Second appointment of the
Valle d'Itria Guitar Festival with
Estra Duo in concert on September 2, 2024 at 8:00 PM at the Church of the Addolorata, Piazza Dante, Locorotondo.
Aurora Orsini - Classical Guitar
Sofia Celenza - Soprano
Free admission.
Music by B. Britten, J. Rodrigo, M. Seiber, H. Villa-Lobos, S. Goss, M. De Falla.
Estra Duo is a chamber music duo, formed by Sofia Celenza and Aurora Orsini. Established in 2020, it combines the bright voice of the soprano with the warm tones of the classical guitar. The Estra Duo's projects focus on promoting original music for voice and guitar, starting from the Renaissance and reaching up to contemporary music. Their next CD titled "Classical Folksongs," to be released in 2025 by the Da Vinci Publishing label, focuses on 20th-century music and is based on the revival of popular repertoire by classical composers. The program includes milestones such as Benjamin Britten's Folksongs Arrangements and Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones Populares Espan?olas, as well as the music of the renowned Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Their connection with contemporary music is evident in their relationship with composer Stephen Goss, whose Welsh Folksongs they will record in Welsh.
The "Renaissance vs. Modern" program aims to spread ancient music through original transcriptions by John Dowland, Alonso Mudarra, and Adrian Le Roy, juxtaposed with 20th-century authors, in a continuous dialogue between styles and eras. In their training path, they have been followed by Giampaolo Bandini, guitarist of the Bandini-Chicchiaretta Duo, and Laura Pietrocini, pianist and founder of the Ars Trio. In 2023, they participated in the Master Class of Sergio Assad, a famous guitarist of the Assad Duo, specialized in Brazilian music. In Italy, they regularly collaborate with the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti (IUC), Roma Tre Orchestra, Associazione Zetema Cultura, and the International Music Festival of Portogruaro. They have participated in chamber music competitions, winning the Second Prize at the International Competition "Giulio Rospigliosi" in Lamporecchio and the Special Prize "Emerging Artist Award" at the AEMC International Competition.
Praised for 'shining vocally and thrilling with intense dramaticity (Opera Today review), Sofia Celenza is a lyric singer from Milan. Starting with violin studies at the age of eleven at the Milan Conservatory, she moved to Paris in 2013 to study singing and in 2019 graduated with top honors from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, achieving a Bachelor's degree with honors and a silver medal for best student in the singing department.
Sofia has attended masterclasses with internationally renowned teachers including Lisette Oropesa, Ramon Vargas, Barbara Hannigan, Carmela Remigio, Paolo Bordogna, Gregory Kunde, Sara Mingardo, and Renata Scotto, and has also sung for the Royal Opera House Young Artist Masterclass and its final concert. After debuting at the age of 16 as Maria in West Side Story at the Saint Leon Theatre in Paris, Sofia has performed for numerous seasons and theaters in Italy, England, and India, including St. Martins in the Fields, St. James Piccadilly, Southwark Cathedral, the Portogruaro Festival, the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti and the National Center of Performing Arts in Mumbai. Recent operatic roles include the lead role in the contemporary Serbian opera Svadba at the Queen's House in London, Amphitrite in Purcell's The Tempest, Belinda in Thea Musgrave's A Christmas Carol, and Damigella in The Coronation of Poppea. She has sung as a soloist in Dixit Dominus, Brahms' Requiem, and Vivaldi's Gloria with the Old Royal Naval Chapel Choir, the Indian Symphony Orchestra, and the Brandenburg Symphonia. She has also been heavily involved in choral activities, performing with the Philharmonia Chorus of London at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Elbphilarmonie, Palau de la Musica (Valencia), and Nouveau Siecle (Lille).
Aurora Orsini is a classical guitarist from Rome.
As a soloist, she has performed in Italy, Spain, Hungary, and England.
She specialized in Spain at the Universidad de Alicante, where she attended the "Master en Interpretacion de Guitarra Clasica," studying with the most important guitar masters, including David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Pablo Marquez, Xavier Diaz-Latorre, and Sergio Assad.
In 2020, ranking as the second eligible, she won the audition for the Guitar position at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence and performed under the direction of Zubin Mehta and Daniele Gatti. Additionally, as an orchestral and soloist, she collaborates with the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese, the Orchestra Arche?, the Orchestra Boccherini, the Orchestra Musa, and the Orchestra Suoni del Sud.
In 2017, she obtained the Diploma Vecchio Ordinamento in Guitar with top marks and continued her studies at the Conservatory "L. Boccherini" in Lucca with Maestro Giampaolo Bandini, obtaining the Academic Diploma of the 2nd Level. She completed her studies in Italy by attending the 2nd Level Master in Musical Interpretation for Guitar at the Conservatory "Arrigo Boito" in Parma, followed by Lorenzo Micheli and Stefano Grondona. Admitted at a very young age to the courses of the Chigiana Academy, she received from Maestro Oscar Ghiglia the diploma of merit reserved for the best students. In the summer of 2022, she was once again admitted to the class of the American Maestro Eliot Fisk. In Italy, she regularly collaborates with important theaters and associations including the Teatro Goldoni, the Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti (IUC), and the Accademia Filarmonica Romana. In addition to her intensive concert activity, she is involved in musical study and research. Thanks to a research grant, in 2022 she was a researcher at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, one of the largest archives of modern and contemporary music. She holds a degree in Musicology from the University "La Sapienza" in Rome with a thesis on the unpublished correspondence of the Italian composer Goffredo Petrassi.
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Locorotondo
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