A concert for the tail end of the summer season was held this evening in Piazza Angelio in Barga Vecchia with a large crowd sitting down to eat a meal in the piazza courtesy of Riccardo Negri at the L’osteria and to listen and watch two of Barga’s finest classical musicians – Massimo Salotti from Fornaci di Barga on pianoforte and the soprano Sally Li. Trained in her native China and the United Kingdom, Ms. Li is an accomplished coloratura soprano, with the unusual vocal range and agility necessary to master opera’s most demanding roles.
Sally has appeared many times on barganews over the past year or so since she first arrived in Barga in June 2009 as part of the Cardiff International Academy of Voice – master classes for budding professional singers with the world famous tenor Dennis O’Neill. Her soprano singing did not just capture the attention of audiences in the theatre but also captured the heart of Riccardo Negri of L’osteria
Much of the time it has been right here in Piazza Angelio that she has made the news – voted woman of the piazza 2009 and of course the wedding of the year in March 2010. Last month she was up at Sommocolonia for a concert under the stars but this evening she was back with her home crowd and obviously feeling very relaxed and enjoying the family atmosphere in the piazza.
Concerto Lirico del Soprano Sally Li – Pianoforte Massimo Salotti Musiche di Schumann, Faurè, Gershwin, Loewe, Puccini
SALLY LI
China-born soprano Sally Li has dreamed of becoming an opera singer since she was 18. Having obtained a BA degree in Music Performance at the Nanjing Arts Institute, China, she came to the UK and undertook a postgraduate course of vocal study at the Royal Academy of Music, London, studying under Elizabeth Ritchie and Mary Hill. She was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma from the RAM following her successful final year recital at the David Josefowitz Recital Hall in May, 2008. Sally was a finalist in the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarships 2007. In the same year she was highly commended in the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize. Her awards also include several Excellent Singer Prizes at the National Singing Competitions in China, and in the summer of 2007, she won a full scholarship for the Siena Bel Canto summer course. Sally has performed in concerts in Florence, Siena, London and China. Her opera roles include Countess, La Nozze di Figaro in Opera Scene Production Series in Siena, Italy; Amor, L’Egisto and Blonchen, Die Entführung aus dem Serail in the RAM Opera Scenes Production staged in the Jack Lyon’s Theatre, London. Sally had also participated in a masterclass with Gillian Knight, and worked under many internationally acclaimed reperiteurs, including Ingrid Surgenor, Richard Stokes, Robert Aldwinckle, Jennifer McGregor, to name but a few.
Most recently, Sally is studying under Dennis O’Neill on an Advanced Vocal Studies Postgraduate Course at the Cardiff International Academy of Voice. The Academy provides highly specialised training for a small, elite group of the most promising singers from around the world, who are selected on the basis of their international potential. Sally has been awarded a Director’s Scholarship by the CIAV and also having been supported by the ASHA Foundation, the W Wing Yip and Brothers Bursary and the Sino-British Fellowship Trust. Away from her studies Sally uses her singing talent to help raising money for charity by performing at fundraising concerts; she is also working as a volunteer for the ASHA Foundation and was awarded as a Young Peace Ambassador.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0OOHviWBDU
MASSIMO SALOTTI
Massimo Salotti, allievo dei maestri Giorgio Sacchetti, Pietro Rigacci, Alessandro Carbonare e Pier Narciso Masi, è vincitore del Master all’Accademia di Alto Perfezionamento di Imola e del Primo Premio Assoluto nei Concorsi Internazionali di Roma e Bologna. Si è esibito in tutta Italia per le più importanti associazioni concertistiche come: la Fondazione Walton (in occasione del centenario della nascita del compositore inglese), Associazione Musicale Lucchese, Festival Da Bach a Bartok (Imola), A.G.I.M.U.S., Amici della Musica, Goethe Institut, Festival delle Nazioni e per i più importanti Teatri di tradizione quali il Comunale di Bologna, la Sala Sinopoli di Roma, il Teatro Ponchielli di Cremona, il Teatro Regio di Torino, il Teatro dei Rozzi di Siena.
Assieme al primo clarinetto dell’Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Giorgio Berrugi, costituisce il DUO ALBAN BERG, formazione cameristica vincitrice di numerosi primi premi internazionali, che sta riscuotendo notevoli apprezzamenti critici dai più grandi interpreti mondiali. Sue composizioni sono state eseguite a Lucca, Bolzano, Firenze, Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Roma, Bologna (al festival di musica da camera Da Bach a Bartok) e ad Ischia in occasione del centenario dalla nascita del compositore inglese W.Walton. Ha all’attivo tournée in Italia, Austria, Inghilterra, Spagna, Svizzera, Belgio, Brasile. Richiestissimo maestro collaboratore si è messo in luce esibendosi e lavorando per l’International Academy of Music di New York, il CIDIM per il progetto UNESCO dell’anno 2006, con la Compagnia degli Ipocriti oltre che al fianco di artisti quali Katia Ricciarelli, Graziano Polidori, Aldo Tarabella, Laura Nicolescu, Roberto Servile, Herbert Handt, Maria Billeri, Isa Danieli.
E’ stato recentemente ospite del Nunzio Apostolico in Brasile, esibendosi in una tournèe nazionale per gli ambasciatori di tutto il Mondo. E’ stato responsabile musicale della Compagnia Sperimentale Opera Bazar, una realtà musicale che si propone di percorrere una via di ricerca, diffusione e valorizzazione del teatro musicale e dell’opera da camera antica e moderna. La Compagnia vanta più di 400 rappresentazioni presso i più importanti teatri di tradizione e enti sinfonici italiani ed esteri.