Italian pop culture icon Gianni Morandi worked his way up from the bottom of the entertainment industry. Born in 1944, as a child Morandi sold soda and candies at the local movie theater in his native town of Monghidoro to make ends meet. He made his performance debut at age 12, singing in the public square on New Year's Day, 1956. His noticeable musical talent caused his parents to move him from traditional schooling to a school in Bologna, where he studied song and performance with master vocalist Alda Scaglioni. He made his official debut in 1958 in Alfonsine, Ravenna; three years later Morandi formed a band, and was soon referred to as the Italian Paul Anka. In 1962, Morandi won a small talent competition where he met and impressed boxing and entertainment promoter Paul Lionetti, who arranged an audience with RCA executives. That same year, the world was introduced to Morandi via his premier 45, "Andavo a Cento All'ora." Morandi's popularity blossomed in 1969 with his win at the Canzonissima Festival. Although he experienced a slight decline in popularity during the 1970s, the next decade was a great era for Morandi, punctuated with his winning performance at the prestigious Sanremo Festival in 1987. Over the course of his career, it is estimated that Morandi has sold more than 30 million records.
In the early 1960s two artistic giants, conductor Herbert von Karajan and director Franco Zeffirelli, joined forces to create this milestone production of Puccini's masterpiece at Milan's Teatro alla Scala. Filmed in that legendary opera house in 1965, with Zeffirelli himself directing for the cameras, this "Bohème" has been acclaimed universally for its unique theatrical impact and visual splendour. Starring the young Mirella Freni in her career-making performance.
In this new album by violinist and composer Diego Conti, the minimalist ensemble (violin and percussion) becomes a mean and a pretext to search new effects in the simplest and most primordial forms of sound. The extreme contrast between the frequencies, the timbres and the different “attacks” of the sounds of the instruments create atmospheres with which the composer gives life to imaginary planets, visited in his frequent science fiction readings, his great passion. Performed on percussion by Laura Mancini and Gianni Maestrucci, and on the violin by Laura Marzadori, star of the Italian music scene, first violin of the Teatro alla Scala orchestra in Milan, and already on Tactus’ albums dedicated to Ermanno Wolf Ferrari (TC872303) and Leone Sinigaglia (TC861901).