Shade LA Festa DI Stacy (skit)

Eighteenth century Naples was not only a creative, cultural melting pot, but also one of the most important cities in Europe. Full of impressive contrasts between decay and splendour, and with an immense artistic output whose musical influences stretched across Europe, attracting many musicians and composers, Naples was a source of fascination and has retained its appeal to the current day.

​The Concerti of the violinist-composer Francesco Venturini (c.1675-1745) are a real discovery - melodious, virtuosic, elegant and dance-like, combining Italian and French stylistic elements to form a "mixed taste", as Telemann described this mélange. Inspired by the pulsating cultural and intellectual life at the Hanoverian court, Venturini wrote ambitious orchestral music full of joie de vivre, defined by numerous concertato passages for both wind and string instruments.

Three Venetian contemporaries named Antonio - one, Vivaldi, achieved world fame with his concerti. But who has heard of Antonio Lotti and Caldara today? In their time, they were famous composers beyond the borders of Venice, and yet some of their music has lain dormant in archives for over three hundred years. Now selected alto cantatas by Lotti as well as oratorio introductions and an "Ave Regina" by Caldara may reawaken attention: paired with the "Nisi Dominus", RV 608, and two rousing concerti by Vivaldi, the baroque orchestra la festa musicale and the internationally acclaimed countertenor Alex Potter present an album full of virtuoso and touching musical treasures by the three Antonios from the Canal Grande.

Hello, fans of genuine 70's Italian Prog… Rejoice! Fabio Zuffanti (Finisterre) came out with his new side project, La Maschera di Cera. The music mounts back to the best Mellotron / Moog driven symphonic prog performed by bands like Museo Rosenbach or IL Balleto Di Bronzo. All the ingredients are in place: distorted basses, accoustic guitars, an excellent vocalist and very inspired flute passages complete the set. The result is a nostalgic flash-back to the roots of the italian prog. A must for fans of this country's very best!

Seven long years separate La Maschera di Cera’s previous studio album (“Le Porte del Domani”, the ideal follow-up to Le Orme’s concept album “Felona e Sorona”) and “S.E.I.”, a great comeback for one of the key groups in the recent renewed interest for the glorious and unique Italian Progressive Rock of the ’70s. Warm symphonic atmospheres, Italian lyrics and a vocal style that often reminds the melodrama tradition: this is what has often characterized this musical genre and perfectly fit the band’s proposal.
“S.E.I.” renews the compositional skills of the current members of the group, based on very specific sounds: imaginative keyboards, ever-changing rhythmic patterns, a full-bodied wind instruments section, a powerful distorted bass that makes up for the absence of the electric guitarю…

About ten years from the now distant 2007, when the first foundations of this project were laid, one of the current Italian progressive rock scene most important bands, La Coscienza di Zeno, signs for AMS Records; while waiting to give life to their 4th record, they celebrate this event with the release of "Il giro del cappio", a live album recorded on 26 February 2016 in The Netherlands. "Il giro del cappio" consists of seven long and complex tracks for over seventy minutes of music in which, from classical to hard rock, various genres overlap and intertwine with impressive and apparent simplicity. Almost one third of the album is occupied by the suite "Giovane figlia", what could be called the 'Side A' of the band's third album "La notte anche di giorno"; four are the tracks taken from the eponymous 2011 debut, while the concert is opened and closed with two songs from "Sensitività" (2013).

In the early summer of 1630, Venice was struck by the plague in a devastating way: It raged for 18 months and killed almost 50,000 people, more than a third of the population at the time! Doge Nicolò Cantarini vowed to build a large church for the deliverance from the plague, and even though he was unable to experience it himself, this vow was carried out. With the Santa Maria della Salute, one of the most magnificent churches in the city was built. Since the year of liberation in 1631, the festival in honor of 'Saint Mary of Health' has been celebrated every year in November. The ensemble ecco la musica has set out to find out what the music of the first Festa della Salute in 1631 might have sounded like, combining what already existed with what was new at the time and commemorating the composers who died. With the end of the epidemic, there was also a musical change, from the wind-dominated polychoral music of Gabrieli, to the style of the seconda prattica of Monteverdi and his successors with solo singers and virtuoso string accompaniment.