Pietro Tonolo presenterà al teatro dei Differenti un suo progetto originale insieme alla violinista Sonig Tchakerian e al pianista Paolo Birro.
PIETRO TONOLO è uno dei più noti sassofonisti di jazz europei.
Nato a Mirano (Venezia) nel 1959, ha iniziato a suonare jazz professionalmente attorno al ’79 abbandonando una già intrapresa attività come violinista classico.
Dai primi anni ’80 collabora con alcuni tra i più importanti jazzisti italiani fra cui Franco D’Andrea, Luigi Bonafede, Gianni Cazzola, Larry Nocella, Massimo Urbani, Enrico Rava e nell’estate dell’82 é nella “Gil Evans Orchestra” a fianco di Steve Lacy, Lew Soloff, Ray Anderson; con questa suona nell’84/85 allo “Sweet Basil”
di New York.
Collaborazioni importanti sono anche quelle con Kenny Clarke, Roswell Rudd, Sal Nistico, Chet Baker (con cui ha suonato a New York nell’85) Lee Konitz, John Surman, George Lewis, Barry Altschul, Joe Chambers, Aldo Romano, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Tony Oxley, Steve Swallow, Paul Motian (del cui gruppo “Electric
Bebop Band” ha fatto parte parte per diversi anni). Con la pianista romana Rita Marcotulli, in duo o in quartetto con Enzo Pietropaoli e Roberto Gatto, raccoglie molti consensi di critica e di pubblico mentre con Henri Texier suona in Francia, Italia, Messico, Cuba, Egitto,Siria.
Dirige propri gruppi (con Piero Leveratto, Sandro Gibellini, Alfred Kramer, Roberto Rossi) e suona e scrive per la big band “Keptorchestra” e per il quartetto di sassofoni “Arundo Donax”.
Ha partecipato alle più importanti manifestazioni jazzistiche italiane e si è esibito al “Jazz Festival” di Berlino, al “Jazz Jamboree” di Varsavia, alla “Grand Parade du Jazz” di Nizza e ai Festivals di Parigi, Vienna, Amiens, L’Aja, North Carolina, Amburgo, Leverkusen, Ankara, Smirne e Tel Aviv, Dublino. E’ ad oggi uno dei musicisti
italiani che godono della più alta considerazione presso i colleghi d’oltreoceano.
Sonig Tchakerian – She started violin playing very young with her father. At the age of sixteen she graduated “cum laude” at the Venice Conservatory, with Giovanni Guglielmo. She attended the master classes of Franco Gulli in Siena and Nathan Milstein in Zürich; furthermore she studied with Salvatore Accardo at the “Stauffer” Academy in Cremona.
In 1980 she was awarded at the “Paganini” competition in Genoa and in 1988 at the A.R.D. competition in München, where she had previously obtained the “Special Public Acknowledgment”. She has been performing as soloist with important orchestras like “Bayerische Rundfunk”, “Alessandro Scarlatti”, “I Solisti Veneti”, “S.Carlo” of Naples and “Arena” of Verona, “G: Verdi” Symphony Orchestra in Milan, cooperating with famous conductors such as Bellugi, Chailly, Gatti, Janigro, Melles, Oren, Scimone, Tchakarov.
She plays a beautiful violin by Ianuarius Gagliano, made in Naples in 1760.
Paolo Birro was born in Noventa Vicentina, Vicenza, Italy in 1962. He completed his classical piano studies at the Vicenza Conservatory with a summa cum laude degree in 1987, afterwhich he devoted himself to the jazz language which had fascinated him from his childhood. In 1992, in trio with Sandro Gibellini e Mauro Negri, he won the first prize for the performing group section at the Barga Jazz International Contest. In 1996, after the releasing of his first trio album “Fair Play”, he was nominated “Best New Talent” by the critics of the magazine “Musica Jazz.” His career has offered him the opportunity to perform with jazz legends such as Lee Konitz, Buddy De Franco, Art Farmer, Johnny Griffin and many other internationally-known artists including Scott Hamilton, Gianni Basso, Ruud Brink, Eliot Zigmund, Bobby Watson, Ronnie Cuber, Harry Allen, Tom Kirkpatrick, Charles Davis, Enrico Rava, Erwin Vann, Aldo Romano, Richard Galliano, Robert Bonisolo, Paolo Fresu, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Chuck Israels, Matt Renzi. As a sideman he has contributed to the recording of over 50 albums by some of the most important jazzmen working in Italy; in particular the artistic relationship with saxophonists Pietro Tonolo, Emanuele Cisi, Claudio Fasoli and the american trumpet player (living in Italy) J Kyle Gregory has been more continuative, as documented in a series of works published by independent labels, including Egea, Splasc(h), Soulnote and Velut Luna. He is a regular member of the Lydian Sound Orchestra directed by Riccardo Brazzale, one of the most critically acclaimed Italian bands in the recent years. As a leader or co-leader he has released several albums in solo, duo and trio: his last releases include “Sbàndio” (Almar Records), a solo piano performance based on the cultural traditions of his native region in Italy, and “Passion Flower” (Philology) an homage to the music of Billy Strayhorn recorded together with the saxophonist Lee Konitz. As an educator he has taught Jazz piano, improvisation and ensemble at the ”Civici Corsi di Jazz” (Milan), International Jazz Master Classes at Siena, Jazz Department of the Bologna Conservatory, “Il Suono Improvviso” (Venice), Perugia Classico, Summer stages at Loano, and the Jazzinty Workshop in Novomesto (Slovenia). He has been teaching at the Conservatory of Vicenza since 2003.
Paolo and Pietro performing at BargaJazz festival 2009
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:
Paolo Birro “Capo D’Astro” (Velut Luna) 1998
Paolo Birro “Sbàndio” (Almar Records) 2008
Paolo Birro “Monk’s Favorites (Almar Records) 2012
Paolo Birro Trio “Fair play” (Flex Records) 1996
Paolo Birro Trio “Live at Siena Jazz” (Splasch) 2002
Birro-Micheli-Kramer “Un Bacio A Mezzanotte” (Azzurra Music) 2008
Birro-Dani -Gregory-Maiore “Sing Without Words” (Velut Luna) 2001
Lee Konitz-Paolo Birro “Passion flower” (Philology) 2008
Gibellini-Birro-Negri “The Tender Trap” (Velut Luna) 1997
Pietro Tonolo-Paolo Birro “Autunno” (Egea) 2001
Emanuele Cisi- Paolo Birro “Hidden Songs” (Splasch) 2002
Tonolo-Goldstein-Birro-Ciancaglini “Farfalle” (Egea) 2002
Zigmund-Birro-Conte “Spring Jazz Trio” (Azzurra Music) 2004
Lydian Sound Orchestra “Ruby, Nellie & Nica” (Almar Records) 2012
