The program will be focused on several examples of “Music of the Night”, such as Busoni seminal Elegies n. 3 and 6, a rare early Nocturne by Debussy and two masterworks by Faurè, his first and last Nocturnes.

In the second half, the dark atmospheres of Messiaen “Courlis Cendré” will be paired with the colorful and ecstatic “Mandragore” written by his pupil Tristan Murail and the shiny “Tombeau de Messiaen” written by Jonathan Harvey after his death.

The program includes pieces that are related to the nocturnal world in different ways, such as Gabriel Faurè first and last Nocturnes, Debussy Suite Bergamasque, with the famous Clair de Lune, Ferruccio Busoni seminal Elegies n. 3 and 6 (Notturno), but also a recent piano work written by Simone Corti, Compendium, with references to Debussy Clair de Lune and Franz Liszt. In fact, the end of this journey are his Variations on Bach’s theme “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”, composed after the death of his beloved daughter.

Dates are on 11th October in the beautiful Hall of Ateneul Bucarest for a coproduction between Romanian Phil and Italian Institute of Culture, on 13th for the Balkan Composers Academy in Tirana for the IIC, and on 21st for the 25th edition of Festival Microludi in Cislago.

First one was in the frame of the 24th Concert Season of Accademia dei Cameristi, in Bari and Fasano and then in Vienna at Palais Sternberg for the Italian Institute of Culture, with violinist Francesca Bonaita and cellist Margherita Succio. The program was featuring two masterpieces of the Trio repertoire, Arnold Schoenberg Transfigured Night and Brahms op. 87, alongside Giovanni Sollima Reperto XII, inspired from a fragment of Franz Schubert. Here’s a video of Brahms Andante

Second one was another Trio project with flutist Lorenzo D’Antò and cellist Arianna Di Martino at Villa La Tesoriera in Torino, where they performed a program ranging from Haydn to a rarely proposed Debussy Transcription of his Piano Trio. Then was the turn of Piano Quintet, within the Concert Season of Conservatorio “N. Paganini” in Genova, where Emanuele is holding the position of Piano Professor since last year, with dazzling Korngold Quintet and colourful Faurè First Piano Quintet played with his distinguished colleagues in Genova and Sori.

The last one was the participation at Ligeti 100 Festival in Budapest at BMC, where the project “Intimate Letters” completely devoted to Gyorgy Kurtàg’s music was performed in front of the composer himself in a sold out hall on 23rd of May. What a moving experience for Emanuele and cellist Francesco Dillon and flutist Manuel Zurria!

“Omaggio a Giancarlo Cardini”, a tribute to his Professor, distinguished pianist and composer, will be presented at Area Sismica Forlì on 6th November and on 8th November at the 40th Edition of “Rassegna di Nuova Musica” in Macerata. The program includes 3 of Cardini’s beloved composers, Satie, Cage and Castaldi, and of his composition, “Secondo Improvviso”, devoted to Emanuele Torquati.

In December, a new version of “L’Anima e la Danza” will be showcased on7th December at Teatro Pirandello for the Italian Institute of Culture in Lima (Peru) and on 11th December at Distat Terra Festival in Patagonia (Argentina), adding to the project released one year ago for Stradivarius some recent pieces by Maurizio Azzan and Martino Traversa, alongside important works by Couperin and Messiaen. After this concert, Emanuele will teach for a week at Distat Terra Academy giving masterclasses to students from all over the World from 12th till 16th December.

La prima coppia è dedicata a pagine del Novecento storico, ovvero le “Valses nobles et sentimentales”, quintessenza della Danza secondo Maurice Ravel, e le “Piano Variations” scritte da Aaron Copland nel 1930, lavoro acuminato amatissimo anche da Leonard Bernstein.

La seconda coppia accosta invece il suggestivo ultimo brano del fluviale ciclo “Catalogue d’oiseaux” di Olivier Messiaen con le recenti “Piano Figures” (2004) dell’inglese George Benjamin, che di Messiaen fu anche allievo presso il Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris.

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Maurice Ravel – VALSES NOBLES ET SENTIMENTALES

Aaron Copland – PIANO VARIATIONS

Olivier Messiaen – LE COURLIS CENDRE’

George Benjamin – PIANO FIGURES

Listen HERE to the Radio Broadcast on RADIO3 Suite and on Swiss RSI, with 2 Interviews plus excerpts from the Cd (Couperin’s Barricades Mystérieuses, Ravel’s Pavane pour une Infante défunte, Benjamin’s Piano Figures, Chopin and Filidei Berceuses).

Listen HERE to “Primo Movimento” Broadcast, devoted to Torquati’s interpretation of Faurè last Nocturne.

“L’Anima e la Danza” is a path through a kaleidoscope of Sounds that belongs to extremely diverse musical and poetic worlds. The Dialogue between Couperin musical personifications and this twofold essence is at times ironic, as in Castiglioni and Filidei, or stylised as in Benjamin and Pesson; at times is oneiric, as in Chopin, Busoni and Faurè. Everything is framed by Ravel’s sublime reinterpretations of the Pavane and Waltz genres, summarized by Henri de Regnier’s epigraph: “Le plaisir délicieux et toujours nouveau d’une occupation inutile”.

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This Project will be released in CD for Stradivarius in September and it was partially featured at Radio3 Suite last March.

!! CLICK HERE here for the PODCAST !!

The Avant-Premiere of the CD release will include two Ravel Masterworks such as “Pavane pour une infante defunte” and “Valses nobles et sentimentales”, but also Filidei latest piano piece, “Berceuse”, alongside Benjamin’s Piano Figures and Castiglioni “In principio era la danza”. The concert will take place on 27th August at Castello Svevo at 7 pm and will be introduced by brilliant pianist and musicologist Luca Ciammarughi.

Moreover, Emanuele will join again also his long-time chamber music partner, cellist Francesco Dillon, for a couple of concerts. The first will take place in Forlì, at “Open Music Festival”, on 26th June, including pieces by Giacinto Scelsi and Jacob TV paired with Debussy G minor Sonata. The second will be in Vienna, at Sternberg Palais, on 29th June, in the frame of their “Distant voices, still lives” project, also presenting a world premiere by Karlheinz Essl written for the Duo!

Next engagements will start from May on, but meanwhile Emanuele was invited from RADIO3 to give a Lecture on Piano Repertoire of 20th and 21st Century in conversation with Oreste Bossini. Focus will be the “Dance”, and how this theme has been developed from different composers, a.o. Ferruccio Busoni and Niccolò Castiglioni, but also Maurice Ravel with his elusive “Pavane pour une Infante defunte”. Final work of the performance will be “Piano Figures”, a wonderful and dazzling miniatures cycle written by George Benjamin for French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

The Live show will be  broadcasted on 26th March at 11 pm and available afterwards on Radioplay podcast channel.