The Italian Cultural Institute of Tirana concludes its programming for 2021 with a tribute to two great musicians who were widely distant in their culture, origins, and life experiences, but were both absolute icons of the international music scene: the Italian composer Ennio Morricone (1928-2020) and the Italian-born Argentinian Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992).
The event – a concert by the Italian group “I Solisti Romani” – is scheduled for today, 13 December, in Tirana, in the completely renewed Concert Hall of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet, which has just reopened, and in Prishtina for tomorrow, 14 December, at the Kino ARMATA Cultural Centre.
The eight musicians of “I Solisti Romani” have been collaborating intensively with Morricone for more than 25 years, “giving voice” to the Maestro’s compositions, recording his scores for hundreds of unforgettable films (from Sergio Leone’s “Once upon a time in America” to Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables) and performing with him in numerous concerts all over the world. But there will also be room for Piazzolla’s mix of tango and jazz, which purists have called ‘the assassin that killed the Tango’, but which in fact made the Argentine dance form famous and practised all over the world.
“I Solisti Romani” consists of a string quintet (violins: Vincenzo Bolognese, Pierluigi Pietroniro and Simone Pittau; viola: Maurizio Tarsitani; cello: Benedetta Chiari) with Roberto Zechini on guitar, Andrea Pighi on double bass, and Daniele Di Bonaventura on concertina.
After Prishtina the Italian musicians will also stop off at Peja, in the western area of Kosovo, where a jazz Duo consisting of Daniele Di Bonaventura and Roberto Zechini will open the local 2021 Jazz Festival with a selection of experimental and improvised pieces.
