JULY 22 - JURY MEETS / MASTERCLASS CULT
Biography
CHIARA PIA AURORA
Chiara Pia Aurora was born in San Giovanni Rotondo on June 11, 2000. She began studying cello when she was 11 years old, at the musical junior high school «Giustina Rocca», in Trani, with Maestro Luciano Tarantino. After just one year she took the admission test for the «Nino Rota» Music Conservatory of Monopoli, and there she was admitted, with full marks, in Maestro Marcello Forte’s class. She was then included in several regional orders and ensembles, among which the «Nino Rota cello ensemble», directed by Maestro Michele Cellaro, with whom she made her first important debut in many concerts in the Apulia region: among these the “ConcerTant Celli” (cello ensemble of the Nino Rota and «Umberto Giordano» conservatory of Foggia), and the Youth Orchestra of the “Festival della Valle d’Itria”, in Martina Franca. She took several Master classes with Maestros like Massimo Polidori (first cello at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano). With the «Biagio Abbate» youth symphonic orchestra of Bisceglie, in which she is currently First cello, she took part in the «Concert for human rights» organized in Naples by Unesco. She experimented the study of baroque cello, also participating in a baroque-style ensemble supervised by Emma Kirkby and Steven Devine, from the “London Baroque Ensemble”. Lately she has started studying the piano and continues her cello studies, as a preparation for the admission exam at the «Giuseppe Verdi» conservatory in Milan, where she would like to move to perfect her studies in cello and music, trying to balance music with her passion for acting.
HILDEGARD DE STEFANO
Hildegard De Stefano was born in Milan in 1997 and started studying the piano to move to violin later. After taking her high school diploma at the German school in Milan she graduated in violin with full marks and honors at the «Giuseppe Verdi» conservatory in Milan, in Maestro Fulvio Luciani’s class. She took Master classes and improvers courses with Sergej Kryslov, Carlo De Martini, Carlo Feige, Fulvio Luciani and Anton Sorokow. She participated for several years in the German Competition “Jugend Musiziert”, winning many awards. She played in Milan at the Teatro dal Verme, Sala Puccini and Sala Verdi of the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, Museo del Novecento, Sala del Grechetto, EXPO Events Hall 2015 (Musical “Ibn Battuta” for the Sultanate of Oman); she also played in the Hall of the Biblioteca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, and in Istanbul at the German Consulate. In 2017, she performed in a solo execution of Vivaldi’s Estro Armonico at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory in Milan, directed by Ottavio Dantone and played in a chamber music ensemble for the MITO festival in Milan and Turin. Currently, besides studying violin and acting, she attends the university of Wien.
LEONARDO MAZZAROTTO
Leonardo Mazzarotto was born in Rome on December 9, 1998. His passion for music since his early years was passed down to him by his father, a piano and keyboard player. He started studying violin at the age of 10, at the musical junior high school “Nino Rota” in Rome. In 2011, he won the first of his awards in national and international music competitions. In the same year, he joined the youth orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, where he got in touch with such artists as Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Antonio Pappano, Mario Brunello, Shlomo Mintz. He continued his studies at the “Farnesina” Musical High School in Rome, perfecting his studies and taking part in Master classes and year courses of famous maestros like: Mariana Sirbu, Shalom Budeer, Francesco D’Orazio, Marco Fiorentini. In October 2015, he published his collection of poems “Un Silenzio Resta” and in April 2016 he won the music critics’ award by the Institution for Concerts of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He achieved his high school diploma with full marks and he registered at the “Santa Cecilia” Music Conservatory of Rome, which he currently attends. In the summer of 2017 he received a phone call which would take him to his first audition for the role of Matteo in La Compagnia del Cigno, an adventure started with Ivan Cotroneo.
EMANUELE MISURACA
Emanuele Misuraca was born in Palermo in 1996. He started playing the piano when he was 8 years old. In Palermo, he met his current teacher (Vincenzo Balzani) and decided to move to Milan to continue his studies, with Balzani as mentor, at the «Giuseppe Verdi» conservatory. He was admitted to the conservatory and registered in the Music High School. In 2015, he graduated in piano with full marks and honors. His concert debut was in 2007. Emanuele took part in several national and international competitions, always ranking very highly. In 2010, he was absolute winner at the Euterpe international competition (BA). In the same year, he won the first prize in the competitions: “Pia Tebaldini” in Brescia and A.M.A. Calabria. In the Radio Classica recording studios in Milan he recorded Chopin and Rachmaninoff’s music, broadcast in the programmes "Ultimo Grido" and "Il Pianista". He won the Monterosa Kawai award, the first prize in the "Young Talents with orchestra città di Barlassina" competition and the "Mozart" international piano award of Rome. He debuted at the Wiener Konzertaus in Wien performing Mozart’s concert for piano and orchestra k 491, directed by Tiziano Duca. In March 2015, he won the first prize of the first edition of the "Premio del Conservatorio" G. Verdi of Milan. In the same summer, he was invited to represent the same Conservatory at the Hungary pavilion in Expo: the concert was live broadcast in Hungary and in the cities of New York, Toronto and Tokyo. In July 2016, he joined the cast of the Disney film "Come diventare grandi nonostante i genitori", directed by Luca Lucini.
FOTINÌ PELUSO
Fotinì Peluso was born in Rome in 1999. She started playing the piano when she was 6 years old. Her Greek mother, at that time, chose to orient her toward music to let her express the energies of a lively and curious child. Music was the first discipline to teach her that dedication and perseverance bring results. What maybe made mostly enthusiastic was being conscious that from any individual, even a child, a creation, something new, just shaped by fingers running on the keys, could be born. Music is something she always had inside herself and even now that she is attending the faculty of economy she preserves her precision and will to attain her objectives, to search for constant self-improvement. A great teaching she got from her love for music. Fotinì was the protagonist of the fiction Romanzo famigliare directed by Francesca Archibugi.
FRANCESCO TOZZI
Francesco Tozzi was born in Filorence in 2002. His music path started in 2007, when he was olny 5 years old and discovered his great passion for drums. He says: “Everything began one night when, out with my parents, I was fascinated by a parade (full of drums, trumpets, dancers…). Back home, I took two spoons and a pan and recreated the rhythm of the street performance. From that moment, my life would change”. It changed for his parents too, as they “were not so happy that I started playing an instrument so bulky, uncomfortable and noisy like drums. They even tried to make change my mind, having me attend a guitar lesson, but when it ended I said: “I want to play drums”. At that point, his parents accepted it found a drum teacher for Francesco. He has been attending the Florence conservatory, where he studies Percussion. Thanks to this passion, he had the chance to undertake many paths among which the most important is that of the TV fiction La Compagnia del Cigno, that he remembers as one of the best experiences of his life.