The fourteen year old schoolgirl who played in Perlemuter’s class at the Ghione Theatre in 1984 has grown up and is a woman with a story to tell.A woman with the means to tell it so beautifully in poetry and music .
Cristiana Pegoraro, Pianist and Composer
Cristiana Pegoraro graduated in piano at the age of sixteen at the Conservatory of Terni, her hometown, with full marks, honors and honorable mention under Elio Maestosi.She continued her studies with Jörg Demus in Vienna and Hans Leygraf at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Later she studied with Nina Svetlanova at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.Her pianism demonstrates great technical and interpretative skills, as evidenced by the first prizes in numerous international competitions. In Prague she was awarded the Best of the Year prize for Classical Music “for natural talent, great personality, masterful phrasing and expressive maturity”. The New York Times calls her “an artist of the highest caliber” upon her debut at New York’s Lincoln Center in 1996.
From a very young age, Cristiana has performed for some of the most important associations and concert halls in Europe, the United States, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia (Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, United Nations, Guggenheim Museum – New York, Opera House – Sydney, Festspielhaus – Salzburg, Musikverein – Vienna, Royal College of Music – London, Centro Cultural de Belem – Lisbon, Teatro Ghione ,Auditorium Parco della Musica, Casa del Jazz – Rome, Friends of the Loggione del Teatro alla Scala, Sala Verdi – Milan, Theater Municipal Theater – São Paulo, Municipal Theater – Rio de Janeiro, Opera House – Manaus, Budapest Spring Festival, Umbria Jazz, Umbria Jazz Winter, Sorrento Jazz Festival, St. Petersburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr – Germany, Shabyt Festival of Astana – Kazakhstan,2005 Aichi World Expo – Japan and 2008 Zaragoza World Expo – Spain).She plays as soloist with prestigious international orchestras such as: Salzburger Kammervirtuosen, Hungarian National Philharmonic, MAV Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Hannover Kammerorkester, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Garland Symphony Orchestra TX, Symphony Arlington TX, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra TX, Chamber Ensemble of Rome , COS Youth Symphonic Ensemble, Drzhava Philarmonia Shumen (Bulgaria), Georgian National Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra of Bogotá, Orquesta Sinfonica de Cuyo (Peru), Orquesta Sinfonica Pro Lirica (Peru), I Musici di Parma, Symphonic Institution of Rome, Orchestra of strings of the Rome Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Kazakhstan, Chamber Orchestra of Umbria, State Chamber Orchestra of the Musical Academy of Astana (Kazakhstan), City of Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, Civitavecchia Philharmonic Orchestra,Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, Umbrian Philharmonic Orchestra, Venetian Philharmonic Orchestra, Narnia Festival Orchestra, Estro Tanguero Ensemble, Pescara Music Academy Symphony Orchestra, Carlo Coccia Symphony Orchestra of Novara, Rome Chamber Ensemble.She collaborates as a soloist with the Central Band of the Navy and the Band of the Carabinieri, performing in concerts at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome in front of 3,000 spectators. Of great importance was the concert in New York with the Navy Band on board the Intrepid for the celebrations of Columbus Day in the presence of the Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg.
With her tours in the Gulf countries, she is the first Italian woman to give classical music concerts in Bahrain, Yemen and Oman. She is also the first Italian woman to have performed the complete 32 Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven in concert and among the few pianists in the world to have performed the 5 Piano Concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven in a single day .
Recognized by international critics as one of the best interpreters of Cuban and South American music, she has premiered works by South American composers such as Astor Piazzolla, Joaquin Nin and Ernesto Lecuona for the European public. You have transcribed for piano the most beautiful tangos by Astor Piazzolla and composed a Fantasia on Cuban dances by Ernesto Lecuona.She has created theatrical/musical shows with actors such as Maria Rosaria Omaggio, Sebastiano Somma, Enzo De Caro, Giulio Scarpati, Tiziana Foschi, Sergio Basile, Debora Caprioglio, and with the journalist Corrado Augias. In December 2021 you played at the opening of the Canova exhibition at the Mart in Rovereto alongside the art critic Vittorio Sgarbi.
His extensive discography includes 30 CDs recorded for Decision Products, Nuova Era, Dynamic, Diva Productions, Eden Editori, Da Vinci Publishing, ProMu and CPP. His album “Astor Piazzolla Tangos”, released in 2016, won the gold medal at the prestigious Global Music Awards in two categories: best album and best instrumental. Recently released his latest recording works “Rebirth – Music to Heal the Soul”, conceived during the pandemic, with famous music to accompany the soul on a path of rebirth, and “Colors of Love”, with his original compositions dedicated to ‘Love.Her TV and radio recordings include RAI, Mediaset, Vatican Radio, State Disco, BBC (Scotland), ARD (Germany), RTP (Portugal), WQXR New York (USA), Nine Network (Australia) and CBC (Japan) . He includes participations in the television programs of RAI 1 “Porta a Porta” with Bruno Vespa and “Sottovoce” with Gigi Marzullo, and of Rete 4 “Vivere Meglio” with Fabrizio Trecca. He conceived and created for Oltretutto Radio, and conducted together with Anna Crecco, the program “The magic of the piano” with biographies of the great composers and his performances on the piano.
Cristiana performs for the highest institutional and diplomatic offices. He played in the presence of the President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the Governor of the State of New York, the Mayor of New York, Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, the Italian Minister of Economic Development, the Governor of British Columbia, Canada and the President of the Austrian Senate.
In 2008, she, the only European representative in the context of the Spring Festival, gave a concert in the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York in front of ambassadors and diplomats from 192 countries.
She is regularly invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with Embassies and Cultural Institutes, to represent Italy and to promote Italian music around the world.She supports various global organizations including Unicef (of which he is a testimonial), Amnesty International, World Food Programme, Emergency, Lions Clubs International and Rotary International in their humanitarian campaigns.Since 2021 Cristiana Pegoraro has been collaborating with Gemelli Art and with the Romanini Association on the Art4ART project, which offers patients undergoing cancer treatments thematic artistic content to help them face and manage debilitating emotions, stress and fears and to encourage conscious participation to therapies, in order to achieve the best clinical results.To date, Cristiana Pegoraro has received over 40 international awards.
Just to name a few:
– World Peace Award from the Italian Cultural Circle of the United Nations in New York
– Golden Apple Bellisario Award from the Marisa Bellisario Foundation with ceremony live on RAI1 and private visit by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
– Melvin Jones Fellow Award of the Lions Clubs International Foundation “for dedicated humanitarian services”
– Simpatia Award, conferred on her in the Campidoglio by the Mayor of Rome and by the jury composed of Carlo Verdone, Christian De Sica, Pippo Baudo and Gigi Proietti. Cristiana shared the prize in the Music section with Riccardo Cocciante and Mogol.
– Donna ILICA 2010 from the Italian Language Inter-cultural Alliance of New York.
– “Fabrizio Frizzi” Award from the Gigi Ghirotti Onlus National Foundation as “Ambassador of Italian culture and music in the world”
– Ambassador Award of Terni, Umbria and San Valentino in the world from the Municipality of Terni.
Cristiana Pegoraro has long been combining her piano activity with that of composer. She has released 6 albums with her original compositions: “A Musical Journey”, “Ithaka”, “La mia Umbria”, “Volo di note”, “Piano di volo” and “Colors of Love”. Among his compositions, already used for films and documentaries, it should be mentioned the soundtrack for the video “For whom the siren sounds” produced by the Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations for children and armed conflicts and presented at the UN September 11, 2004 in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack. You also composed the soundtrack for the documentary film “La casa dell’ Orologio” by Gianni Torres.On March 22, 2021, his video clip RAIN with original music was released as a world premiere on the occasion of the World Water Day organized by the United Nations. The video has received the patronage of the United Nations and has been included in the official gallery of the UN. The video clip is visible, along with a large variety of video recordings, on her YouTube channel.Cristiana recorded the soundtrack composed by the award-winning Marco Werba for the historical film “Goffredo e l’Italia chiamò”, directed by Angelo Antonucci. The film stars Emanuele Macone, Stefania Sandrelli, Vincent Riotta and Maria Grazia Cucinotta.She is the author of the book of poems “Ithaka” (winner of the first prize in the national Logo D’Oro competition) and of a series of fairy tales for children drawn from Italian operas. Her poems were included in the Anthology “Contemporary Umbrian Poets” published by Il Formichiere and in the 2020 edition of “Il Corniolano” for the World Poetry Day organized by UNESCO.She is frequently invited to give masterclasses at the Juilliard School in New York and at various universities and colleges in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
During the year she carries out teaching activities at her private studios in Rome and New York. In the summer you are a teacher at the Narnia Festival – International Campus of High Artistic Improvement in Narni (TR).
For years, in the schools of various countries, Cristiana has been carrying out programs for approaching classical music and programs on history and musical aesthetics for all age groups.Alongside his concert and teaching activity, he carries out an intense activity of artistic and organizational direction of important national and international institutions and musical events.Since 2011 he has been President of the Narnia Arts Academy ( www.narniaartsacademy.com ) and Artistic Director of the Narnia Festival ( www.narniafestival.com ), awarded seven times with the President of the Republic medal for artistic merits.She is testimonial for the Umbria tourism campaign in the world.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 