Note Italiane, a series of concerts featuring internationally acclaimed Italian musicians

The Embassy of Italy in Wellington is hosting a series of concerts in February and March for Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. These includes piano duo Spina-Benignetti and violinist Luca Ciarla during their Oceania tours (check the musicians' websites for other NZ cities), as well as New Zealand-based Lilia Carpinelli (soprano), Luca Manghi (flute) and Matteo Napoli (piano) for their first public performance together. 

 
​Mediterramia

A creative and surprising violinist, Luca Ciarla easily transcends the boundaries among genres to trace an innovative musical path, a magical acoustic seduction in perfect balance between written compositions and improvisation, traditional and contemporary sounds.

Luca owns the stage with his fiddle and a few toy instruments. With a loop pedal, he performs live all the parts, playing the violin like a guitar, a cello or percussion. In this imaginative landscape, Luca sings, whistles, plays other little instruments and adds new virtuoso passages; music is continuously evolving into a dazzling solOrkestra!

The programme features unusual arrangements of traditional Italian folk tunes, music from the Mediterranean area and original compositions.


Christchurch: Sunday 24th February 7:30pm, Irish Society Hall (for tickets Folk Music Club Christchurch)
Wellington: Wednesday 27 February 6pm, St Andrew on the Terrace - Free entry
Auckland: Thursday 28 February 6 pm, St Matthew in the City - Free entry

Other dates are in Christchurch, Hamilton, Motueka, Picton: https://www.lucaciarla.com/tour/
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Fantasy and Imagination

Eleonora Spina and Michele Benignetti are two compelling, talented young musicians who come from strong and varied backgrounds as soloist and chamber musicians. Their partnership as a piano duo began in 2013 and immediately received positive acclaim. Winners of international music competitions, on June 2014 they obtained the prestigious ‘Diplôme Supérieur d’Exécution’ at the Ecole Normale de Musique ‘Alfred Cortot’ in Paris, with the mention ‘à l’unanimité’. They have been appointed professors at the Conservatory of Music and Dance in Soissons and at the Conservatory of Music and Theatre of Saint Quentin, where they live. The piano duo ‘Spina – Benignetti’ is an Official Yamaha Artists, since December 2017. 
They will perform a Recital Piano Four Hands with music by Busoni, Mendelssohn, Saint- Saëns, Schubert and Barber.
Wellington: Wednesday 6 March 6pm, St Andrews on the Terrace - Free entry
Other dates in Palmerston North, Whanganui, Kerikeri: www.spinabenignetti.com

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A Night at the Opera
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Italian-born New Zealand based artists, international performers Carpinelli, Manghi and Napoli will perform in public together for the first time, with a special programme prepared especially for this occasion. Their recital for soprano, flute and piano, will take us on a journey through Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera, with themes of popular arias by Vivaldi, Rossini, Puccini, Verdi as well as Italian traditional songs.



​Lilia Carpinelli: https://www.vivaldiacademy.co.nz/copy-of-marcello-napoli
Luca Manghi: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/about/school-of-arts/music/staff-contacts/luca-manghi
Matteo Napoli: https://www.vivaldiacademy.co.nz/matteo-napoli

Wellington: Tuesday 12 March 6pm, St Andrews on the Terrace - Free entry
Christchurch: Wednesday 13 March 6pm, The Great Hall at the Arts Centre - Free entry
Auckland: Saturday 16 March 6pm, St Matthew in the City - Free entry - Free entry

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