FANTASIA ITALIANA

21 April 2022 at 19:30, Large Stage of Madlenianum

Pianist Cristiana Pegoraro and the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum Orchestra

In spring we carry on with our series of concerts presenting outstanding artists and their dazzling skills. This time, in co-organization with the Italian Institute of Culture in Belgrade, the Italian star of classical music, the pianist Cristiana Pegoraro, is performing on our Large Stage, accompanied by the Opera & Theatre Madlenianum Orchestra. The concert, named Fantasia Italiana, is conducted by maestro Lorenzo Porzio, the artists will play famous attitudes, overtures and interludes by Italian virtuosos in the new piano and orchestra arrangements and the conductor will present one of his compositions as well. Tickets can be purchased at the price of RSD 1.200 and RSD 1.400 RSD.

Italian pianist Cristiana Pegoraro, called an "artist of the highest calibre" by New York Times, has performed on the most prestigious stages in Europe, the United States, South America, Asia and Australia. She began her career in music at the age of five, as a “piano prodigy”, receiving countless awards and being praised "for her great personality, strong musical temperament, mastery of phrasing and expressive artistry."  She graduated with the highest honours from the Conservatory of Terni, Italy, at the age of sixteen. She continued her studies with Jörg Demus in Vienna and Hans Leygraf at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. She later studied with Nina Svetlanova at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

She is the first Italian female pianist to perform classical concerts in Bahrain, Yemen and Oman as well as to perform all 32 Sonatas for piano by Ludwig van Beethoven. She is hailed by the critics as “among the best interpreters of Cuban and South American music” and she has premiered to European audiences the works of Latin-American composers such as Astor Piazzolla, Joaquin Nin and Ernesto Lecuona.

Cristiana Pegoraro is a featured artist on radio and television, performing as a frequent guest in popular Italian TV shows. Over the years Cristiana has appeared in front of the highest world dignitaries, such as the President of Italy, the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Governor of New York, Her Royal Highness Grand Duchess Maria Theresa of Luxembourg, the Italian Minister of Economic Development and the President of the Austrian Senate. She is a spokesperson for tourism campaign of her native region of Umbria throughout the world and also a frequent guest of Italian embassies and cultural centres in the promotion of Italy and Italian music.  

Her piano artistry can be heard on 28 compact discs. Her CD Astor Piazzolla Tangos received the Gold Medal at the prestigious Global Music Awards.

Since 2011, she has been the Founder and President of Narnia Arts Academy (www.narniaartsacademy.com) and Artistic Director of Narnia Festival (www.narniafestival.com), a non profit organization which goal is to promote the arts as well as the cultural, architectural and historical heritage of Italy through a vast array of initiatives. Both the Academy and the Festival have been five times recipients of the President of Italy Gold Medal award for their outstanding programming.

Please visit www.cristianapegoraro.com for more information on Ms. Pegoraro.

The conductor Lorenzo Porzio started learning the piano at the age of seven, and at the age of eleven he took up the organ with the organist and composer Lorenzo Ronci. He finished his studies at Santa Cecilia with Maestro Federico del Sorto. Since 1996 he has been the principal organist at the Basilica of Saint del Sacro Cuore Immacolato Maria in Parioli (Rome). From 1997 – 2011 he continued to perfect his piano studies under Biagio Andriulli, Andrea Sammartino, Giovanni Scaramuzza and Gino Nappo at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He has performed as soloist and has accompanied polyphonic choirs in some of the most prestigious cathedrals and venues in Italy. He has worked with many important singers from the Santa Cecilia Academy and Opera Theatre, Rome Academic Choir, Polyphonic Choir of S. Martino and the St. Paul’s Choir of Rome. In 2003 he held concerts in the Vatican (Hall Raffaello), in the Chiesa del Governatorato and in the Vatican Gardens for the re-opening of the Casina di Pio IV. He studied composition with Marco Persichetti, graduating with the highest grades from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome under Francesco Telli.

He began his career as an Orchestra Conductor studying with Francesco Carotenuto and Marco Boemi and attended Piero Bellugi’s Masterclasses. Since 2004 he has written and performed music on the piano and organ for shows, documentaries and short TV movies on RAI 1, RAI 3, RAI International, Sky Sport, Roma Uno and others. In November 2005, Radio Uno Rai broadcasted his Rapsodia Orientale (Pensando a Pechino-Thoughts of Beijing) composed and played by him. In May 2006 he debuted as a composer at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome (Sala Petrassi) during an event hosted by Pippo Baudo Com’è Straordinaria la Vita and held a chamber music concert in the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano on the occasion of 400th anniversary of the opening of the Vatican Museums. In the time of Christmas festivities in 2006, he played the organ during the Mass in St. Peter’s Cathedral as well as in September 2009 and December 2011, at the Masses of Cardinal Comastri.

From 2009 to 2010 he was the First Assistant Conductor of the elite orchestra of the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in in Rome. In 2010 he debuted as Conductor of the Orchestra Tiberina, conducting the orchestra again in 2011 at the concert at the Cathedral of the Santissimi Apostoli (Rome). Since 2010 he has been collaborating with the Santa Cecilia Academy as a pianist and conductor. Since 2011 he has been a Principal Conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra L’Armonica Temperanza, touring regularly with the orchestra, as invited to perform in the most prestigious halls and churches of Rome.

In 2012 he founded the Orchestra and Choir of the state school “Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II” in Rome. In 2013, within the Narnia Festival, he conducts at the prestigious Orvieto Cathedral and San Domenico Auditorium in Narni, Italy. Both concerts were recorded by RAI 1 and presented by famous actress Barbara De Rossi. In January 2014 he debuts with Filarmonica di Roma Orchestra at the Auditorium Seraphicum in Rome and Teatro Magnani in Fidenza (Parma) with two sold out concerts.

In July 2014, in Narni, he conducts the soprano Katia Ricciarelli at the San Domenico Auditorium and makes his debut at the Teatro Manini with Mozart’s Don Giovanni in two sold out performances.

Since November 2014, Lorenzo Porzio is a testimonial for UNICEF. On the basis of his merits, the President of the Republic of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, awarded him the title of “Cavaliere della Repubblica”.