DA VINCI PUBLISHINGDowland, Monteverdi, Felice Sances, Da Venosa, Purcell: Cohors

Additional information

Artist(s)	Federico Pierantoni, Luca Cescotti, Marcello Abate, Marco Centasso, Marco Luparia, Valentina Fin
Composer(s)	Carlo Gesualdo Da Venosa, Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Felice Sances, Henry Purcell, John Dowland
EAN Code	7.46160917498
Edition	Da Vinci Jazz
Format	1 Cd
Genre	Chamber, Voice
Instrumentation	Double-Bass, Drums, Guitar, Live electronics, Trombone, Viola da Gamba, Voice
Period	Baroque, Contemporary
Publication year	2024

Description

COHORS is a project by Valentina Fin, commissioned by the Cultural Association 4’33” and it has taken shape through an artistic residency conducted for the Palazzo Te Foundation in Mantua. The sextet engages in research and arrangement of Renaissance and Baroque pieces through the practice of improvisation, creating a virtuoso dialogue between jazz, one of its foundational values, and the musical tradition of European Renaissance courts. The intertwining of seemingly disparate genres, unified by improvisational elements, is enhanced by a contemporary and innovative approach. Working with seven musical pieces originating from some of the most active European courts during the Renaissance, which were significant hubs for musical production, the musicians not only rework the material of these court composers but also craft a genuine musical journey. This journey alternates between written and improvised sections with moments of conduction. The project has been recognized as the winner of “Nuova Generazione Jazz 2024” and is supported by the WeStart Music Production Center.
The leader of the project is the singer and composer Valentina Fin. She distinguishes herself through her mastery across various musical realms including jazz, improvisation, and Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Graduating with honors from the Vicenza Conservatory, she has further honed her craft through prolific concert performances and the production of eight acclaimed albums. Her collaborative ventures extend to esteemed artists such as pianist Stefano Battaglia, saxophonists Pietro Tonolo, Rossano Emili, and Robert Bonisolo. Together with her, a quintet of musicians who delve into both ancient and jazz repertoire.

Artist(s)

Federico Pierantoni
Born in Bentivoglio in 1989, is an italian trombonist. He studied at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna and took lessons with Hal Crook. He has collaborated with various big bands and artists like Andy Sheppard, Chris Cheek, and Jovanotti. Pierantoni won the AIR MIDJ grant for an artistic residency in Tokyo in 2019 and released the album "FEDERICO PIERANTONI 6X2 Vol. 1" in May 2022. He's also a member of the band Unscientific Italians and teaches trombone at Siena Jazz Academy since November 2021.

Luca Cescotti
A viola da gamba player, composer, and singer, has ventured into various musical realms. He collaborates with esteemed early music ensembles, records Baroque repertoire for labels like Tactus, and performs at renowned festivals and theaters. His 2020 solo debut album, "Amarsi Bene," showcases his talents as a singer-songwriter, arranger, and producer with an ambient pop flavor. Additionally, he has composed film scores for international projects and explores improvisation through collaborations with jazz musicians and dancers.

Marcello Abate
Born in 1990, he began his musical journey early, mastering the guitar while studying at the conservatory. Collaborating with the Buds Quartet, they released "The Buds" in 2014, touring nationally and internationally. He later embarked on solo projects, performing at festivals and opening for Bill Frisell. With numerous recordings and performances alongside notable artists, he's garnered awards including scholarships from Nuoro Jazz and prestigious national recognitions.

Marco Centasso
Born in Venice in 1992, started with piano before mastering electric and double bass. In 2020, he graduated in jazz double bass from the Arrigo Pedrollo Conservatory in Vicenza. He's part of projects like the experimental jazz trio Ophir and the quintet RAME, releasing albums under labels like EmmeRecord and Wow Records. Centasso performs globally at festivals like Sibiu Jazz Festival and Niš Jazz Festival, and in 2021, he joined the National Jazz Orchestra Young Talents, performing at Umbria Jazz Festival and Nantes Jazz Festival. In 2022, his quartet released "Hidden Rooms" with Parco della Musica Records.

Marco Luparia
a drummer, percussionist, composer, and sound artist, is known for his work in projects like Fade In Trio and Anaphora, as well as leading the Franco-Italian sextet Masnä. Currently based in Paris, he explores a diverse range of influences, blending electroacoustic, gamelan, and gagaku elements in his music. He has performed extensively across Europe and participated in festivals such as Rewire, Umbria Jazz, and Torino Jazz Festival.

Valentina Fin
Valentina Fin, a singer and composer from Vicenza, stands out for her versatility, working in the realms of jazz music, improvisation, and Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Graduating with honors from the Conservatory of Vicenza, she has solidified her experience through a prolific concert activity and the production of eight albums. Her collaborations include prestigious artists such as pianist Stefano Battaglia and saxophonists Pietro Tonolo, Rossano Emili, and Robert Bonisolo. In 2022, she won second prize at the Riga Jazz Contest and the Tomorrow’s Jazz award by Veneto Jazz. In 2024, selected for the Nuova Generazione Jazz program, she is preparing to embark on an Italian and European tour with her project Cohors. In addition to her musical career, Valentina has cultivated a deep passion for art and cultural management, earning a degree in Art History and Cultural Management. She actively contributes to research at the Aiku center of Ca' Foscari and, together with Augusto Dalle Aste, founded the Bacàn Association, thus demonstrating her commitment both on stage and in the organizational world of culture.

Composer(s)

Claudio Monteverdi: (b Cremona, 15 May 1567; d Venice, 29 Nov 1643). Italian composer. The most important musician in late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy, he excelled in nearly all the major genres of the period. His nine books of madrigals consolidated the achievement of the late Renaissance masters and cultivated new aesthetic and stylistic paradigms for the musical Baroque. In his operas for Mantua and Venice he took the experiments of the Florentines and developed powerful ways of expressing and structuring musical drama. His three major collections of liturgical and devotional music transcend the merely functional, exploiting a rich panoply of text-expressive and contrapuntal-structural techniques. Although he composed little or no independent instrumental music, his writing for instruments was genuinely innovative. Schrade’s famous assessment (1950) of Monteverdi as ‘creator of modern music’ may be exaggerated, but his significant place in music history is assured

Giovanni Felice Sances [Sancies, Sanci, Sanes, Sanchez]
(b Rome, c1600; d Vienna, bur. 12 Nov 1679). Italian composer and singer. The brother of Lorenzo Sances, a singer, he was a boy soprano at the Collegio Germanico in Rome (under Ottavio Catalani and Orgas) from 16 November 1609 to at least 1 April 1614, when his father Orazio withdrew him from the college and was imprisoned for breaking his contract. While at the college Giovanni Felice sang the roles of Clio and Eternità in the opera Amor pudico, produced at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in February 1614 by Cardinal Montalto. On 14 December 1618 Sances was in Padua, from where he wrote to the rector of the Collegio Germanico stating that he had been travelling in the service of a patron (unnamed). In 1633 he dedicated two volumes of cantatas to the Marquis Pio Enea degli Obizzi, who also employed him as composer of Ermiona, an ‘introduction to a tournament on foot and on horse, and to a ballet’, given at Padua on 11 April 1636 with Sances himself in the role of Cadmus. In the dedication to his Capricci poetici (1649) he referred to services that he had rendered to Nicolo Sagredo ‘many years ago’ in Venice; the suggestion that he worked for a time at S Petronio, Bologna, however, seems to be unfounded. By December 1636 he was a tenor in the chapel of the Emperor Ferdinand II, and he continued to serve at the imperial court in Vienna under Ferdinand III and Leopold I. He married Anna Ludwig on 27 March 1642, was appointed assistant Kapellmeister on 1 October 1649, and on 16 April 1669 succeeded Bertali as Kapellmeister. He held that position until his death in spite of severe illness. He was ennobled by Leopold I in 1669. During his service in Vienna he was active as a composer of sacred music, operas, sepolcri and secular chamber music.

Henry Purcell (ii)
(b ?Westminster, London, ?10 Sept 1659; d Westminster, London, 21 Nov 1695).
Composer and organist, son of (1) Henry Purcell (i). He was one of the most important 17th-century composers and one of the greatest of all English composers.

John Dowland (b ?London, 1563; bur. London, 20 Feb 1626). English composer and lutenist. He was one of the finest players of his time, and while his music was soon superseded in England, it had a profound influence on the Continent, where he spent much of his career. He is now recognized as the greatest English composer of lute music and lute songs.