Piazzolla Gala

Cesare Chiacchiaretta, hailing from the vibrant city of Chieti, discovered his passion for the accordion at a remarkably young age. As time went on, he ventured into learning the bandoneon, further expanding his musical repertoire. His dedication and commitment to his craft led him to study under the tutelage of the esteemed Maestro Claudio Calista at the renowned Music Academy of Pescara. In 1995, Chiacchiaretta achieved distinction as a graduate of the prestigious "N. Piccinni" Conservatory of Bari.

Seeking to refine his skills even further, Chiacchiaretta sought guidance from eminent maestros such as Max and Christiane Bonnay, Vladimir Zubitsky, and Mogens Ellegaard. His exceptional talent did not go unnoticed, as he received accolades in numerous national and international competitions. Notably, he emerged as the winner of the esteemed PIF Castelfidardo Premio Category in 1993. Furthermore, his exceptional abilities secured him the honor of being the sole Italian performer at the Unesco World Cup in 1991. In 1993, Chiacchiaretta represented Italy at the 43rd Accordion World Trophy in Setubal, Portugal, an invitation that showcased his remarkable musical prowess.

With a captivating stage presence and unparalleled musicality, Chiacchiaretta has graced over 1,000 stages across 35 countries, delighting audiences worldwide. He has had the privilege of performing alongside esteemed orchestras such as the Italian Radio Switzerland Orchestra, Kaunas Chamber Orchestra (Lithuania), Bacau Symphony Orchestra (Romania), Queretaro Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), I Virtuosi di Moscow, Lugansk Philharmonie (Ukraine), Kiev Philharmonic, Baden Baden Philharmonie (Germany), Brazos Valley Orchestra (USA), Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatia), Abruzzese Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Trento, East Western Orchestra (South Korea), Salzburg Soloists (Austria), and A. Scarlatti Orchestra (Naples, Italy). One of the most unforgettable moments of his career was performing under the esteemed direction of Maestro Riccardo Muti at the illustrious Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Chiacchiaretta's exceptional talent has also led to collaborations with luminaries such as Eddie Daniels, Amanda Sandrelli, Elio, Enzo Iacchetti, Giampaolo Bandini, Corrado Giuffredi, Trio di Parma, and Enrico Fagone. In 2008, he had the great privilege of showcasing his skills as a bandoneonist alongside Fernando Suarez Paz, the renowned violinist of Astor Piazzolla's orchestra. Together, they recorded a groundbreaking CD that garnered critical acclaim and won the prestigious Orpheus Award Critics Award. In fact, Chiacchiaretta has been honored with the esteemed Orpheus Award on three separate occasions. In 2011, he received the coveted Astor Piazzolla Award for his tireless efforts in promoting the compositions of the legendary Argentine master.

Chiacchiaretta's passion for sharing his vast knowledge and expertise extends beyond his own performances. He has served as an accordion teacher at the esteemed Conservatorio di Lecce and currently imparts his wisdom at the prestigious Conservatorio Statale di Musica - Istituto di Alta Formazione Musicale "Umberto Giordano" of Foggia. Additionally, he conducts masterclasses at esteemed institutions such as the Universities of Missoula (Montana, USA), St. Petersburg (Russia), Loyola University (Los Angeles, USA), and Beijing Central Conservatory (China), enriching the musical education of aspiring artists around the globe.

Notably, Chiacchiaretta's talents have been immortalized in recordings with renowned labels such as Decca, Naxos, Concerto, and Fonè. These recordings serve as a testament to his exceptional musicianship and his unwavering commitment to his art.

Giulio Tampalini has been hailed internationally as one of the most popular and charismatic classical guitarists, and as such he tours regularly and extensively in his country and abroad (La Fenice Opera Theatre Venice, Rome Parco della Musica, Shubert Theatre Tremont Boston U.S.A., Teatro Renascença Porto Alegre Brazil, Ithaca College New York U.S.A., Qintai Grand Theatre Wuhan China, Cearte Arts Centre Baja California Mexico, Muhsin Ertuğrul Theatre Istanbul Turkey, Safadi Foundation Lebanon, Nadine Chaudier Thetare Avignon France, Musée international de la Croix-Rouge Geneve Switzerland,  Salle Jacques Huisman Théâtre National Bruxelles Belgium).

Winner of the Arts and Culture Prize (Milan, Italy 2014), he is a Warner Classics Artist, has recorded over 25 CDs and he has played more than 2000 concerts all over the world. He has won many prizes at major international guitar competitions such as the “Narciso Yepes” Competition in Sanremo (chairman: Narciso Yepes); the International Rome Competition in 1996 and 2000; “De Bonis” International Competition in Cosenza; “Pittaluga” International Competition in Alessandria; “Fernando Sor” International Competiton in Rome and the “Andrés Segovia” International Competiton in Granada. In 2001 he performed at the Christmas concert in the Vatican in honour of the Pope. He plays the guitar as a solo performer, but also in chamber music, with orchestra, choir, strings, percussions, saxophone and many other different ensembles. His musical collaborations include the Soloists of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In 2003 his double CD “Francisco Tarrega: Complete Works for Guitar” was awarded the Golden Guitar at the International Guitar Meeting in Alessandria as “Best CD of the year”. Among his other notable CDs are: the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo for guitar and orchestra, recorded with the Orchestra “Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli”; all the major guitar works by Angelo Gilardino; the complete Six Rossinianas by Mauro Giuliani; the Concerto no. 1 op. 99, the Quintet Op. 143 and the Romancero Gitano by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, recorded with the Haydn Symphony Orchestra; the complete works for guitar by Miguel Llobet, the complete solo guitar works by Heitor Villa-Lobos and the Complete works for solo guitar in 8 CDs by Luigi Legnani.

Giulio Tampalini is a guitar professor at the Foundation International Academy in Imola and at the “Gaetano Donizetti” Bergamo Conservatory of Music (Italy) and he is regularly invited to give masterclasses all over Europe. In 2017 he has published the CD “The Spanish Guitar” for Warner Music Classics. He is a D’Addario artist and he plays guitars made by the English luthier Philip Woodfield.

The Swiss-Austrian cellist Alessandra Doninelli earned international recognition with her debut at the Berlin Philharmonie giving the premiere of Daniel Pacitti cello concerto. Her radiant personality and expressive musicianship, brought Alessandra on the stages of the world’s leading venues, including the Tokyo Opera City, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Minato-Mirai hall in Yokohama, the Swiss federal Palace, the Palau de la Musica Catalana in Barcelona and the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid.

Alessandra recently appeared as a soloist with the "Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana", the “ Basel Sinfonieorchester”, the "Stuttgarter Kammerorchester", the “Camerata dei Castelli” and the “Eurasian Soloists Chamber Orchestra” under the baton of Andrey Boreyko, Kevin Griffiths, Andreas Laake and François Benda.

“Music is capable of moving the mountains and when we share those fleeting episodes of sound with others, the entire planet finds itself in another galaxy” through those words Alessandra expresses the power that chamber music has for her. She worked with inspiring mentors including Günter Pichler (Alban Berg quartet), Eberhard Feltz, Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet, Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quaret), Heime Müller (Artemis Quaret), Heinz Holliger and won the prize for the “most outstanding chamber music group with piano” of 2020-2021 academic year at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia awarded by the queen of Spain. Alessandra is member of the Trio Michelangeli, prize winner at the 2023 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan. 

Alessandra performed at various festivals including "Herbst in der Helferei", “Pablo Casals Festival”, “Monighetti&Friends, “Musik Miteinander” at the Kronberg Academy, “Musique à Flaine”, “Eggenfelden Klassisch”, “Ceresio Estate” and collaborated with inspiring chamber music partners such as Vilde Frang, Yura Lee, Fabio di Casola, Mi-kyung Lee, Roland Glassl and Calogero Palermo. 

Alessandra is regularly invited as a guest principal cello with the Camerata Salzburg. 

The BBC Radio3 broadcasted multiple times the live-recording of her Saint-Saens cello concerto with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. She created a long lasting relationship with the Swiss-Italian Radio-television (RSI) giving a live-concert recital with the pianist Dominic Chamot, appearing in the tv program “Paganini” and in the documentary film “Archi nel Sol Levante”. For the RSI Alessandra also recorded the piano trio of the Dutch composer Elisabeth Kuyper, showing her passion for the discovery of neglected composers and her aim to bring their music to light.

Alessandra studied under the guidance of Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta at the Hochschule für Musik Basel and later at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. Furthermore she was part of the 2019 class at the Pavia cello academy with Enrico Dindo and is currently studying with Wen Sinn Yang at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.

Alessandra plays a 1840 cello by Bernard Simon Fendt II.

Antonino Cicero has received awards in numerous national and international music competitions, both as a soloist and in classical chamber ensembles. He has collaborated with various Italian and international orchestras and served as principal bassoon of the Houlencourt Soloists Chamber Orchestra from 2012 to 2014.

He maintains an active career as a soloist and chamber musician, performing for musical associations and institutions in Italy and abroad. Antonio Cicero is a bassoon virtuoso not only in traditional classical contexts, but also in jazz, swing, and above all tango—a genre in which he has worked successfully for over a decade.

In January 2012, he founded the Sestetto Armonia for strings and bassoon, with which he performs the repertoire of Astor Piazzolla. With this ensemble, he released the CD Pasion de Bassoon, dedicated to tango and Latin music repertoire, achieving both critical acclaim and public success.

In 2014, he founded the Quartetto Atipico Danzarin, devoted to promoting traditional tango music. In 2016, he recorded the album An Italian Tale in duo with Luciano Troja, featuring original compositions by Troja, released on the Almendra Music label.

His musical projects have been praised by specialized critics for their quality and originality, and have received significant media attention, including broadcasts on Rai Radio 3, Radio Classica, Radio Mozart Italia, Radio Battiti, and Radio Nacional Clásica.

In 2021, he released two albums dedicated to tango. On the occasion of the centenary of Astor Piazzolla’s birth, he recorded the album FagotTango for the prestigious Argentine label Acqua Records, in duo with Fabrizio Mocata; the project received wide critical and public acclaim. For the same label, he released Un tango para vos, in duo with Argentine composer Fabricio Gatta, featuring a new repertoire of original tangos for piano and bassoon.

He also recorded Da Sur a Sur with Trio Atipico and Elisa Lorena, dedicated to the tradition of sung tango.

In 2025, he released the album Mediterrango, featuring original compositions by bandoneonist Nicolás Tognola, again for the Argentine label Acqua Records.

Since July 2022, he has served as Artistic Director of the Filarmonica Laudamo of Messina, the oldest concert association in Sicily.

Davide Alogna is an eclectic musician with an international education. He graduated both in violin and in piano with honours at Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ in Como, and he obtained his master’s diploma in soloist violin and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Paris with a ‘Premier Prix a l’unanimité’. He also studied composition and graduated with a special mention at Accademia Chigiana of Siena with Giuliano Carmignola, who described him as ‘an amazing talent’. 

In 2017, Davide was invited as guest soloist by La Scala Orchestra to play concerts around Europe, and on 29 October he debuted at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan accompanied by La Scala Chamber Orchestra. 

Davide has already performed in many important music halls such as Carnegie Hall (Stern Hall), Teatro alla Scala, Berliner Philarmonie, Suntory Hall of Tokyo, Smetana Hall of Prague, Grand Theatre of Shanghai, Salle Cortot of Paris, Gasteig and Herkulessaal in Germany, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Mahidol Hall of Bangkok, Cairo Opera House and the Verdi Auditorium of Milan. 

He has been accompanied by some of the world’s leading orchestras, including La Scala Chamber Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana, Orchestra della Toscana, Sanremo Symphony, Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre , Munich Kammerphilharmonie, Northern Czech Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of New York, New England Symphony, Mexico State Symphony Orchestra, Bellas Arte Chamber Orchestra, Cairo Symphony orchestra, Monterey Symphony, Adana State Symphony Orchestra. 

He performed alongside great soloists and conductors including Natalia Gutman, Eliso Virsaladze, Bruno Canino, Jeffrey Swann, Roberto Prosseda, Roberto Plano, Lior Shambadal, Dariusz Mikulski, Hakan Şensoy, Giulio Tampalini and Francesco Lanzillotta. Davide has recorded for different music labels including Warner Classics, Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Amadeus, Phoenix Classics. ‘Amadeus Magazine’ and ‘Suonare News’ chose Davide several times as ‘Artist of the Month’, publishing his recordings. 

Davide Alogna is one of the most active musicians for the study, rediscovery and diffusion of the Italian twentieth century repertoire. In 2018, he recorded for Naxos a disc with three ‘world premiere’ of Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco’s violin works, such as the 3rd Concerto for violin and piano dedicated to Jascha Heifetz, which received 5-stars from many international musical magazines, namely ‘Musica’ and ‘BBC Magazine’. In 2021, Naxos will release his recording of Ottorino Respighi’s violin concerto P75 in A min accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra of New York, and Ricordi will publish his personal version of the violin solo part. 

He is the creator of ‘Progetto Rode’ (supported by the CIDIM – Comitato Nazionale Italiano Musica and ‘Suonare News’) in which he brought together – during the recent Covid19 pandemic – 24 Italian famous violinists performing in video the renowned 24 Rode’s Caprices, as a training support for violin students from all over the world. 

Davide Alogna is Professor of Violin at the Conservatorio ‘F. Cilea’ in Reggio Calabria (Italy). He performs on an 1806 Joseph Dall’Aglio, and on a 1930 Anselmo Gotti.

The Jihočeská filharmonie was founded in 1981 in České Budějovice under its original name, the South Bohemian State Orchestra. Today, the orchestra comprises 39 members.

The ensemble was established under the leadership of conductor Jaroslav Vodňanský. He was subsequently succeeded as Chief Conductor by Ondřej Kukal, Jaroslav Krček, and Stanislav Vavřínek. From 2008 to 2020, the position was held by Jan Talich, followed by Miran Vaupotić from 2021 to 2023. Beginning with the 2024/2025 season, Alena Hron assumes the role of Chief Conductor.

In addition to its core repertoire of classical masterworks and compositions suited to chamber orchestra and intimate concert hall settings, the orchestra increasingly embraces contemporary trends, including cross-genre collaborations and innovative approaches to interpretation and presentation. It is committed to the systematic pursuit of ever-higher artistic standards.

The majority of the orchestra’s musicians are young, ambitious, highly skilled, and promising performers who warmly welcome opportunities to collaborate with distinguished conductors and soloists.

The ambition of the Jihočeská filharmonie is to maintain the valued support of its existing subscribers while also engaging younger audiences and the broader public—reaching even those in South Bohemia for whom so-called classical music has thus far remained outside their sphere of interest. The orchestra possesses both the capacity and the determination to achieve this goal.

Named one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year for 2025, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has been acclaimed as “dynamic and knowledgeable” by the Buenos Aires Herald. He has worked with eminent orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina and others, performing in major halls around the globe, such as Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Dubai Opera, Tchaikovsky Hall, International House of Music, CBC Glenn Gould Studio etc. In addition, Vaupotić has led four of China’s annual National New Year Tours, with the St. Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Izmir State Symphony Orchestra respectively, performing at China’s most eminent venues.

Miran Vaupotić has collaborated with notable artists such as Inva Mula, Ray Chen, Sergei Krylov, Yury Revich, Davide Alogna, Julian Steckel, Kirill Rodin, Andrey Gugnin, Anna Aglatova, Mario Hossen, Mariano Rey, Richard Galliano and many others.

A strong advocate for new music, Vaupotić has premiered many pieces including Carlos Franzetti’s Clarinet Concerto, Roberto Di Marino's Guitar Concerto, Primous Fountain’s Symphony No. 2 commissioned by 28-time Grammy Award-winning American producer Quincy Jones, and The Wild Symphony composed by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code).

He also premiered several operas including Waundell Saavedra’s Sweet Dreams, John Rose’s Rumpelstiltskin directed by Tyler Bunch (The Muppets) at The National Opera America Center in New York City, and Jelka by the late Croatian composer Blagoje Bersa, bringing the forgotten work to life a century after the composer’s passing.

As a recording artist Vaupotić released albums with Naxos, Classic Concert Records, Movimento Classical and Navona Records. In 2015, he received a Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in California.

Miran Vaupotić won First Prize and special award at the 12th International Aram Khachaturian Conducting Competition in Yerevan, Armenia. He has served as Chief Conductor of the Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Chief Conductor of the South Czech Philharmonic, and is currently the Artistic Director of the Zagreb Symphony Orchestra.