About this Artist
CRISTINA ZAVALLONI was born in Bologna, Italy. With a strong background in jazz, she expanded her studies in bel canto and in composition at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna. She also studied classical and modern dance for several years.
Her multidimensional skills enable her to perform both jazz and classical music. Notable venues at which she has performed include the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Free Music Jazz Festival (Antwerp), Moers Music, Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Umbria Jazz and the London Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), the Barbican Center (London), the New Palace of Arts (Budapest), the Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Biennale Musica in Venice.
She has sung under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, Stefan Asbury, Reinbert de Leeuw, Oliver Knussen, David Robertson, Jurjen Hempel, and Georges-Elie Octor, among others. She has performed with ensembles such as the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Rai (Torino), the Schönberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
In 1993, Zavalloni began a collaboration with Louis Andriessen, who wrote several works for her: Passeggiata in tram per l’America e ritorno, La Passione, Inanna, Letter from Cathy, Racconto dall’Inferno (the recording of which awarded her a Diapason D’Or in 2008), the leading role (Dante) in La Commedia (Amsterdam 2008), and the role of Anaïs Nin in his new opera, Anaïs Nin, premiered in July 2010. She has also collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Cornelis De Bondt, Paolo Castaldi, Gavin Bryars, Carlo Boccadoro, Fabrizio Cassol, Luca Mosca, and Emanuele Casale.
Her repertoire includes 20th-century chamber music (Cage, Berio, Ravel, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Satie, Falla, Montsalvatge), Mozart (Idamante), and Baroque music (Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda). She has recently premiered Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine at Teatro Comunale di Bolzano.
A composer and jazz bandleader herself, Cristina Zavalloni has conceived several programs. At present she collaborates with Italian label Egea, for which she has recorded IDEA (2006) and Solidago (2009), including some of her new compositions and a selection of Charles Aznavour covers, in quartet. Zavalloni has just finished recording her new CD La donna di cristallo (Egea Records) with Radar Band, the program of which premiered in the summer of 2011, together with special guest Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista, at Roccella Jazz Festival. The CD is set to be released in March 2012.
Late in 2011, she toured the Netherlands together with avant jazz band Clazz Ensemble, Louis Andriessen, and Canadian violinist Monica Germino. As a lyrical singer, she has debuted at Verona’s Philharmonic Theater with the Arena di Verona Orchestra.
Tonight, she sings Anaïs Nin’s U.S. premiere at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The recording of the monodrama with the London Sinfonietta is now available on the orchestra’s website. In 2012 she will also debut with her jazz quartet IDEA at Grande Auditório, Fundação Gulbenkian, Lisboa (Portugal). She was a special guest at the Django d’Or Awards in Paris’ Théâtre du Châtelet in January 2012.
Please visit cristinazavalloni.it.