Antonio Aiello

Since the first post-war period, composers have been influenced by the rhythms and sounds coming from the Afro-American musical tradition. Antonio Aiello has always proved that he knows how to use these languages in his arrangements, as shown by the two pieces in the following video: the first one, performed by Antonio Aiello himself with I Virtuosi Italiani at the Sala Maffeiana of Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, is titled «Paganini Jazz Variations» and is a free jazz reworking of «Capriccio n°24» by Paganini; the second piece, whose short extracts were recorded during a rehearsal with the Tuscan Chamber Orchestra, is an arrangement of Freddie Mercury's «Bohemian Rhapsody» for violin and string orchestra.

In collaboration with the agency Alma Project Enterteiment and EtruriaMusica, Antonio Aiello creates magnificent shows with a strong emotional impact, generally performed in splendid settings, which include famous pieces of classical music, opera arias, dance, film music, rock, pop, all connected in a single grandiose arrangement. See the promo video to believe it!

Music certainly cannot determine alone the success of a film, but it underlines its value and helps to preserve its memory over time: some films that made the history of cinema become memorable also thanks to the perfect combination with a soundtrack that it does not just accompany the flow of events aseptically, but it has the power to involve us emotionally, making us switch from one mood to another with extreme rapidity and sometimes suggesting sensations that anticipate the action in some way. In this show, arranged by Antonio Aiello, also creator of the videos that are projected synchronously, music is the center of attention.

You definitely need a lot of creativity to transcribe music composed for a few instruments so that it can be performed by a symphony orchestra. This is the case of the two extracts proposed in the following video: the first one is «Praeludium and Allegro» by Fritz Kreisler, originally for violin and piano and transcribed by Antonio Aiello for violin, choir and symphony orchestra; the second one is «Escualo» that Astor Piazzolla wrote for his quintet, reworked for violin and symphony orchestra. Both are performed by Antonio Aiello himself with the Tuscan Chamber Orchestra, directed respectively by Stefano Barandoni with the participation of Coro dell'Università di Pisa at the Chiesa dei Servi in Lucca and by Marc Andreae at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Lugano.

The reverse process also requires a fair amount of skill: how to arrange music written for symphony orchestras for a few instruments, without losing its essence, completely distorting itself? Here are three examples: «Danzón n°2» by Jesús Arturo Márquez Navarro in a transcription for noneo (violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn) performed at the Municipal Theater «Claudio Abbado» in Ferrara for FerraraMusica; «Candide Overture» by Leonard Bernstein performed by Trio Operacento for the Festival Il Serchio delle Muse in Tuscany; «Sleigh Ride» by Leroy Anderson in an arrangement for violin, strings and jingle bells and played by Antonio Aiello with I VIrtuosi Italiani at Vivaldi's Church in Venice.