Andrea Portera (Italy)
Its catalog of over 140 titles, the Andrea Portera’s scores explores the universe of sound through an anthropological perspective, especially in the connections that music generates with the emotion and the human unconscious: a production sui generis, where the creative process is expressed through an identity “intuitive” even before “stylistic.” Andrea Portera is responsible for Research & Development PERLART, the To section Lab (Laboratory of Psychology, Emotions & Research – spin-off of the University of Florence in partnership with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) that deals with emotional intelligence, art and creativity. Portera is a promoter of the Cultural Manifesto Emotional Intelligence Renaissance (EIR). His compositions have received acclaim and recognition from prestigious names in the world of music: awarded by Berio, Fedele, Noseda, Rhim, Morricone, Nishimura, Corghi, Bussotti, Solbiati, Halfter, Vacchi, Sciarrino, Abbado, Osokawa, Luis De Pablo etc. Among the many awards he has received include Portera:
– First Prize at the II International Competition “Arturo Duo Vital Award” (Foundation Botin)
– First Prize at the IV International “Stresa Festival Award”
– First Prize in the International “Instruments of Peace”
– First Prize at the IV International “Camillo Togni Award”
– First Prize at the VII International “Evangelisti Award”
– First Prize in the International “Valentino Bucchi Award”
– First Prize at the International “G. Viotti Award ”
– First Prize at the III International “Ciani Award ”
– International Award “Alexander Moyzes”
– First Prize at the VII International “Carella Award”
– First in the IX ° International “Romulado Marenco Award”
– First Prize at the XXIV ° International “Castelli di Belveglio Award”
– First Prize at the II International “A.Gi.Mus” Varenna
– First Prize at the IV National “Rosolino Toscano Award”
– Second Prize at the International “Toru Takemitsu Award”
– Lutoslawski Award (Poland)
– Lepo Sumera International (Estonia)
– Franz Schubert Und Die Musik Der Moderne (Austria)
– Dutilleux Competition (France)
– TICCS (Thailand International Competition for Saxophone)
– Fondazione Guido d’Arezzo (Italy)
– in 2001 he received from the President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi the Silver Medal;
– in 2006 he received by the Department of Cultural Heritage of Brescia the Gold Medal;
– In 2011 he received by the Culture of the city of Prato “Gigliato Silver”;
– in 2012 he receives for the second time the Medal of the President Of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano.
His works have been performed by leading orchestras, in particular: Tokyo Philharmonic, RAI Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Symphonic Orchestra of the Slovak Radio, Estonian National Orchestra, National Orchestra of Greece, Orchestra Regionale Toscana (ORT), SPCO Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, the “Musical Afternoons “Milan, Vivaldi Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Florence etc. and important chamber ensembles, including the Arditti Quartet, Ensemble Daedalus, Stresa Festival Ensemble, MDI Ensemble, Ensemble Laboratorium, New Counterpoint Ensemble, ContempoArte Ensemble, Academy Quartet, Gaudeamus Ensemble, Ensemble “August 2”, The Searchers, GAMO, Ned Ensemble, Ascanio Quartet, Quartet Aphrodite, etc. His works were directed by Noseda, Rustioni, Kawka, Iwamura, Gazon, Logiadis, Carrasco, Peleggi, Boccadoro, Montanari, Guttman, etc. The works of Andrea Portera are commissioned by major theaters and festivals, including the 57th Venice Biennale, the Stresa Festival (2009 and 2012), the 62nd International Festival of Santander, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Foundation, the 32nd season of ‘ Orchestra della Toscana, Sounds Reflections, Composium 2007 Tokyo Opera City, Rebus at the Teatro Dal Verme, ITU MIAM-Center for Advanced Studies in music in Istanbul, Antalya Piano Festival, etc. In 2008 the Fiesole School of Music dedicated to the composer event monographic Music and Culture, dedicated, above, to Kurtag, Berio, Sciarrino, Fedele, Vacchi, Bussotti, Andriessen. For the theater he has collaborated with various artists, actors, choreographers, writing music for Stefano Massini, Sandro Lombardo, Michele Placido, Ottavia Piccolo, Milena Vukotic, Maddalena Crippa; with choreographers Marga Nativo and Keith Ferrone has developed, in collaboration with the Adi Da Samraji Foundation, the music for the ballet Not Two Is Peace. Just forty is regularly invited to juries of international competitions (Arturo Duo Vital International, International Carella, Luigi Nono competition, Call For International Scores, Music for Peace for the visit of the Dalai Lama in Italy, Morricone Awards, Florence International Choir Competition etc. ) and as a teacher of master classes in composition (European Academy of the Quartet, Mill Artes, Geneva Conservatory, Univesità of Architecture in Genoa, Italian Academy Youth Orchestra, the Lyon Superior Conservatory etc.). Portera has an intense teaching at the Fiesole School of Music, where he teaches composition at the university course, and promotes the work of many talented young composers, which are followed in the academic world and introduced to professional path, especially through competition composition “Veretti”, devised by himself. His works have been published by Suvini Zerboni, RaiTrade, Eurarte, Bucchi Award, Le Monnier, Fondazione Guido d’Arezzo, Hudobne Centrum Slovakia, Botin Foundation. Since 2010 he is an author of the publishing house Sconfinarte. He is also author of the manual Musical Contexts (Mondadori & Le Monnier) for secondary schools. Portera is Composer in Residence of the festival Suoni Riflessi.
Cristina Ferri (Italy)
Cristina Ferri studied piano at the Scuola di Musica R.Franci in Siena. He began his study of opera singing with Carlo Bergonzi, who graduated from the Academy of Opera Singing in Busseto ( Pr) at the age of eighteen he received his diploma of merit at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. He then graduated privately in singing at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. In 1994, when he was twenty-one, he made his debut in “L’amico Fritz” by P.Mascagni in the role of Suzel at Valli di Reggio Emilia, with the Orchestra Toscanini, conducted by the M, Maestro. Ranzani. He continued his musical studies with Renata Scotto, Magda Olivero and Raina Kabaivanski . She won a scholarship at the Concorso Voci Verdiane, which allowed her to do a master’s degree at the Parma theatre. He received diplomas of merit at the Puccini Academy in Torre del Lago. He debuted in La Bohème in concert form in Fidenza. He is Liù in Turandot, in the summer of 1998 in Tuscany where, in 1999 he is again Mimì in La Bohème by G.Puccini.
In 2001 she was the winner of the International Competition ” Mattia Battistini “and debuted in the “Traviata” by G.Verdi in the title role at the Vespasiano theatre in Rieti .
The role of Donna Anna debuted in the ” Don Giovanni” by W.A.Mozart at the Bassano del Grappa theatre and also in the same year the role of the Countess from ” Le Nozze di Figaro” by W.A.Mozart. She made her debut in the role of Eugenia da ” Il Filosofo di Campagna ” by B.Galuppi at the theatre of Belluno and Alicante ( Spain). Touches all the theaters of Spain with the ” Desvan Verdi”. In 2002 she won the International Competition ” Tito Gobbi”
In 2003 he was Leonora in G.Verdi’s Trovatore with the production of the Ravenna Festival directed by Julian Kovatchev, Violetta in La Traviata in Carrara, and again Liù in Turandot in Como, Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia and Cremona directed by Massimo de Bernard.
In 2004 he performed in a concert with the Opera di Roma, then played Nedda in Teramo, and continued with Carmina Burana at Santa Cecilia under the direction of Roberto Gabbiani
In 2005 he won the twelfth competition Di Stefano, and performed Magda in La Rondine directed by M somebody Steven Mercurio, then resumed in Paris at the Chatelet Theatre, under the direction of Marco Armiliato.
In 2006 she made her debut as Donna Elvira in Zagreb and performed Mozart’s Requiem in Messina directed by Maurizio Arena
In 2007 he is again Nedda in I Pagliacci in Zagreb and Liù in Turandot at the Rome Opera (Caracalla), under the direction of M somebody Alain Lombard. In the same summer he also performs concerts in Hvar, Croatia, and is again Violetta in Traviata in Split. He also plays the role of Manon Lescaut in Osijek, Croatia, under the direction of master Loris Voltolini.
In 2008 he is again Liù in Turandot in Beijing , debuts the role of Lauretta in “Gianni Schicchi “in Palermo, directed by M Paolo Arrivabeni, and in Bologna in the “Der vampyr” in the role of Emmy, inauguration of the season, directed by M Roberto Abbado with the direction of P.Pizzi.
Hanna Glavary’s role in “La Vedova Allegra” directed by Christopher Franklin debuted in Genoa in December 2009 and in March 2010 she sang Belinda in “Dido and Aeneas” at the Fenice in Venice. In December 2010 it is the turn of Leonora in Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio at Ponchielli in Cremona.
In September 2011, sings Mimì in “La Bohème” by G.Puccini at the Teatro dei Rinnovati in Siena, where the following year he plays Leonora in “Trovatore” by G.Verdi. In October 2011 and in January 2012 he plays Santuzza by “Cavalleria Rusticana by P.Mascagni and Violetta in ” La Traviata ” by G.Verdi at the Teatro Franco Zappalà in Palermo.
In summer 2013 she sang again Violetta and Nedda da ” Pagliacci” by R.Leoncavallo at the Festival “La Lirica” at the Castle in Val d’Elsa (Siena).
In the 2014/2015 season an important Dutch tour in the role of Aida (directed by Francesco Bellotto), some recitals in Bratislava, Bohème in Siena and Butterfly in Pisa.
She was awarded by her city of Siena the prestigious Mangia d’Oro, a medal for civic value for cultural commitment and for honoring the name of Siena in the world.
In 2017 she is Santuzza, Cio-Cio San and Tosca in Palermo. In Barcellona she sings Verdi Requiem with the Symphonic Orchestra of Barcellona.
In 2018 Bruno Baudissone publishes a book which contains an interview with Cristina.
Cristina has been awarded in Siena with the prestigious Mangia D’Oro for her brilliant career.
She frequently takes part in tv interviews with Gigi Marzullo.
In 2019 she records the soundtrack for the movie ” L’uomo del labirinto” by Donato Carrisi.
In 2020 she was the the creator and conductor of the radio program “Dalla Musica al Teatro mi sono ritrovata in Radio”, broadcast on Radio Nuova Trieste.
In 2021 she is Tosca in an opera festival in the Viterbo area, she sings Mimì in “La Bohème” by G. Puccini in Fiuggi and plays a series of recitals that touch Tuscany and end in Sicily. She is also called as a teacher for some opera singing masters in Tuscany. 2022 opens with a collaboration with online magazines in the sector.
In April and June 2022 he performed a series of recitals. Also in June, in collaboration with the director Franco Zappalà, he creates the video “When women are killed by indifference”short that will be presented at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena in the day on gender violence in the presence of all the authorities and the head of the Italian state police. In August is again Hanna Glawary in “The Merry Widow” of F.Lehàr in Sicily. In September he directed ” Suor Angelica” by G.Puccini in the music festival of Casole d’Elsa (Si). He plays again the role of Floria in the ” Tosca” of G.Puccini in the centenary of the birth of Ettore Bastianini and performs numerous recitals.
In 2023 he receives the Lifetime Achievement Award” Woman is “. In March creates the concert/ story “The women of Puccini” on text of the same Cristina Ferri, performed at the Library of Intronati in Siena. In November she is called as a teacher at the Accademia Verdiana “Carlo Bergonzi di Busseto (PR)” and participates in numerous recitals for Italy.
Edoardo Materassi (Italy)
guitarist, composer, arranger and choir conductor. His vocal and instrumental compositions are performed in Italy and foreign countries, by worldwide well known musicians. He writes scene music while collaborating with various theatre companies. As a choir conductor he performs an intense concert activity, in Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Russia, Albania), and several choral workshops (Australia, Germany). As a conductor and as a composer he won several national and international first prizes, as in May 2024 First prize as a composer at “Cornwall International Male Choir Festival”. He has been a member of the Artistic Commission for the Tuscany Region Choir Association. He collaborates with “Fe.N.I.A.R.Co” Italian Choir Association and as arranger for the choral festival “Europa Cantat”. In 2016 began his collaboration as a lecturer and conductor for choral workshops and concerts for “On Stage in Florence” with Interkultur. He conducts the choirs: Animae Voces, Mulieris Voces, Sesto In Canto, Menura Vocal Ensemble, Na ‘Ara Vocal Ensemble, and several primary and high school choirs. He teaches harmony, choral practice, ensemble music and guitar, in several music schools in the Florence districts. He organizes workshops and seminars for teachers and music operators.
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
