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-- Amici della Musica, Bologna, Italy
Cristina Altamura
In an age of exceptional young pianists, Cristina Altamura is distinguished by a style which is at once “brilliant, powerful and poetic, ushering in a new generation of pianism.”
The young artist’s New York debut took place in December, 2003 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in an unusual program of two piano concertos. This was immediately followed by a tour that began in Italy and ended with a concert in Havana, Cuba.
The highly appealing solo program, which included many of Gershwin’s songs and preludes, was broadcast on radio throughout Cuba and South America. Following her successful 1998 debut with the Bucharest Philharmonic, Ms. Altamura held the unique position as principal soloist of the State Philharmonic of Bacau.
Her close musical association with Romania has resulted in performances and recordings with all of the major Romanian orchestras. Cristina Altamura has been a frequent guest on New York's WQXR. In 1997, she was the only American musician awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy. Her winning, uncut audition tape was broadcast on the McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase, hosted by Bob Sherman. That same year, she was awarded a scholarship from the National Italian American Foundation in Washington, DC. Further live radio broadcasts followed on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago.
In the 2007-08, Ms. Altamura premiered and toured with her innovative program, Extreme Latin! on which she was joined by renowned Latin percussionists. In this program, Ms. Altamura created a fresh new look at the Spanish idiom, reflecting our ongoing fascination with the magic, exoticism and mystery of Latin rhythms and music. She has been invited to repeat and expand on this program with the addition of a lecture at the National Gallery in Washington, DC in 2011 as part of National Hispanic Heritage month.Ms. Altamura, whose background includes training at the Joffrey Ballet School, is known for her innovative “out of the box” programming.
Most recently, she conceived a project fusing Bach with cutting-edge break-dance. She further developed the concept with Rokafella, a world-renowned, pioneer female break-dancer and choreographer. Their collaborative debut took place in March 2007 at Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair, NJ, and was followed by a performance at the prestigious Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida, where it drew cheering applause. A highlight of their collaboration was an expanded Breakin’ to Bach segment which they performed to a thousand-plus audience at the famous Central Park Summer Stage, with members of Rokafella’s dance company, Full Circle Productions.
At age 19, the young pianist made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Inter-Cities Chamber Orchestra. She has also appeared as a solo and chamber artist in all of New York's major concert halls. In addition, she has performed in major concert halls and festivals in England, Gibraltar, Italy, Israel and Romania. As a teen, Ms. Altamura participated at both the Tanglewood and Aspen Summer Music Festivals.
She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music with Stephanie Brown and pursued advanced studies with Marcello Abbado, with the eminent Maestro Franco Scala, founder of the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, and later with Robert Abramson and Julian Martin and Daniel Epstein.
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