by InTrieste
With a piano recital by Alessandra Fornasa, a finalist in the prestigious Abbado Prize and winner of numerous competitions, currently in the refinement phase at the Tartini Conservatory pursuing a Second Level Master’s degree in piano, the 2024 Concert Series at the Tartini Conservatory continues.
The program is curated by the Conservatory Director Sandro Torlontano and production manager Luca Trabucco. On Tuesday, March 5th, at 8:30 PM in the Tartini Hall of the Conservatory, the spotlight shines on a program that will guide us “On the Paths of Russian Expressionism,” a journey through the notes of great Eastern Masters, opening with Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 op. 83, continuing with the renowned Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, and concluding with Nikolai Kapustin’s Variations op. 41, rich in jazz influences. Admission to the concert is free, subject to availability. Reservation is recommended at tel 040 6724911.
Sergei Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 op. 83 is the second of the so-called war sonatas; completed in May 1942 in Tbilisi, Georgia, where Prokofiev had been evacuated with other artists to escape the Nazi assault: these pages, for their intensity and the context of their inspiration, are intimately linked to the dramatic events of the history of the ‘short century’.
The celebrated composition Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel in 1922, alternates descriptive pages (pictures) with brief musical episodes, indicating the visitor’s movement from one room to another (Promenade). Mussorgsky creates autonomously vivid musical pictures dedicated to popular scenes, the world of fairy tales and childhood, the sense of the grotesque and the macabre, interspersed with “Promenade” linking variations of tonality, rhythm, and ambiance. The concert will close with Nikolai Kapustin’s Variations op. 41, permeated with every possible jazz influence, from Count Basie to Erroll Garner, with an exciting and engaging finale.
Alessandra Fornasa graduated with honors from the “A. Pedrollo” Conservatory in Vicenza. She curated her chamber repertoire with Maestros Felice Cusano, Bruno Canino, Cristiano Rossi, and the repertoire for violin and piano duo with Maestro Dejan Bogdanovic, whom she accompanies during his advanced courses in Chioggia. She curated her solo repertoire, perfecting it with Maestros Gianpaolo Nuti, Benedetto Lupo, Aldo Ciccolini, Riccardo Zadra, and Massimiliano Ferrati, under whose guidance she completed the two-year solo piano course at the Conservatory of Castelfranco Veneto, graduating with the highest honors. A finalist in the Abbado Prize, she has won awards and recognitions at numerous solo and chamber music competitions.
As a soloist and in chamber formations, she has performed in many Italian cities and for some of the most important seasons and festivals. Her latest recording is dedicated to two important composers of Russian Romanticism: Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff. In 2020, she won the third prize at the Uljus International Piano Competition in Serbia in the Grand Prix category. Currently, in addition to performing as a soloist in recitals and with orchestras, she collaborates with various musicians in different chamber formations ranging from duo to quintet and attends the Second Level Master’s degree program at the “Tartini” Conservatory in Trieste with Teresa Trevisan, Irene Russo, and Luca Trabucco.
