guests
Nacho Blanco
After studying at the Institut del Teatre of Barcelona, Nacho Blanco was dancer and principal with some of the great flamenco dancers such as Antonio Canales, Juana Ramírez, Mercedes Amaya, Sara Baras, Juana Amaya and Merche Esmeralda. He has been the main dancer of “Torero” (1995), “Gitano” (1994 to 1997), “A cuerda y tacón” (World Tour, 1994-2000) with the Compañía Antonio Canales; “Rinconete y Cortadillo” (2002) with the Javier Latorre Company; and “Andanzas” (2003) with the Compañía Somorrostro. Furthermore he performed in “El Llanto” (2007-2010) with the Compañía October Teatral, in “La difícil sencillez” (2009) with the Company of Rafael Amargo and in “Romance de Curro el Palmo” (2014), created for the Grec Festival in Barcelona and directed by Jaume Villanueva. His last works have been a show performed alongside Mercedes Amaya in the Theater Fine Arts of Mexico D.C. (2015) and a show in the framework of the Marciac Jazz Festival in France (2015), paying tribute to Paco de Lucía along with the great artists who accompanied his professional career. |
Sandro Cuccuini
Sandro Cuccuini studied piano under the guidance of Sergio Verderame and graduated in Piano from Conservatorio G. Verdi, Turin. Since 1990 he has been working as pianist for ballet in several festivals and institutions including Staatsballet Berlin, Berlin, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York, Metropolitan Fine Arts Center, Washington, London Contemporary Ballet Theater, London, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glascow, Central School of Ballet, London, Tanzsommer Festival, Bolzano. Since 2001 he has been pianist at the Royal Academy of Dance, London. During the years he has designed and taught some courses on the music for dance and he also composed and recorded several CDs both for ballet and contemporary dance. He composed and arranged the scores of “Valjean”, a musical inspired by Victor Hugo's “Les Miserables”, and "Il Canto Invisibile" . The Operetta is one of his interests. From 1998 to 2006 he has been Artistic Director and conductor of the Torino Teatro Operetta. |
Francesco De Rubeis
Drummer and percussionist Francesco De Rubeis regularly performs in some of the most prestigious festivals and music venues around the globe. He played, toured and recorded with groups and musicians such as Indaco, Capolinea, THEO Orchestra, Okabe Family, Manao, Miguel Rodriguez, Bob Franceschini, Mike Stern, Anne Boccato, John Patitucci, Roy Mor, Gianni Gagliardi, Pablo Reyes, Paul Jones, Dwiki Dharmawan, Raffaello Simeoni, Daniele Tittarelli and many others. Francesco de Rubeis has an extensive experience as musician for modern and contemporary dance. He collaborates with some of the most important institutions for dance in the world, such as The Juilliard Dance Division (NYC), Tisch School at New York University (NYC), Martha Graham Dance Company (NYC), Merce Cunningham Trust (NYC), American Musical and Dramatical Academy (NYC), Peridance Capezio Center (NYC), Accademia Nazionale di Danza (Roma).. Francesco De Rubeis represents internationally Vic Firth sticks and RV drums. |
Massimiliano Greco
Massimiliano Greco, composer and pianist, studied and graduated with the highest mark at the Conservatory “N.Piccinni”, Bari, studying with Hector Pell. He studied musical composition with Ottavio De Lillo, in Bari. Winner of several piano competitions, he specialized in piano with Maria Golia, as well as with Michele Campanella and Alexis Weissemberg at Accademia Chigiana, Siena. Since many years he has specialized as pianist and composer for ballet and contemporary dance. He worked with the most world-renowned teachers, choreographers and balletmasters, playing for different classical and contemporary "techniques". He recorded a collection of CDs for classical ballet classes and for choreographies, and his music is known all over the world. From august 2010 he is Main Pianist and Head of Music Department of Académie Princesse Grace at Les Ballets de Montecarlo, Monaco. He is also Responsable Teacher of the Princesse Grace Academy International Courses for Ballet Pianists. All his students are professional ballet pianists. |
Marta Guercini
She graduated with a bachelor degree in DAMS (faculty of art music and drama) from Tor Vergata University, Rome and she is about to complete her Master's Degree in Musicology at Sapienza University, Rome. She gained her music skills in many different music schools, particularly through classic guitar studies. She is also a member of the AGESCI Scout Association where she works as an educator. Because of the great pedagogical connections to the Orff-Schulwerk, she attended the annual Orff-Schulwerk training course in 2014 held by CDM onlus Centro Didattico Musicale in agreement with Tor Vergata University. Currently she works for CDM as an Orff educator to children aged 3 to 11 years old. She coordinates and administrates the annual Orff-Schulwerk training course held by CDM in agreement with Tor Vergata University. In order to enhance her education, she regularly attends seminars and methodology courses (Body Music with Keith Terry, SIMEOS summer course, Verona). |
Kim Helweg
Kim Helweg is a danish pianist and composer. Since 1983 Kim Helweg has been regular supported by the Danish Arts Foundation. His music has been regularly performed in Europe, North America, South America and in South Korea, and since 1992 his works have been commissioned from Italy, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, USA and England. The CD-labels are Chandos, Olympia, Rondo, Focus, IRCO and Classico among others. Collaborations with different choreographers are an important part of his musical activity. He has composed "Eidolon" for Rambert DC, "Cupid and Psyche" for The Royal Danish Ballet and several compositions for the Danish choreographer Jens Bjerregaard: "Divided in three", "Spiri", "Silent Tales", "Nothing Florid" and "The Labyrinth". Among the later works are: "Nothing Florid" (2005), "RAUM" (2006-07) . for the choreographer Jens Bjerregaard and Ballerina/Danseur Noble" (2009) for The Royal Danish Ballet with choreography by Kim Brandstrup. Kim Helweg Kim Helweg is the Head of the Musical Accompaniment for Dance education (MAD) at the Scenekunstskole, Copenhagen. |
Suzanne Knosp
Dr. Suzanne Knosp is a Professor of Dance and Music Director for the School of Dance at the University of Arizona in Tucson.. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music and dance and accompanies dance technique classes. She was recently awarded the Louis Horst Award for outstanding contributions to the fields of music and dance by the International Guild of Musicians in Dance.Dr. Knosp is recognized as a pianist, composer and collaborative artist in both music and dance. She has worked with master teachers from many professional companies including the Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem and the Limon Company. Her work with dancer Melissa Lowe includes three DVDs distributed internationally on the KULTUR label. Her ballet and contemporary scores and recordings for dance class are available from Princeton Book Company Publishers and on Amazon. In addition to 48 years as a collaborative artist, she was a member of Crossing Barriers for 10 years, an experimental improvisational group directed by internationally known double bassist, Patrick Neher. Dr. Knosp is a specialist in the research, education and training of dance musicians. She created the curriculum for the Master of Music in Dance Accompaniment in both piano and percussion performance. She has lectured and performed at numerous national and international festivals and conferences and is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization, Music Teachers National Association and is Past-President of the International Guild of Musicians in Dance. In 1988, she received a DMA in piano performance pedagogy from the University of Iowa where she was a student of Kenneth Amada. |
Peter Kubik
Peter Kubik is a belgian pianist and composer. He graduated in Piano from Conservatoire Royal Supérieur de Bruxelles and since 1975 he has been working as musician in dance for several institutions and festivals including Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Mark Morris Monnaie Dance Group, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, Opéra de Paris, Oper Bonn, PA.R.T.S., Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro. As composer he realized the music for 15 ballets as well as for several movies. He recorded over 35 CDs for both ballet and contemporary dance. During the years he performed aside dancers including Rudolf Nureyev, Alvin Ailey, Claude Bessy, Vladimir Vassiliev, Azary Plisetsky, Maya Plisetskaya, Judith Jamison, Fernando Bujones, He also collaborated with such artists as Ruggiero Raimondi, Montserrat Caballé, Julia Migenes Johnson as well as Joe Cocker. Currently he works at the Ecole Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower. |
Tristan Lofficial
First price of Conservatory and graduate from the State, Tristan Lofficial has been accompanist of dance at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine of Angers in the 90s, then at the Opéra National de Paris and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris since 2004. He has also participated in numerous workshops and residencies with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Cie, Gianni Joseph Cie, Jean-Christophe Paré. Norio Yoshida, Gilbert Mayer, Bertrand Barena, Delphine Moussin, Bernard Boucher, Elisabeth Platel. For the stage, he created «Ensemble» for the choreograph Gianni Joseph (Le Manége - National Theater), as well as performed several musical scores for the classic and contemporary ballet including "Scaramouche" (Darius Milhaud / José Martinez) - Tours in France, the U.S. and Japan, "Four Walls"/ "Doubletoss Interludes" (John Cage / Merce Cunningham) and "Deli Commedia" (Pat Richter / Merce Cunningham), adaptation by Robert Swinson (CNDC Angers - Onyx Theater). In parallel to his musician's career he teaches piano, improvisation and Accompaniment of dance to students and professional musicians and in the frame of group improvisation workshops and Internships of choreographic accompaniment at the Centre national de danse contemporaine of Angers, The Bangkok City Ballet (Thailand), Architanz Tokyo (Japan). He is also invited to conduct workshops of musical formation for the State Diploma of dance teacher at the CREAP of Angers, Ecole nationale supérieure Roland Petit and CEFEDEM of Lyon. Through his various and multiple experiences, Tristan Lofficial has placed improvisation at the heart of his musical search. In 2014, he wrote "L' Improvisation pour tous" (Improvisation for everyone), a pedagogic project born from his personal experience, initially presented in the frame of basic teaching of music in the french nationals Conservatories. www.tristanlofficial.com |
Luca Mais
Luca Mais was born in Turin. After graduating in piano from Conservatorio G. Verdi, he had an advanced training under the guidance of Maria Golia and Lazar Berman. In the same years he also gained insight different syles of music including rock, easy jazz, blues, minimalism and electronic music. Since 2001, after attaining the Diploma di Maestro accompagnatore per la Danza from Teatro Alla Scala, he has been working in several institutions including Scuola di Ballo del Teatro Alla Scala, Milan, Compagnia del Balletto Teatro di Torino, Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma, Wiener Staatsballet, Acadèmie Princesse Grace di Monaco, Les Ballets de Montecarlo, with which he toured the world. At the Wiener Staatsoper he performed as soloist with Wiener Philarmoniker for the ballets Mayerling by MacMillian (Liszt), Glow Stop by J. Elo (Glass) and Petite Mort by J. Kylian (Mozart). Luca Mais has been guest of several ballet companies including Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, Royal Danish Ballet, Copenaghen and the Joffrey Concert Group, New York. He has also composed the music for Twin Souls by Stacy Caddell (premièred in 2015, Virginia, USA) and published Piano2012 for piano, strings and sinthesizer. |
Marco Melia
For over three decades, Marco Melia has been dedicating his working as musician to dance, theatre, visual arts. He studied in Rome and in New York at the Juilliard School and over the years he has collaborated with dancers and choreographers including Carla Maxwell, Elsa Piperno, Daniela Capacci, Cristina Caponera, Nina Watt, Betty Jones, Lybbie Nye, Adriana Borriello, Grant Muradoff, Carmen Panader, Edward Harkless, Inna Zobovskaja, Margareta Trajanova, Victor Livtinov, Mara Fusco, Robert Strainer, Elisabetta Terabust, Ivan Wolfe, Susan Sentier. He has composed the music for several theatrical works both in Italy and abroad. He has also conceived and realized the music for multimedia installation projects. Marco Melia is pianist, percussionist and lecturer at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Rome. Since 2011 he has been teaching at the MM Maestro Collaboratore per la Danza at the Conservatorio A. Casella, L’Aquila. |
Han Otten
Han Otten composes music for Film and Dance. During his music studies at the Utrecht Conservatory he already started doing soundtracks for Amsterdam Film academy's studentmovies. He has been scoring films ever since and has created scores for a large number of feature films and worked with Peter Greenaway, among many others. Working on these soundtracks he recorded with diverse european orchestras. His first modern dance score was 'Pork' (1994) for Paul Selwyn Norton, after this he worked extensively with Leine and Roebana and began a long lasting collaboration with Hungarian-Dutch choreographer Krisztina de Chatel which comprises 11 pieces to date. A double bill with two of these pieces premiered in Amsterdam's city theatre last September. He started working with Jiří Kylián for 'Car-men' (2006) a dance film which won awards all over the world, and created 4 more soundtracks for Kylian, among these this year’s ‘Scalamare’. He recently created the music for ‘Peter Pan’ (choir. Emanuele Suavi) by the Bavarian state theatre Gaertnerplatz in Munich and music for ‘Playing God’ (Karen Jurschick) which premiered during Montreal’s Hotdocs festival. www.hanotten.com |
Nicola Pangia
Nicola Pangia is Board Member of the CDM onlus (Centro Didattico Musicale), manager and coordinator of educational projects in public and private schools, trainer in "Interdisciplinary strategies for the inclusion of different skills and disabilities" in the annual Orff-Schulwerk training course organized by CDM onlus in partnership with the University of Tor Vergata (Rome). He is also Orff operator in “Music and dance education” for children aged from 3 to 11 year, Orff-Schulwerk's educator in Music Therapy Course at the “Alfredo Casella” Music Conservatory in L'Aquila . After ten years working as Art Director in Visual Communication (cartoons, illustration and graphic/web design) Nicola Pangia continued his studies in the artistic field, including numerous experiences on stage as musician and theatre performer. Through the connection of these disciplines he designed a new professional profile, until he came across the holistic pedagogy of the Orff-Schulwerk system which opened and shaped him new cutting edges horizons. |
Flavio Pescosolido
Flavio Pescosolido was born in Rome in 1967. After graduating in Piano and Composition he started his musical activity as multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer. For over 20 years he has been working as pianist at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, Rome. In 2004 he debuted as songwriter with his three albums inspired by the nexus between words, colors and music: Giallo (2004), Blu (2006) and Rosso (2012), a song of which, Euaé, is also the title of a musical show combining ethnic music, avant-garde music and simple song. In 2015 he released his fourth album SLM Sopra il Livello del Mare. Recently he realized a couple of projects about gaining insight the relationship between music and dance: a training course for musicians in dance and Danzagramma. The latter, a combined music/dance training course for dancers, was realized at AND, at DAF Dance Arts Faculty and at the Conservatoire des Arts at Metiers Multimedia Balla Fassekè Kouyate di Bamako (Mali). |
Fabrizio Pieroni
Fabrizio Pieroni (Rome,1964), graduated in piano, jazz music at Conservatorio S. Cecilia, Rome. He has been dealing with jazz music since the 80’s, and with tango music since 1994. Besides his performances as musician, he has projected and taught several educational activities of Jazz and Argentinian Tango in Italy, Spain, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Denmark and China. He supervised several shows dedicated to Tango and musicals such as She Loves Me and Chicago. He collaborates with the Argentinian musician Alfredo “El Tape” Rubìn, composinig songs and instrumental themes. Since 1997 he is staff pianist and lecturer at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza. |
Rafel Plana
Musician, composer and producer with a higher classical training, in 2002 Rafel Plana starts working at Institut del Teatre of Barcelona (ITB) where he developes his skills through over 50 shows, along with composition and production jobs for the cinema, TV and video-arts. In over 15 years he has pursued his personal projects regarding electronic music and has taken part in about 600 performances in the main Spanish and international venues.. He currently directs a department consisting of 28 musicians at ITB, in the academic and artistic level, and collaborates cross-wise with all the departments (classical, contemporary and flamenco) as well as college grades. In the field of flamenco, he has worked with great world figures such as Antonio Canales, Rafael Amargo and during the Shakira’s world tour 2010-11, He has also composed and performed the show “El llanto” on the poem “Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías”, choreographed by Nacho Blanco. This show has been touring through Spain, Portugal and also in Miami for two years. |
Franck Prévost
Pianist and eclectic composer, Franck Prèvost works just as much for the dance than the theater, the song or the jazz. He had his classical piano training under the guidance of Serge Heintz as well as the composition and orchestration in the class of Raphaël Picazos. He also studied jazz at the CRD of Noisiel as well as with Enrico Pieranunzi. The discovery of improvisation gives him a freedom that allows him to approach various repertoires and styles of music. He performed in numerous shows mixing theater, song, dance and composed for the stage and the visual art. His meeting with Sylvain Durand de l'Opéra of Paris opens him the doors of ballet classes and choreographic accompaniment. Together with his artistic career he devoted himself to accompany dance, notably at the CRD of the Val Maubuée and the CNSMDP of Paris. In 2008 he was appointed professor of art education at the CRD of the Val Maubuée where he taught jazz piano along with working as musician in dance classes. Since September, 2011 he has been working as professor of classic choreographic accompaniment at the CNSMDP of Paris. |
Prathap Ramachandra
Prathap Ramachandra is an internationally acclaimed South Indian Percussionist, having taken his sounds to some of the biggest stages in the world and performed in some of the biggest festivals around the globe. Born and raised in Bangalore - India, Prathap is deeply rooted in Indian Classical Music, in a genre called Carnatic. He had his initial training from the age of 2 under his brother Prakash Ramachandra, and later advanced training under the guidance of K. N. Krishnamurthy. He was the only student being awarded by the Government of India with a scholarship to pursue training in Ghatam, at the age of ten. He has been a London based artist for the last 12 years, having developed his musical journey in three main areas - classical concerts, accompanying some of the best musicians and dancers from India and abroad, cross-cultural collaborations in music and dance, and musical training given to different kinds of students. https://www.prathapramachandra.com |
Daniel Roberts
Daniel Roberts is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Department of Dance. He holds an MFA in Performing Arts from Bennington College and graduated magna cum laude with a BFA from Ohio State University. Roberts came to dance as a piano accompanist for singers and ballet classes at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Academy, eventually studying modern and ballet. As an undergrad at OSU, he performed the first dual reconstruction of choreography and prepared piano score of Cage/Cunningham’s Totem Ancestor (1942). For six years, Roberts was a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) in New York City, creating original roles in Cunningham’s choreography and performing in many theaters and site-specific locations in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and the US. After leaving MCDC, he was appointed Head Technique Teacher at the Danish National School of Contemporary Dance in Copenhagen, Denmark. While in Denmark, he served as a rehearsal assistant to a myriad of choreographers, worked as rehearsal assistant at the Royal Danish Ballet, and Rehearsal Director for the national dance company, Danish Dance Theater. Roberts’ choreographic research explores music-dance relationships through time- based properties of natural phenomena, such as clouds and weather patterns. His choreography has been presented in Columbus, Seattle, Copenhagen, and in New York. Recently, he staged Cunningham’s choreography in conjunction with the national touring exhibition Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College at Wexner Center for the Arts. Roberts continues to teach nationally and internationally at several dance companies, festivals, schools, and universities, and is a 2015 Cunningham Trust Fellow. www.danielroberts.co |
Debra Shannon
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Debra has been accompanying dance classes for over 40 years, beginning in the studios of NYC . Since the 80’s, she has worked in academic dance departments in California, Paris (CNSMDP and CRR), Rotterdam (Codarts), as well as giving workshops using the principles of the technique Dalcroze . Studies in Djembé, balafon, tablas and bansuri flute add ethnicity to the universe that she creates in class. Her goal as a teacher is to give her students a solid understanding of the structure of a dance class and the organic relationship between dance and music, at the same time bringing out the originality of each student. The words of José Limon:”dancers are musicians, musicians are dancers” sum up her pedagogy. |
Janet Mansfield Soares
Janet Mansfield Soares, Professor Emerita, Barnard College, Columbia University, holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary arts from Columbia. First as Horst’s assistant and then for over 25 years, she taught his compositional methods for the Juilliard Dance Division. After graduating from Juilliard where she was a member of Doris Humphrey’s Juilliard Dance Theatre, she joined José Limón’s company before establishing her own DANCES/Janet Soares and choreographing over 100 new works in concert. She has also taught a course, “History of Dance in Relation to Music” at the Manhattan School of Music. She is the author of Louis Horst. Musician in a Dancer’s World (Duke University Press, 1994), Martha Hill and the Making of American Dance (Wesleyan University Press, 2009), and edited and wrote forewords for new editions of Horst’s classic texts, Pre-classic Forms and Modern Dance Forms in Relation to the Other Arts (Princeton Book Company). |
Jonathan Still
After a career as a ballet accompanist for companies including English National Ballet and Ballett der Deutschen Oper, Berlin, Jonathan joined the Royal Academy of Dance from 1999-2013 in the capacities of music lecturer, staff pianist and executive music producer on syllabus development projects. In 2010 he gained an MA with distinction in Music Education from UCL Institute of Education. Since 2011, he has been the recipient of an AHRC studentship to pursue a PhD at the same institute, supervised by Lucy Green, researching everyday problems of theorizing music in ballet education and training. He now works as a freelance musician and music producer in London. http://jonathanstill.com |
Matteo Trimigno
Graduated with honors in Composition, he also attained degrees in Piano, Jazz music, Choral singing and choral as well as Master’s Degree in Music disciplines, majoring as a Pianist for Dance with honors. He works in the music field as a musician and as a conductor, as well as a teacher. He performed in many festivals, concerts, TV programs on the Italian television, along with artists of national and international acclaim. He also worked as a piano accompanists in many ballet and contemporary dance workshops. His music was published by several music publishing companies and he also worked as an arranger for more than forty records. He worked as a teacher from 2005 to 2011 at the conservatory “U. Giordano” in Foggia. Since 2012, he has been holding the courses of Techniques of dance accompaniment and Theory and practice for Dance accompaniment at the Liceo Coreutico Piero della Francesca, Arezzo. He regularly conducts the Filarmonica Guido Monaco d'Arezzo, and the AJO (Arezzo Jazz Orchestra). for which he is also pianist and arranger. |