Lucia Raffi

Born in Gubbio (PG), Italy , Lucia carried out a large part of her musical studies at the Conservatory “ F.Morlacchi “ of Perugia graduating first in song and later in didactics of music with the highest of honours. For several years she concentrated on didactics and along with the conservatory  participated in important musical events with the pedagogist A.M. Freschi, the musicologist R.Meucci and the composer F. De Rossi Re the celebrity who personalized her from a cultural and musical point of view. During these years of didactics she approached a creative –interpretive side of music, discovering contemporary language and subsequently the

possibility to tackle various exprssive ranges by means of her voice.

 

She made her debut at Cantiere Internazionale D’Arte di Montepulciano  in  “Stabat Mater “ by G.B. Pergolesi. Contemporarily she met the Evangelist Father Nicolini, a man of deep humanistic culture but above all a refined musicologist and musician, student of D.Bartolucci, founder and directorof Cantori D’Assisi until his death in 2004 with whom he enhanced his amateur sacred repertoire and his influence in Gregorian song vocally.

 

She achieved a specialistic degree at level 2 – Musical discipline in SONG   specialising in interpretation and composition , with a thesis on “A scene of  folly” by Lucia Di Lammermoor of G.Donizetti.

 

She has performed in numerous lyrical operas, concerts and recitals in both Italy and abroad ( Greece, the United States, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Israel and Japan ).

Inizially she studied with Anna Panni and Marinella Meli afterwhich she improved her abilities together with Raina Kabaivanska, Mariella Devia, Simone Kermes, Claudine Ansermet and Gloria Banditelli.

 

Throughout the years she has collaborated with numerable artists of national and international fame such as Dimitra Theodossiou, Carmela Remigio, Norma Fantini, Piero Giuliacci, Umberto Gazale, Sara M’Punga and directors such as L.G.Dolcini, M.Belli, P.Baiocco, G.Marras, G.Ferrari, G.Scandella, G.Pressburger, A.Cuocolo, P.Fosso, A.Allegrezza.

 

She had her debut in the role of Gilda in “Rigoletto” and that of Violetta in G.Verdi’s  “La Traviata” obtaining approval of the critics and the public ( Operaclick, L’Opera, Classic Voice, Corriere dell’Umbria, Repubblica, Into the theatre, Nuove dimensioni Musicali ).

 

Furthermore she performed Carlotta in the first modern shooting of the opera “Carlotta e Werther” by Coccia, Ifigenia in “Ifigenie en Tauride” and Euridice of “L’Orfeo e Euridice” by C.Gluck, Valencienne of “La Vedova Allegra” by F.Lehàr, Pamina in “Die Zauberflote” and Contessa and Susanna of “Le Nozze di Figaro”  by W.A Mozart, Sacerdotessa in “Aida” by Verdi, Alisa of “Lucia di Lammermoor” by G.Donizetti, Melia in “Apollo et hyacintus”, Musetta of “La Bohéme” and Lauretta of “Gianni  Schicchi “ by G.Puccini, Giulietta of “I Capuleti e i Monticchi “ of V.Bellini, Micaelain “Carmen” by G.Bizet.

 

She is also very occupied in the world of sacred music such as important oratorical and symphonic works like “Messa da Requiem” by G.Verdi, “Stabat Mater” by G.B.Pergolesi, “Carmina Burana” by C.Orff, “Messa per il Giubileo” by M.Hayden, “Gloria” RV 588, RV 589 and “Magnificat” by A.Vivaldi, “Missa Brevis”, “Vesprae Solennes De Confessore”, “Requiem”, ”Messa dell’Incoronazione in C” by W.A.Mozart, “ Petite Messe Solenelle”and “Stabat Mater” by Rosini, “Il Messia” by G.F.Handel, “Nona Sinfonia” by L.V.Beethoven, “Messe-G-dur”, “Magnificat D 486”, “Tantum ergo D460”, “Salve Regina D686” by F.Schubert, “Sinfonia n°2 – Lobgesang” by F.Mendelssohn Bartholdy, “Requiem” by G.Fauré, “Messe solonnelle Sainte Cécile” by C.Gounod.

 

In 2010 she appeared at the awards “Beniamino Gigli” in Helsinki.

She worked with Francesco Marchetti on “Requiem” and “The Composition”, a part of the soundtrack of the film of the same name by A.Bergamo in competition at Mostra del Cinema in Venice 2012 and “L’Apocalisse-L’Opera” in  the extraordinary presence of Gigi Proietti and Enzo Decaro. She is also one of the cast of “L’Arca di Giada”  by T.Verde –UNIARTE of which a DVD has been produced.

 

In 2014 she worked with Paolo Fosso on the music composition “Quasi una canzone d’amore” a show of Paolo Fosso in which the actress Laura Lattuada also performed.

 

Thanks to her command of the Spanish language, she has delved deeper in the Piazzolliano and Latin – Americano repertoire giving life to the musical projects “Italian Dream in Buenos Aires” (2012) which went on stage at Gubbio Noborders Music Festival  (PG) and “MuJeres: Pasiones y Milagros al Sur” (2018) that appeared for the first time at “Cantalice Artem Festival” (RI) and later in “Stagione Musicale Aquilana”  obtaining the approval of the critics and the public. The project was purchased and produced with the label “Sheva Collection”.

 

In 2016 she had her debut in the role of Poppea of C.Monteverdi con “L’Ensemble Strumentale della Cappella Musicale S.Petronio directed by Michele Vannelli in Bologna.

 

In the last few years she has broadened her studies of song and Baroque repertoire with specific reference to 1700 collaborating with influential musicians of the industry and important chamber formations such as Accademia degli Unisoni, Solisti Aquilani, Ensemble  Strumentale della Cappella Musicale  S. Petronio, ARTeM, Accademia Hermans, with whom she participated in the role of soprano soloist at Festival Villa Solomei from 2015 until 2019, at 70° Sagra Musicale Umbra, at festival Arti in Movimento  (NA) and at the discograpic recording of Bottega Discantica “O Magnum Mysterium”.

 

With Roma Barocca Ensemble  she published for Bongiovanni “Cantata a due voci con violini in onore di Sant’Antonio da Padova”  by Girolamo Rossi.

 

“….Her eclectic voice matures through the years capable of sustaining diverse expressive registers and of genre apparently far removed one from the other - a gift quite rare particularly in Italy – and sustains a quality that can permit strength and even bizarre geniality. Her unmistakable performance approach that conceals many diverse moments – from sweetness through to sudden cruelty -  takes, and will take Lucia in the future, to hungrily seek out a repertoire never banal and always difficult to classify in a musical context…” (Fabrizio De Rossi Re).

web-site: www.luciaraffi.it