Tuesday 19 September, 6.30pm
Napoli in Jazz
A concert by Vittorio Mezza
The programme includes arrangements of both Neapolitan classical music pieces and Italian songs: from Gioacchino Rossini to Ernesto De Curtis, Gaetano Lama, Salvatore Di Giacomo, Libero Bovio and Pino Daniele. Also, selected pieces from Italian films soundtracks from the second half of the last century: from Federico Fellini’s Amarcord to the unforgettable compositions of Oscar-winner maestro Ennio Morricone.
The original arrangements will result in a unique sound that will take the audience through a journey of the senses, to a dream-like, synesthetic reality.
Book HERE
Vittorio Mezza is a composer, arranger, pianist, music supervisor, professor of Jazz Piano
After studying classical music, he graduated with honours at the Conservatorio S. Cecilia in Rome, specializing in Jazz Music. He attended several masterclasses, including the Chromatic Approach to the Jazz Harmony with Dave Liebman (East Stroudsbourg University, Pennsylvania, USA), Berklee College at Umbria Jazz, Siena Jazz.
He opened the concert for the Wayne Shorter Quartet, the Peter Erskine Trio and the Mike Stern Band. He has played around the world including in Canada, USA, Germany, France, Cameroon, Switzerland, Croatia, Hungary, Japan, Armenia, South Africa and Australia.
He has represented Italy at many International Festivals, UNESCO sites, Italian Cultural Institutes and embassies around the world. In 2017, on the occasion of the UN Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, his hymn “Freedom Goes Seeking” was broadcasted in the Italian Senate building Palazzo Madama, in the presence of the then Senate President Pietro Grasso.
He was the only Italian pianist at the Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition in Switzerland in 2005. He is listed in the Italian Best Talent category of the Top Jazz referendum 2006 and the Jazzit Award Price 2010, with several positive reviews from major international magazines.
He has published several CDs and publications for Curci, Libreria Universitaria, Florestano, Ut Orpheus. He received a nomination from the U.S. as best composer and performer for the album Convergence at the “Just Plain Folks Music Awards 2017” in Los Angeles and ‘Best CD of the Year” for the Indie Acoustic Project 2018. He leads several ensembles and collaborates with them around the world, both for touring and studio projects (MMEQ, DANCES IN MY MIND, NAPOLI JAZZ SONGS, CONVERGENCE, NEAD, FREEDOM GOES SEEKING, VITTORIO MEZZA TRIO, JULIET & ROMEO IN JAZZ, SKETCHES OF CINEMA). He has worked with RAI (Italian state TV), composed music for short films, and he is also a lecturer of Jazz Piano at the State Conservatories in Italy.