Doors 7.45pm, music 8.30pm
Line-up:
Maddalena Ghezzi – Voice
Francesca Naibo – Guitar & Voice
/////////////////////////////////////
Bruno Heinen – Piano
Maria Chiara Argirò – Piano
About
MADDALENA GHEZZI / FRANCESCA NAIBO
Opal is a collaboration between Maddalena Ghezzi (voice) and Francesca Naibo (guitar and voice) and is part of Ghezzi’s series called Minerals. Opal, composed for guitar and two voices, mixes composed elements with improvised immersions in the depth sound. The project is inspired by feelings of belonging and enriching solitary moments.
“The melodies are alluring, the atmosphere is intoxicating, and the overall effect is mesmerizing. An interesting, intriguing, and slightly out of the ordinary album – but then, who wants ordinary when you can have the extraordinary!” Sammy Stein – Jazz Views
Originally from Milan (IT), Maddalena Ghezzi is a London based singer, composer and improviser. Passionate and curious about using her voice in creative ways, she has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music since 2009. As a leader she has released three EPs, Amethyst, Halite, and Opal – part of her series Minerals, and one album, Eŭropo:sen limoj (Europe With No Borders), with her band FUWAH. Her upcoming EP Emerald with Maria Chiara Argirò is supported by Help Musicians. Her work was played at BBC Radio 3 and national Italian Rai Radio 3. Ghezzi studied jazz singing with Brigitte Beraha and Libero Canto, improv and composition with Sara Serpa.
—
Francesca Naibo is a guitarist, composer, improviser and singer from Milan (Italy). She moves fluently across all the different conjugations of the guitar, from the classic, the electric, to the fretless and the pedal steel. She is focused on exploring sound in the fields of free improvisation, contemporary music and classical repertoire and is particularly interested in using both the acoustic and the electric nature of her instrument. She studied in Venice, Milan, Bern and Basel and worked with important composers like Helmut Lachenmann and George Lewis. She transcribed the “Exercises in Futility” by and in collaboration with Marc Ribot and her first album “Namatoulee” (Aut Records, 2020) has received enthusiastic reviews.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
This unique, one off, four-handed event marks the coming together of two of London’s most intriguing pianists. Friends for many years, Bruno Heinen and Maria Chiara Argirò come from two distinctive places musically and are excited to bring each others music to life through their mutual respect for one another’s artistry and compositional voice:
Dr. Bruno Heinen is a London based contemporary improvising pianist, composer and educator. He is professor of jazz piano and composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music. He has worked with artists such as Shabaka Hutchings, Eska, Julian Siegel, Jean Toussaint and Julian Arguelles amongst others. A prolific recording artist, he has produced 9 acclaimed albums under his own name:
“Eclectic, eccentric and unobtrusively erudite” – The Guardian
Bruno has performed in venues and festivals worldwide including The Barbican, Babylon – Istanbul, the Seattle Town Hall and for the opening of the Asian Games.
In 2019 he was awarded an AHRC-funded practice-based PhD at the RNCM on the subject of improvised counterpoint.
He recently performed as principal guest pianist for two recorded performances of Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
—
Maria Chiara Argirò has been quietly weaving her way around the UK jazz, classical and electronic worlds since she moved to London from Rome 11 years ago.
A pianist from the age of nine and a key player in the capital’s multi-national jazz scene, she’s lent her skills to indie band These New Puritans, lush jazz troupe Kinkajous and, more recently, collaborations with Jamie Leeming – their 2020 album Flow was nominated for one of the albums of the year in the Jazz Revelations Awards and was the Guardian’s jazz album of the month – and beat-driven duo Moonfish.
Her widely acclaimed new album, Forest City, finds a glistening thread between these movements: it marks her out as an exciting rising electronic artist, where jazz meets Kelly Lee Owens, Jon Hopkins and Radiohead. It’s a concept record, about the “duality of nature and city”, and where organic sounds and textures seem to flow above the urban sprawl.