The Anna Schivazappa-Claudio Fontana duo will have the task of enlivening the ninth edition of ‘Vivacissimo 2016’, the music programme that the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney organises every year. The two musicians, who respectively play the mandolin and the piano, will present a programme mainly focused on mandolin music composed by Raffaele Calace, Vittorio Monti, Gennaro Napoli and Eduardo Mezzacapo. The concert will be held at the Italian Cultural Institute on 1 December. Anna Shivazappa fell in love with the sweet and vibrant sound of the mandolin when she was very young and attended courses in ancient music in the city of Urbino and at the Music Conservatory of Padua, where she graduated with brilliant marks. The winner of several competitions, she regularly performs in solo or chamber music concerts in Europe and abroad. Following up on the Master’s Degree in the performance of Baroque Music that she obtained from the Sorbonne University in Paris, she also conducts musicological research. Together with harpsichordist Fabio Antonio Falcone, she founded the Pizzicar Galante Ensemble in 2012 with the aim of disseminating and giving new value to the original music repertory for mandolin and basso continuo (18th Century), performed with original instruments and scores of the period.
After graduating in piano from the Music Conservatory of Padua, Claudio Fontana concentrated on the vast Romantic repertory of piano music and attended several Masterclasses, especially on Fryderyk Chopin. He has performed in different musical formations in Italy and abroad and has held concert-lessons, especially on Schubert’s chamber music, at schools and universities. An enthusiast of chamber music, he has been working with Anna Shivazappa for years, in the common intent to shed new light on the classical and romantic music repertory for mandolin and piano.
