Schiller Institute Chorus, Young Soloists and
Italian Soprano Antonella Banaudi
Boston, Mass
September 2008
On Sunday, September 28, 2008, at 3 oclock p.m. the Schiller Institute will sponsor a recital concert at the Dante Alighieri Society in Cambridge, MA, culminating a 10-day master class held by the Italian soprano, Antonella Banaudi. The concert will feature Italian arias and art songs sung by the master-class participants and Bachs motet, Jesu, meine Freude, and Verdi's Va Pensiero, sung by the Schiller Institute Chorus, directed by John Sigerson. The concert will be performed at the natural scientific tuning of C=256 and will include a presentation on the Schiller Institutes campaign to return to the natural tuning pitch of A=432 Hz, instead of the unnaturally high tuning of A = 440 Hz and even higher, which have prevailed since the middle of the last century, and which have prevented young voices from reaching their fullest potential. |
Ms. Banaudi Biography
EIRNS/Andrew Spannaus Antonella Banaudi at a 1996 Schiller Institute Conference on it’s MusicManual in Milan, Italy |
After graduating from the Verona Conservatory, Antonella Banaudi studied with Augusta Oltrabella, Lia Guarini, Leyla Gencer, Carlo Bergonzi, Antonio Tonini, Gabriele Pisani, Bob Kettelson, and Luciano Pavarotti. She won first prize in a number of international voice competitions“As.Li.Co, Maria Caniglia, Philadelphia Opera Company/Luciano Pavarotti, Voci verdiane/Busseto, and Maria Callas”and also won prizes in the Puccini/Milano and Giuseppe Verdi/Parma competitions.
Besides her operatic engagements, she has appeared in many concerts, singing German Lieder and Italian chamber music. In 1983 she sang her debut in Antonio Vivaldis opera Il Farnace at the Piccola Scala theater in Milan. In 1987 she sang the role of Gulnara in Verdi’s Il Corsaro at the side of the famous tenor Carlo Bergonzi. She has sung with other great singers, including with Luciano Pavarotti in the title role of Verdis Luisa Miller in Philadelphia, a production which was recorded by U.S. network TV. For the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino festival she sang Leonora in Verdis Il Trovatore, conducted by Zubin Mehta, a production which was broadcast by the Italian TV network RAI, and was later issued by Decca as a CD and DVD.
In 1990 she won the Italian Opera magazine critics prize, with the famous soprano Anita Cerquetti acting as her madrina (godmother). She has received favorable reviews from the London Opera magazine and from Metropolitan Opera News.
Antonella Banaudi has recorded for Swiss Radio, and with RAI made two premiere recordings of works by Franco Alfano and Ottorino Respighi. Along with bass Franco de Grandis she recorded a CD on the Denna label with the Royal Orchestra of Stockholm; and with tenor Nicolai Gedda, tenor Gösta Winbergh, and baritone Roberto Servile she recorded a CD with the St. Petersburg Orchestra on the Amadeus label.
In collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute she has performed at various Italian embassies abroad, and has sung for the Schiller Institute in Paris, Rome, Milan, and Busseto, along with pianist Günter Ludwig, mezzo-soprano Viorica Cortez, baritone Renato Bruson, bass-baritone Ruggero Raimondi, tenor Carlo Bergonzi, and sopranos Mirella Freni and Renata Tebaldi, to promote the Verdi tuning of C=256 Hz (A=432 Hz). Her biography is included in the archives of the International Music Museum in London.
Related
Video of Ms. Banoudi at Conference on Tuning, Ticino/Tessin, Switzerland, May 29, 1996
LYM Chorus Performs Bach’s Motet Jesu, meine Freude
Manual on the Rudiments of Tuning and Registration, Volume I, Introduction and Human Singing Voice