We are pleased to present an online event by the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington: a piano recital by Italian pianist Alessandro Vena, featuring the Etudes by Phillip Glass, alongside music by Italian and Italian-American composers (Piana, Zannoni, Respighi, Cacioppo, and Salerni).
Concert in live-streaming at 6:20 PM
To watch click HERE
Alessandro Vena. After studying piano, harpsichord and piano teaching, he perfected his studies at the Rubinstein Academy in Rome with pianists of the caliber of Carlo Grante and Sasha Bajcic, starting a concert career in both in Italy and abroad.
Alessandro Vena‘s repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporaries with a predisposition for romantics, and n particular Chopin. As Sheva‘s artist, Alessandro Vena has recorded music by Chopin, Bach, Bach-Busoni of which he is performing the integral work, Scarlatti, Mozart, Franck, Debussy, Liszt, Schumann, Rota, Pirrone, Fribbins, Lupis, Zannoni, Paus, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Sibelius. For the Fortibus label he has recorded the piano transcriptions by Alexander Siloti, as well as pages by Elgar, Rachmaninoff, Leoncavallo, Gershwin, Glass and Cage.
His international concert activity spans from Italy, to Europe and America; as a solo pianist he has held concerts accompanied by world-renowned Symphonic Orchestras, including the Tchaikovsky Russian State Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and the Bulgarian State Philharmonic Orchestra of Vidin, and in 2019 he made his debut with the Concerto No. 2 by Shostakovich accompanied by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Alessandro Vena has also performed in solo recitals throughout Italy at the invitation of prestigious organizations, the likes of: Rome Lumsa University, Marcello Theater, Baldini Room, Waldensian University, Villa Torlonia Auditorium, Perugia University for Foreigners, Foligno Teatro San Domenico, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, Taormina Festival, Marsala Teatro Sollima, Naples Ciccolini Foundation, Palermo State Conservatory, Messina State Conservatory etc.
His solo activity has also brought him to world stages such as the ICI in Los Angeles, The National Opera Center in New York, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Ohrid Choir Festival (Macedonian), Kino Babylon Berlin, Centenary of Assunsion (Paraguay), Center Culturel Belgique, Belgium, Campbellsville University (USA), The Luisville Loretto Motherhouse (USA), DiMenna Center in New York, the ICI in Buenos Aires, Teatro della Benevolentia in Buenos Aires, Middlesex University in London, Art Gallery Museum in Sofia etc.
In 2010 he obtained the prestigious recognition “A life for music”, honors from the Melitensi Study Center of the Sovereign Order of Malta, and was awarded the “Honorary” title by the FAI (Italian Environment Fund).
Vena has held Masterclasses at Italian Music Conservatories and European and American Universities including Middlesex University in London, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Haverford College in Philadelphia, Amina’s College in Grand Rapids, Campbellsville University, and is frequently a juror in piano competitions. He currently teaches Piano at the State Conservatory of Music in Potenza.
Antonino Pirrone, Davide Zannoni, Michael Williams are some of the composers who have dedicated piano pages to him. RADIO RAI 3 on “PRIMO MOVIMENTO” presented all his recording works, and the magazine Piano solo crowned his latest album with 5 stars, the maximum awarded by music critics.
Full program:
Philipp Glass: Etudes nn 1-2 –
Roberto Piana: Four Preludes –
Philipp Glass: Etudes nn 3-4
Davide Zannoni: Four Preludes –
Philipp Glass: Etudes nn 5-6-
Ottorino Respighi: Nocturne
Philipp Glass: Etudes nn 7-8 –
Curt Cacioppo: Nocturne “Elidiano” –
Philipp Glass: Etudes nn 9-10
Paul Salerni: Pop quiz