Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra To Perform at Caldwell College
The Italian Club of Caldwell College, in collaboration with The Center for Italian and Italian America Culture, Inc. of Cedar Grove, and The Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra, will present an extraordinary evening of mandolin music from the 18th century on Monday, March 23 at 7:30 P.M. Italian virtuosi Carlo Aonzo, mandolinist, and Elena Buttiero, pianist and harpsichordist, along with Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra, Enrico Granafei, conductor, will perform a program by famous composers Arcangelo Corelli, Domenico Scarlatti, Giovanni Battista Gervasio, Beethoven, Raffaele Calace, and Antonio Vivaldi. The concert will be held in the Caldwell College Alumni Theatre. Admission is free for Caldwell College Students, Faculty & Staff, and for all others it is $15. A reception and an opportunity to Meet the Artists will follow. Reservations are highly recommended. Reservations for Caldwell College Students, Faculty and Staff contact Roxanne Knott-Kuczborski at extension 3532 all others call The Center for Italian and Italian American Culture at 973-571-1995.
Carlo Aonzo performs regularly in Europe and the United States, where he has established himself as a principal proponent of the classical mandolin. Graduating with honors from the conservatory in Padua, he has played with several musical institutions such as the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan and the Nashv ille Chamber Orchestra. Among his awards are the "Vivaldi" first prize at the Vittorio Pitzianti National Mandolin Competition in Venice, and first prize at the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Contest in Winfield, Kansas. Carlo has recorded a concert video on the history of the solo mandolin repertory for Mel Bay (Carlo Aonzo: Classical Mandolin Virtuoso) and his CDs include Serenata (Acoustic Music, Germany), Traversata, (Acoustic Disc, USA), and Vivaldi - Concerti per mandolino, and Kaze, with guitarist Katsumi Nagaoka, which they performed on their concert tour of Japan in 2007. He leads the annual Manhattan Mandolin Workshop in New York and in 2006 he began the International Italian Academy for the Mandolin. As a researcher, Carlo has worked on the origins of his instrument, and has collaborated with the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, as well as edited books on music for Bèrben publishers. He has given presentations on the iconography of the mandolin for institutions such as Boston University and the National Instrument Museum in Rome.
Elena Buttiero earned her degree in piano from the Cuneo Conservatory. She has performed in many cities throughout Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland, France and Serbia. Elena recorded two CDs, on which she plays the harp, with the Birkin Tree: Continental Reel (Robi Droli, Cgd East, 1996) and A Cheap Present (Felmay, 1998), which is distributed in Europe, Asia and America. In the field of music pedagogy, Elena has published a solfeggio method, Il Centone (Caruso Ed. Musicali, 2006). Since 1990 she has been a piano instructor on the faculty of the Scuola Media ad indirizzo musicale di Savona (Savona's music-oriented middle school).
Since 1941, the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra has been actively concertizing and promoting mandolin instruction and performance in the New York metropolitan area. Comprised of over thirty volunteer amateur and professional musicians from northern and central New Jersey and New York State, the orchestra's members represent a vast cross section of backgrounds and careers, bringing a depth of experience to each rehearsal. The orchestra is a family and that feeling of camaraderie beautifully flows through all of its performances and touches audience members' hearts. Maestro Enrico Granafei first graced the podium for the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra in the Spring of 2008 and looks forward to grow and nurture the orchestra in years to come.
The Italian Club of Caldwell College and The Center for Italian and Italian American Culture, Inc. of Cedar Grove, are active promoters of Italian culture and regularly sponsor and present performances and lectures in New Jersey throughout the year. Do not miss this unique and special presentation!