Jazz Concert
Paolo Fresu and Daniele di Bonaventura

[Free Concert – Booking Mandatory]

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PAOLO FRESU & DANIELE DI BONAVENTURA

(Photo: Roberto Cifarelli)

The Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria, the Consulate of Italy in Cape Town, and the Honorary Consulate of Italy in Port Louis, are proud to present a tour of the Italian artists Paolo Fresu and Daniele di Bonaventura.

PAOLO FRESU

trumpet, flugelhorn, effects

DANIELE DI BONAVENTURA

bandoneon

In a dialogue in music under the sign of wind instruments and lyricism with Mediterranean flavours, Paolo Fresu and Daniele Di Bonaventura present a concert of great effect that builds upon poetry and that expresses the universe of contemporary music.

(Photo: Roberto Cifarelli)

Daniele di Bonaventura

Born in Fermo (in the Marche region of Italy), Daniele di Bonaventura, composer-arranger, pianist-bandoneon player, has cultivated a strong interest in improvised music since the beginning of his activity, even though he has a classical musical education (diploma in Composition) that began at the age of 8 with the study of piano, cello, composition and conducting.

His collaborations range from classical to contemporary music, from jazz to tango, from ethnic music to world music, with forays into the world of theatre, cinema and dance. He has performed at the major Italian and international festivals including: Rumori Mediterranei in Roccella Jonica ’87 and ’88; Jazz & Image at Villa Celimontana in Rome, Ravenna Jazz 2000, Clusone Jazz 2001, Biennale Arte Venezia 2001, Sant’Anna Arresi Jazz 2004, Festival della Letteratura Mantova 2004, Cormòns 2005, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Stagione Musica da Camera 2005-’06; England – Music Hall Festival and Royal Festival Hall in London, Holland – Music Hall in Leeuwarden, Germany – 30th Deutsches Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, Berlin Jazz Festival, Spain – Festa de la Mercè in Barcelona, Egypt – Opera House in Cairo, Norway – Olavsfestdagen in Trondheim, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Singapore, USA and South Africa.

He has played, recorded and collaborated with: Enrico Rava, Paolo Fresu, A Filetta, Oliver Lake, David Murray, Miroslav Vitous, Rita Marcotulli, David Liebman, Toots Tielemans, Omar Sosa, Flavio Boltro, Joanne Brackeen, Greg Osby, Ira Coleman, Dino Saluzzi, Javier Girotto, Cèsar Stroscio, Tenores di Bitti, Enzo Favata, Aires Tango, Peppe Servillo, David Riondino, Francesco Guccini, Sergio Cammariere, Lella Costa, Ornella Vanoni, Franco Califano, Eugenio Allegri, Alessandro Haber, Omero Antonutti, Giuseppe Piccioni, Mimmo Cuticchio, Custòdio Castelo, Andrè Jaume, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Furio Di Castri, U. T. Gandi, Guinga, Riccardo Fassi, Frank Marocco. In 2003, he composed, performed and recorded the ‘Suite for Bandoneon and Orchestra’ commissioned by the Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana.

He has published more than 30 records with record labels and editions: Via Veneto Jazz, Philology, Manifesto, Felmay, Amiata Records, Splasc(H), World Music, CCn’C Records, and for Harmonia Mundi the latest work entitled ‘Sine Nomine’. His latest collaborations are with Miroslav Vitous, who called him to participate in the latest CD entitled ‘Universal Syncopation II’ published by the prestigious German label ECM, for which he also published his latest work entitled “Mistico Mediterraneo”, shared with the Corsica vocal group ‘A Filetta’ and Paolo Fresu.

Paolo Fresu

The village band and major international awards, the Sardinian countryside and records, the discovery of jazz and a thousand collaborations, the love of small things and Paris. There are very few people capable of putting together such a collection of elements and transforming it into an incredible and rapid stylistic growth.

Paolo Fresu has succeeded precisely in a country like Italy where – for too long – jazz culture was as well known as Shakespeare or the canvases of Matisse, where Louis Armstrong was little more than a freak of insane San Remo showcases and Miles Davis was discovered to be ‘black’ and good well after his peak creative years.

The ‘magic’ lies in the immense naturalness of a man who, like few others, was able to transport the deepest meaning of his supposedly magical land into the most precious and freeing of arts.

At this point in his fortunate and long career, there is no need to enumerate the recordings, awards and various experiences that have imposed him at an international level and that make his music ecumenically loved: inside the sound of his trumpet is the sap that has given lustre to the nouvelle vague of European jazz, the depth of a thought that is not only musical, the generosity that wants him in the right place at the right time but, above all, the inexhaustible passion that has always sustained him.

Paolo’s present is – as usual – turbulent, worthy of the omnivorous and creative artist that everyone recognises in him: apart from a fascinating literary side that has resulted in the publication of a number of editorial works and the Honorary Degrees from Milan’s La Bicocca University and New York’s Berklee College of Music, Paolo plays in his historic quintet, in the ‘Devil’ quartet, in his new trio formed with two realities of contemporary jazz such as Dino Rubino and Marco Bardoscia, and finally the surprising ‘Heroes’, a tribute to David Bowie where he collaborates with the established names Petra Magoni and Christian Meyer and with some of the most prominent Italian new wave jazz players such as Francesco Diodati, Francesco Ponticelli and Filippo Vignato.

Important International collaborations are not to be forgotten, such as the successful duo partnership with Uri Caine, or the great names of Carla Bley, Steve Swallow or Ralph Towner, which bridged the way for Paolo’s name to enter the entourage of the celebrated and noble ECM label, for which other notable recordings have been released.

His more current present sees him active, in a more foreign-oriented perspective, in a trio with Richard Galliano and Swedish pianist Jan Lundgren (“Mare Nostrum”) and in various new adventures with important names in the contemporary jazz entourage such as, among many others, Omar Sosa, Jaques Morelenbaum, Trilok Gurtu, Lars Danielsson, Eivind Aarset or Arild Andersen. There are also interesting projects with some big names in the Italian literary and theatrical world (Mariangela Gualtieri, Ascanio Celestini, Lella Costa, Stefano Benni, Alessandro Bergonzoni, Giuseppe Battiston), the frequentation of the theatrical world itself as a first-time performer thanks to the works produced by the Teatro Stabile di Bolzano, including the successful plays ‘Tempo di Chet’ and ‘Tango Macondo’, as well as a new series of small but important collaborations with ‘intelligent’ music from the Italian folk fringe or electronic music. Music for the Cinema and ‘special projects’ such as his extraordinary theatrical ‘a solo’ close the circle together with the great little adventure that led him to celebrate his 50th birthday in 2011 with 50 concerts, on 50 consecutive days, with 50 different ensembles and projects in 50 scenic masterpieces of his Sardinia. Not to be outdone, too, is the fine project dedicated to his important 60th birthday, thanks to Bologna, which has now become, like Paris, one of his places of reference.

Also missing from the list is the important series of projects dedicated to various aspects of the ‘classical’ world tout-court, which, thanks to ad hoc works, is reserving beautiful surprises with musicians capable of ‘looking ahead’ or, finally, the beautiful new promotional work that Paolo is carrying out with many young lions of the contemporary jazz entourage through the possibilities offered to them thanks to his new Tǔk Music label, now an international point of reference.

Fresu is one of those musicians who come from time to time to remind us why jazz is so special and unique

Buenos Aires Herald

Book your seats

Pretoria

Date
5 September 2023 | 18:30
Venue
Atterbury Theatre

Free entrance, booking mandatory

Cape Town

Date
7 September 2023 | 19:00
Venue
Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre

Free entrance, booking mandatory

Port Louis, Mauritius

Date
9 September 2023 | 19:30
Venue
Caudan Arts Centre

Free entrance, booking mandatory