Petrina

I'm an italian musician. I sing, I play piano & keyboards, I compose my own songs. My music moves between avant-pop, jazz (sort of) and contemporary music. My songs, in English and Italian, don't belong to any style, even if someone has called me a ‘prog-rock’ musician. With these kind of songs I won the Ciampi Prize 2007, a famous italian competition for songwriters.I have a classical-contemporary background and even now I play more regular concert piano music (the latest was at Mills College, Oakland, the next in the theater La Fenice, Venice): I also recorded in the U.S. a CD with unpublished pieces by Morton Feldman, which I have also performed in London (Conway Hall).I have been invited in La Havana to perform my own arrangements and recompositions of Radiohead, but also a program of romantic cuban piano music which I also reworked.My songs have recently been heard in NYC and San Francisco (at The Café du Nord, sharing the bill with Amy X Neuburg) , and I have been invited by Elliott Sharp to perform next year at John Zorn’s ‘The Stone’ in New York.Since I use improvisation in my music, I’m invited in jazz festivals, like Ubi Jazz in Venice, and play often at the national radio, in programs about unconventional singers/songwriters, besides musicians like Regina Spektor and Anja Garbarek.My music can be listened in a club or in theater, sitting on an armchair or on the lawn, and I can wear an evening-dress…even if I prefer to play without shoes.In NYC someone compared me to Frida Kahlo, the mexican painter, and this is my favourite review: I have to retort that mine isn’t folk music at all, but I can recognise myself in her world, free and strong at the same time. I'm also active as a choreographer and dancer, alone and with the companies of Sara Wiktorowicz (Amsterdam), and Avi Kaiser (Düsseldorf).My song...and my dance...Petrina è cantante, pianista e compositrice. La sua attività musicale spazia dalla canzone d'autore al pianoforte contemporaneo. Con le sue canzoni per voce, pianoforte e tastiere, ha vinto il Premio Ciampi 2007, ma ha anche registrato negli USA un CD con inediti di Morton Feldman (Early and Unknown Piano Pieces, OgreOgress), e ha suonato all'Avana su invito dell'Istituto de la Musica Cubana le sue ricomposizioni di musica pianistica cubana dell'800.In questi diversi repertori si è esibita nei più importanti festival e rassegne italiane, è stata spesso ospite di Rai Radio3 e network nazionali, suona a New York (prossimamente allo Stone di John Zorn e al Joe's Pub) e a S.Francisco (uno storico locale, il Cafè du Nord, e la sala da concerti del Mills College). Oltre ad esibirsi come solista (voce, pianoforte, tastiere e tastiere giocattolo), collabora a diversi progetti in duo: "Naked" con la cantautrice newyorkese Amy Kohn, "Come Nuove" con la voce di Patrizia Laquidara.Come interprete di musica contemporanea e d'avanguardia, a volte scritta appositamente per lei, ha suonato in prima esecuzione opere di Cage, Feldman, Rota, Katunda, Janácek, Kurtág, Rzewski e si è esibita a S.Francisco, Londra, Milano, Roma, Venezia, Strasburgo, all'Avana e in Giappone.Petrina è attiva anche come coreografa free-lance e come performer nelle compagnie di teatro-danza di Sara Wiktorowicz (Amsterdam), e Avi Kaiser (Düsseldorf).