Teachers
Music Director: Umberto Finazzi
Stage Director: Laura Cosso
Stage and Costumes: Claudio Cinelli
Umberto Finazzi
He was born in Bergamo (Italy) and obtained the piano diploma with the highest notes at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan. He completed his solo repertoire with the Russian teacher K. Bogino and studied conducting with J. Kalmar.
He has collaborated with the most important Italian theatres, both as pianist and as orchestra and choir conductor.
Since 1978 he has been playing several concerts in Italy, France, Germany, England, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Austria, Holland, South Africa, Korea, China, Taiwan and United States, as soloist and in different chamber groups: duo, trio, quartet and quintet with strings and winds, with singers, in opera and lied repertoire and also as orchestra and choir conductor, collaborating with artists such as Renata Scotto, Magda Olivero, Luis Alva, Luciana Serra, Denia Mazzola, Andrea Bocelli, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Donato Renzetti, Bruno Giuranna, Dino Asciolla, Pavel Vernikov, Mario Brunello, Joseph Alessi, Antony Pay, Alain Meunier.
He is teacher for the vocal repertoire at the Teatro alla Scala Academy of Lyric Opera (www.accademialascala.org), and at present he holds the courses for Theatre Performance and Repertoire“ and Techniques for Conducting and Orchestration for pianists at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan.
He teaches at masterclasses about Italian opera in Italy and abroad and he collaborates with K. Bogino at the masterclasses for piano in Bergamo.
Laura Cosso
She studied theatre (Scuola del Teatro Nuovo di Torino), music (Conservatorio di Milano) and literature (Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia di Torino). She obtained a diploma in singing and a degree in Music history with the highest notes.
From the very beginning, she started working in the production and musicology. At present, she teaches Stage performance at the Conservatorio di Milano. She is considered one of the main Italian experts of Berlioz.
She is artistic director of Novecento musicale europeo (Seconda Facoltà di Lettere, Università di Torino), she was in charge of the production for operas on behalf of Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Regio di Parma, Festival Ticino Musica (Svizzera).
She has worked with multimedial theatre, has planned and produced operas for children. Together with her colleagues at the Conservatorio di Milano, she founded the Opera Studio where she is responsible for the production.
Beside her privileged studies about Berlioz and the French music theatre of the XIX century, she has investigated the relationship between music, figurative arts and performance, music after the 2nd World War, Maderna, Berio and the contemporary music theatre.
As musicologist, she has been collaborating for several years with opera houses, music associations, Italian and European music magazines. She takes part to congresses, is invited to hold conferences, television interviews (about Luciano Berio) and radio programmes (among them, a series of programmes about Berlioz for the Radio of Italian Switzerland).
She is member of the Board of Directors of FAM (Fondazione Attività Musicali di Torino) that is responsible among others for the Festival MITO Settembre Musica in Turin.
She has published several books.
Claudio Cinelli
Claudio Cinelli is one of the most eclectic figures in the world of the Italian artistic theatre. His experience ranges from theatre and opera to visual theatre. In more than 35 years of activity he has produced and directed approximately 50 performances both with his own companies and with artists who come from various experiences.
In 1972 at the age of 20 he was one of the leaders of Teatrolimite, one of the most politicised Italian theatres at the time when it was necessary to communicate a utopia, a dream not only within the theatre but also in the streets and factories when one’s presence became the means of communicating social tensions.
In 1982, after those enthusiastic years, he formed, with Alessandro Gigli, the "Gran Teatro dei Burattini del Sole", a theatre group at the Centro di Sperimentazione e Ricerca Teatrale in Pontedera (Pisa) where he worked as art director until 1986. During this period he made various theatrical experiments with actors, puppets, shadows and mimes on operas like Turandot, Traviata, Macbeth, Ivan the terrible (the latter two in collaboration with the Teatrombrìa Group). It is perhaps with G. Verdi’s Traviata also known abroad as “Mani d’Opera”, or “One more kiss", that Cinelli expresses with few but significant elements what will become his personal poetic style and proof of this is the fact that it is still performed in Italy and abroad.
From 1986 to 1990 he worked for the Italian tv and later took part in numerous programmes abroad.
In 1992 he formed the “Porte Girevoli” (revolving doors) company, of which he is still Artistic Director. In this group there are a number of artists that Cinelli has met during several years and who share his artistic ideas and life style.
In 1993 this company co-produced with “Todifestival” the play on Puccini. “…..Puccini en sortira!” it was performed in Amsterdam (September 94) for the centenary of the Stadsschouburg, and it represented Italy. The play was an immediate success with the public and critics.
In 1995 Cinelli entered the field of Opera and has since been consulted both by the italian and foreign Opera Theatres on production, set designing, and costumes.
Since a number of years Claudio Cinelli has been an authority in the field of visual theatre, at international level. He holds courses on qualification and formation for institute and theatre academies, and has participated in approximately 500 Festivals in Italy and abroad. He has also designed and prepared important exhibitions.
Claudio Cinelli has a degree in Architecture with a thesis on History and Technique of Visual Theatre. He holds a diploma in production and set designing obtained from the Busoni Centre in Empoli directed by Virginio Puecher.