BIOGRAPHY
I was born in Cento, a small town near Bologna, in Northern Italy. At home my mother and sister played the piano and I also started taking piano lessons when I was seven years old. I loved listening to classical music, at ten I had already built up a considerable classical record collection. Some of my favourite composers: Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel and Sibelius.
My two brothers and my sister contributed greatly to my musical education. The record player was always on. Each one of them had their favourite style: British and American pop, blues, rock, Italian pop music....again, lots of records. I spent my youth listening to this music and singing it.
As a teen-ager I took my Music Theory Exam at the Conservatory "Giovan Battista Martini" in Bologna and I started studying for my Grade 8 piano exam (Esame di quinto anno) which I took at the Conservatory "Orazio Vecchi" in Modena.
In 1992 I moved to Holland where I started devoting myself fully to the study of jazz music. In the meantime I have been performing with pianist Augusto Pirodda, guitarist Peter Denissen, with trumpet player Victor Borkent's octet "Vic's!" and with Big Band "Straight Life" (directed by Victor Borkent).
Studying classical singing with Heent Prins was an invaluable experience for me.
Amongst my jazz singing teachers, those who have left a strong mark on me are Susanne Abbuehl, Jeanne Lee and Bart de Win.
I never lost track of my Italian roots, recording the cd "Canzoni e standards" in 1998 with Gianluca Masetti on saxophone, Denis Biancucci on piano and Tiziano Zanotti on double-bass. In this cd I made a first attempt to celebrate the canzone italiana from the '50s to the present day. In Italy we have many great composers, from Carlo Alberto Rossi to Enrico Ruggeri, from Renato Carosone to Franco Battiato....their songs mean a lot to me. My dream is that these composers and cantautori might be better known outside of Italy as well.
