by Sherif Awad
-Our family is a simple family, Antonella’s parents are craftsmen, dad is an electrician and mom is a seamstress. My parents are no longer alive, my dad made handmade shoes and my mom was a good seamstress. In 2018, we had a wonderful little girl named Mariasole.
-Antonella started singing at the age of three, she sang in the parish near her home during religious services.Then she started to study singing at the age of fifteen by going to the music conservatory. I Giovanni, I started singing at the age of eight. Very early, I started playing the guitar and I privately studied singing and guitar. At twenty, I went to the Air Force Academy, then worked in aeronautics for several years yet I always continued to study music and to sing. I met Antonella in 2003. Since then, we started playing and singing together without ever stopping. We also had some important experiences, for example we worked as volunteers for several months on a mission in Tanzania, in the village of Tosamaganga in the province of Iringa where we taught singing and guitar to many African children. Since Mariasole our daughter was born, Antonella has stayed a little while, as she has decided to be a full-time mom. In this period, I was singing alone while promoting my CD IL BEL CANTO NEL MONDO. I wish to bring this project of mine all over the world.
-Antonella and I love the music of the groups of the seventies in addition to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, R.E.M, Toto, etc… However, we also love the Italian Opera and Bel Canto. Antonella has always admired Maria Callas while I have always listened to Enrico Caruso, Franco Corelli and Franco Bonissoli. The first time I listened live to Turandot Nessun Dorma by Giacomo Puccini, performed by an orchestra and a tenor, I cried a lot and I was excited as it had never happened to me. I was twenty years-old and so at that moment, I decided to sing the music of these great authors: Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti …!
-It is certainly important and gratifying to be known and appreciated for our talent and for the work we bring to the stage. What is important for us is to do our job well, in our case it is to sing well, beautiful, always trying to improve ourselves. Another thing we love is to be able to sing all over the world. At this moment, we are struggling to take contracts and engagements and so I hope that in the future it will be easier. At that precise moment, we will be very happy.
-Answering this question is very easy, in Italy, art and especially classical music, il bel canto Italiano in this historical moment is a disaster. Because in the homeland of these great authors loved all over the world, such as Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Leoncavallo … organizing, promoting and realizing events and concerts is really very difficult. In fact, I find it easier to sing abroad, where I feel much more considered and appreciated.For some time now, I have been seriously thinking of leaving Italy.
-If I don’t know the songs and the project that is proposed to me, I start first with a great listening, then I study the character or characters, finally I put the songs into voice, I start singing them. It is important for me to understand if my voice is suitable for a repertoire, if I am well when I sing.
-About equilibrium between private life and professional practice, it is a question of balance. I love my job, I love to go singing around the world, I love my family very much. I do everything to live work and family with great harmony
-Now I’m working to promote my new album BEL CANTO IN THE WORLD precisely all over the world through social networks. Soon, I’ll start recording a second album in Germany, in collaboration with a very good accordionist. Antonella in this new album will sing some duet with me. I hope to start my tour that will start right from Germany. I also hope to find a good agent who can propose to me all over the world.
