Paola Quagliata - Jazzin' Around Baroque (2016)

JAZZIN’ AROUND BAROQUE is a project born in 2014 and it stems from the love that Paola Quagliata has for Baroque music and Jazz. During her classical studies and her carrier as a soprano Paola has always nurtured much curiosity for jazz that has eventually developed into a deep passion and study.
Having had the opportunity to work with notable ed eclectic exponents of baroque music, she has recognized how similar, despite having developed in far distant times, Baroque and Jazz are.Some of the characteristics of both are:
- a freedom of expression and the possibility to improvise;
- the presence of the "basso continuo" in Baroque, similar to the "walking bass" found in Jazz
- some astonishing similarities in the harmonic choices
- a certain “swing”, the typical mood of Jazz, which can somehow be found in much vocal and instrumental music of the baroque period.
Proposing her project to three extraordinary jazz musicians settled in NYC has been the almost natural consequence.

Having grown up in a family environment where music of all kinds was appreciated, she became something of an “omnivore”, as she likes to say, in the sense that she is open to a wide variety of music, especially Jazz, her second love after Baroque.
She is now one of the few italian artists who can perform both Classical and Jazz.

Let’s start from Paola's classical background.
Her teachers were, among the others, the sopranos Renata Scotto, Nina Dorliac and Leyla Gencer.
She made her debut at 22 when she was the winner of the well known Aslico , the international singing contest.
From then on she has performed in Italy’s most renowned opera houses (Teatro del Maggio Fiorentino - Firenze, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro San Carlo - Napoli, Teatro Carlo Felice - Genova, Teatro La Fenice -Venezia, Tatro Regio -Torino, Teatro Comunale - Ferrara, Santa Cecilia and Parco della Musica - Roma, Teatro Alighieri - Ravenna, Teatro Regio - Parma…), her lirico-leggero's repertoire ranging from the 18th to the 20th century (Il Signor Bruschino and La Cenerentola by Rossini, Rita, Le Convenienze ed Inconvenienze Teatrali and l’Elisir d’Amore by Donizetti, Carmen by Bizet, Haensel und Gretel by Humperdinck, Jenufa by Janacek).
Paola has worked with many conductors such as Vladimir Yurovsky, Corrado Rovaris, Massimo de Bernart, Julia Jones, Daniele Callegari, Piero Bellugi and directors such as Mario Martone, Lindsay Kemp, Beppe de Tomasi, Roberto de Simone, Ivan Stefanutti, Robert Carsen, Adrien Noble.

She was Violetta Valéry in Marco Bellocchio’s movie Addio del Passato.

Paola has specialized in the Baroque repertoire and has performed and recorded operas such as Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria by Monteverdi, Dafne by Marco da Gagliano, Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck, L’Isola Disabitata by Haydn. L’Amante di Tutte by Galuppi, Nina Pazza per Amore by Paisiello, Le Nozze di Figaro, Così Fan Tutte and die Zauberfloete by Mozart, with, among others, Ottavio Dantone, Gabriel Garrido, Rubèn Dubrovsky, Roberto de Simone, Orchestra Scarlatti.

As a jazz singer she has been involved for the past few years with several jazz projects.
The latest one, Jazzin’ Around Baroque, has originated from her will to fuse Baroque and Jazz music.
In November 2014 this project was performed in NYC at the Italian Cultural Institute and on May 2015 at the Festival Monteverdi, the renowned international baroque festival that takes place in Cremona.
She cooperates with renowned jazz musicians such as Bruce Barth, Jospeh Lepore, Rudy Royston, Michele Franzini, Luca Garlaschelli, Davide Corini.

Tracklist:

01. Sebben Crudele
02. Amarilli
03. Ah, Belinda
04. Un Certo Non So Che
05. Dido's Lament
06. Voi Che Sapete
07. Music for a While
08. Oh Che Umore Stravagante
09. Lascia Ch'io Pianga
10. Ohimè, Ch'io Cado

Personnel:

Paola Quagliata - soprano,
Bruce Barth - piano,
Joseph Lepore - double bass,
Rudy Royston - drums