See Cristina Altamura's website at cristinaaltamura.com

Audio and Video
Click the link below to hear an audio sample from Altamura's Extreme Latin! program.

Cristina Altamura
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“Altamura’s phrasing is rich in abandon and emotional surprises”
-- Amici della Musica, Bologna, Italy

In an age of exceptional young pianists, Cristina Altamura is distinguished by a style which is at once “brilliant, powerful and poetic, ushering in a new generation of pianism.” The young artist’s New York debut took place in December, 2003 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in an unusual program of two piano concertos. This was immediately followed by a tour that began in Italy and ended with a concert in Havana, Cuba. The highly appealing solo program, which included many of Gershwin’s songs and preludes, was broadcast on radio throughout Cuba and South America.

Following her successful 1998 debut with the Bucharest Philharmonic, Ms. Altamura held the unique position as principal soloist of the State Philharmonic of Bacau. Her close musical association with Romania has resulted in performances and recordings with all of the major Romanian orchestras.

Cristina Altamura has been a frequent guest on New York's foremost classical radio station, WQXR. In 1997, she was the only American musician awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy. Her winning, uncut audition tape was broadcast on the McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase, hosted by Bob Sherman. That same year, she was awarded a scholarship from the National Italian American Foundation in Washington, DC. Further live radio broadcasts followed on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago.

In the 2008-09-10 seasons, Ms. Altamura will tour with her innovative program, Extreme Latin! on which she will be joined by renowned Latin percussionists. In this program, Ms. Altamura creates a fresh new look at the Spanish idiom, reflecting our ongoing fascination with the magic, exoticism and mystery of Latin rhythms and music. It also serves to explore the relationship between flamenco, tango and salsa, and how these dance rhythms continue to permeate the music of contemporary young composers.

Ms. Altamura, whose background includes training at the Joffrey Ballet School, is known for her exciting “out of the box” programming. Most recently, she conceived a project fusing classical music with cutting-edge break-dance. She further developed the concept with Rokafella, a world-renowned, pioneer female break-dancer and choreographer, who immediately saw its creative, social and philosophical value. Their collaborative debut took place in March 2007 at Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair, NJ, and was followed by a performance at the prestigious Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida, where it drew cheering applause. A highlight of their collaboration was an expanded Breakin’ to Bach segment which they performed to a thousand -plus crowd at the famous Central Park Summer Stage, with members of Rokafella’s dance company, Full Circle Productions.

Ms. Altamura’s future engagements include several New York appearances in October 2008 at Steinway Hall, Casa Italiana at New York University, and at the Altamura Center for Arts and Cultures in the Catskills. In January of 2009, her Italian concert tour begins with a gala concert presented by the Associazione Melodica in Sicily, Italy. Ms. Altamura and Italian pianist, Laura Nocchiero, will be joined by Cuban conductor/composer, Guido Lopez Gavilan ,in Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos.

At age 19, the young pianist made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Inter-Cities Chamber Orchestra. She has also appeared as a solo and chamber artist in all of New York's major concert halls. In addition, she has performed in major concert halls and festivals in England, Gibraltar, Italy, Israel and Romania. As a teen, Ms. Altamura participated at both the Tanglewood and Aspen Summer Music Festivals. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music and pursued advanced studies with Marcello Abbado, with the eminent Maestro Franco Scala, founder of the Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy, and later with Professors Robert Abramson and Julian Martin of The Juilliard School.

Curriculum Vitae

DEBUTS:
Professional Debut: December 10, 2003 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1,and Mozart's Piano Concerto K.488, No.23, with the Camerata Internazionale, Conductor, William Hicks.
Young Artist Debut: at Carnegie Hall Rhapsody in Blue, Gershwin, with the Inter- Cities Chamber Orchestra, Conductor, Giselle Ben-Dor.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS:
Fulbright Fellowship, Italy, 1997-1998
Mannes College of Music Scholarship, 1991-95
Alitalia Travel Sponsorship, 2003
National Italian American Foundation Scholarship, 1997-1998
Aspen Music Association, 1993
In Praise of Merit Scholarship, SUNY, 1991
Merit Scholarship, New York University, 1990

PRESENTED BY THE FOLLOWING ARTS ORGANIZATIONS AND MUSIC SERIES:
Central Park Summer Stage
Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival
Accademia Pianistica delle Marche, Italy
UNEAC, Havana, Cuba.
Associazione Musicale Melos, Ragusa, Italy.
Gibraltar Philharmonic Society, Gibraltar
Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, Chicago
Beethoven Festival, Long Island, Bob Sherman, Artistic Dir.
Caramoor, Performer's Showcase
Casa Italiana at NYU
Societa' dei Concerti, Teatro delle Erbe, Milan, Italy
Texas A&M University Distinguished Visitors in the Arts, Series, Corpus, Christi, Texas
Koussevitksy Foundation, New York
Anglo Italian Music Society, Bedford, England
Steinway Society, Princeton, NJ
Music at Trinity Series, Huntington, West Virginia
Tanglewood Institute, Lenox Mass.
Bach a Bartok Festival, Imola, Italy
Istituto Pontificio, Rome, Italy
Aspen Music Festival, Aspen, Colorado
Inter-Cities Performing Arts, Inc.

POSITIONS:
Principal Soloist of the state Philharmonic of Romania, Bacau. By special invitation, 1999-2003 Director of Programming, Altamura Center for Arts and Culture since 2001

ORCHESTRAS:
Bucharest Philharmonic, Romania
State Philharmonic of Romania, "Mhail Jora", Bacau
State Philharmonic of Romania, Kluj
State Philharmonic of Romania, Iasi
State Philharmonic of Romania, Ploiesti
State Philharmonic of Romania, Arad
State Philharmonic of Romania, Rimnica Valcea
European Sinfonietta, London, England
Inter-Cities Chamber Orchestra of New York
Several Free-lance orchestras based in NYC

RECORDINGS:
2000 Beethoven Piano Concerto#1 and Sonata Op.31, No.3
Iasi Camerata, conductor, Karel Mark Chichon, Olympia Arts Label
2000 Mozart Piano Concerto K.844,No.23
Recorded at the Royal academy of London with the European Sinfonietta, conductor, Karel Mark Chichon
2002 Solo CD entitled "Worlds Revisited" featuring works by Scarlatti, Chopin, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Olympia Arts Label
2002 Recorded live for Radio Broadcast on 96.3, Grieg Piano Concerto in Am with Romanian State Philharmonic of Bacau, conductor, Ovidio Balan
2003-04 Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2 State Philharmonic of Romania, Bacau, conductor, Karel Mark Chichon and Scriabin Preludes, Olympia Arts, Label

Venues
USA:
Carnegie Hall
Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall
Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
Merkin Concert Hall
Steinway Hall
CAMI Hall
Chicago Cultural Center

EUROPE:
Teatro Comunale d'Imola, "Ebe Stignani
Teatro Delle Erbe, Milan
Accademia Pianistica d'Imola
Istituto Pontificio, Rome
Ateneul Roman, Bucharest
Concert Halls and Theatres throughout Romania
Tescana, the house of George Enescu in Romania
The Governor's Palace in Gibraltar

CARIBBEAN:
Basilica Minor del Convento de San Francisco de Asis, Havana, Cuba

UNIVERSITIES:
Mannes College of Music Concert Hall
Bethlehem University
Casa Italiana, NYU
William Paterson College, Theatre

Radio Broadcast
WQXR 96.3 New York City, NY
Presented three times on the McGraw Hill Young Artist Showcase, hosted by Robert Sherman
April 1997 Uncut Audition tape for Fulbright Fellowship
June 2001 Beethoven, Piano Concerto No.1 with the Iasi Camerata, conductor, Karel Mark Chichon
April 2003 Grieg Piano Concerto in Am performed live with Romanian State Philharmonic of Bacau, conductor, Ovidio Balan WMFT 98.7 Chicago, Ill
March 27, 2002 Solo Recital presented live on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series
January, 2004 Havana Radio, Cuba

Education
Mannes College of Music, Mus. B. 1995

Teachers
Franco Scala, Director, Accademia Pianistica Imola, Italy
Stephanie Brown, Professor of Piano, Mannes College of Music, New York, NY
Marcello Abbado, Director, Verdi Conservatory, Milan, Italy
Herbert Stessin, The Juilliard School, New York, NY and Aspen Festival, Aspen, CO
Robert Abramson, The Juilliard School and Robert Abramson and Dalcroze Academy, New York, NY

Past Radio and Television Broadcasts, USA
New York, NY (1997, 1998, 2001)
WQXR, McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase
Chicago, IL (March 27 2002)
WFMT, the Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, live concert broadcast
New York, NY
Italics, City University of New York
New Jersey
RAI USA, Mondo Italiano
Riverview Cable

Italy
Milan
Seranova
Telenova