The girls in the magnesium dress
[Ruutsu] - The debut album is out now - Find out here
The project
The Girls in the Magnesium Dress is an innovative chamber music collaboration between double bass and harp. Named after one of the most renowned orchestral pieces by Frank Zappa, the ensemble involves the audience in a new musical experience led by Valentina Scheldhofen Ciardelli and Anna Astesano. Their versatile repertoire appeals to a wide public with sparkling transcriptions from the opera world, virtuoso repertoire and 21st century music, reversing the stereotypes surrounding both instruments. The duo collaborates with established composers such as Yoshihisa Hirano, John Alexander, Paul Patterson and Kurt Morgan. The Girls have performed in several important venues such as London's St- Martin-in-the-Fields and Wigmore Hall, Sale Apollinee in Teatro la Fenice in Venice, The Jockey Club Auditorium in Hong Kong, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, Reggia di Venaria in Torino.
Valentina Ciardelli
Valentina was born in Pietrasanta (Italy) to a German mother and Italian father. Initially a pianist, she started to play double bass in late 2009, graduating with Honours from the “Istituto Musicale L. Boccherini” in Lucca in October 2014, later at the Royal College of Music in July 2016 and with Leon Bosch in 2017 at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Valentina also graduated in composition in March 2014 with Honours in conservatoire Giacomo Puccini in La Spezia. Valentina has won several awards, prizes and orchestral auditions such as the Gustav Mahler Academy 2016, BBC SO training scheme. She recently won the Artist in Residence at BANFF, Alberta (Canada), who will host her in September 2019. She gave solo performances with “I Solisti Veneti” with Maestro Claudio Scimone, winning the prestigious scholarship granted by the Academy (Proliber). In London, she has performed as a soloist in the prestigious Wigmore Hall and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. She was invited to the pre-opening of the Zappanale 2018 in St.Katharinen Kirche (Hamburg) with her Trio featuring the Worldwide saxophone virtuoso Napoleon Murphy Brock. She been awarded as Junior Fellow Carne Trust at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She also won a scholarship from “Associazione Animando” in Lucca for a research project investigating the music of Giacomo Puccini’s ancestors and her work had been published by Da Vinci Editions. Valentina is focused to expand the double bass solo repertoire composing new virtuoso pieces. She also has a wide Jazz experience. She plays a Scipioni double bass 2014.Anna Astesano
After her Bachelor and Master studies at the CNSMD in Lyon, Anna joined the harp class at Trinity and Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in the Postgraduate Advanced Diploma course.
In 2018 she was awarded the “Featured Young Performer” Award by the London Ear Festival and the "John Marson Prize 2018 for best performer". In 2019 she was awarded the First Prize in the chamber music section of the Camac North London Harp Competition. She has performed as a soloist and alongside chamber music ensembles in prestigious concert halls such as the Purcell Room, the Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Teatro "La Fenice" Stanze Apollinee in Venice, and the Dora Stoutzker Hall in Cardiff.
She has been working with the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale (RAI) in Turin, the Rome Opera, the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow, the “Bellini” Orchestra in Catania, the "La Toscanini" orchestra of Parma the “Luigi Cherubini” Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala Academy, the London Southbank Sinfonia, being conducted by Muti, Metha, Pappano, Dudamel, Harding, Bychkov, Jurovskij, Fischer, Luisi, Gatti, Krivine.
Her labeled recordings include Delos "December Chrysantemum" with chamber music ensemble Les Temps Modernes, Da Vinci "Ruutsu" and "A day in the Life of John Marson".
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