taichung and Pingtung. He is creator and organiser of Opera seasons, Chamber Music seasons, Orchestral and Choral Festivals. He is the creator and founder of a new series of Music Festivals in Florence: “Florence Choral” (www.florencechoral.com), produce every year five International Festivals for choirs and orchestras of all age, dedicated and related to the most important personalities of the Florentine Renaissance: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Lorenzo De’ Medici, Andrea Del Verrocchio and Sandro Botticelli. Leonardo Sagliocca is also the creator of the season “A Night at the Opera in Florence”, Italian Opera & Baroque. Young talents and international acclaimed singers from all over the world. The first edition was held in the prestigious Teatro Odeon in Florence. He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Gargonza Music Festival in the wonderful Medieval Castle in Gargonza (Arezzo). He started recently to conduct choirs, ensembles and orchestras. In December 2016 he conducted at the Hermitage Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia
