Meet the Jazz
In collaboration with CDpM
March 16 and 17 at the Social Tetro

 

More than 1,900 total students from 18 schools in Bergamo and its province: this is the salient data on the participation in the cycle of educational events “Incontriamo il Jazz,” carried out as usual thanks to the collaboration between Bergamo Jazz and Centro Didattico Produzione Musica. It is an important opportunity to introduce the youngest to a musical language rich in artistic content and bearer of universal messages of dialogue between different cultures, which are needed today more than ever. The lessons-concerts will take place this year, according to different shifts, on Monday, March 16 and Tuesday, March 17, in the prestigious setting of the Teatro Sociale, and will involve both pupils from primary and secondary schools. The initiative was awarded the Bando Formazione 2025 Nuovo IMAIE and is part of the Youth Club project promoted by Fondazione Cariplo, a partner of Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, to foster the approach of the younger generations to the performing arts.

“Improvisation at school” is the programmatic title of the meetings reserved for secondary school students in grades I and II, who will be able to approach improvisation through musical examples offered live drawing from the vast jazz repertoire and shared melodically with the voice – call and response – and rhythmically – body percussion – making learning interactive and shared. At the same time, the evolution of jazz language from its African/American origins (blues, ragtime, Dixieland) to more recent experiences will be traced, based on the different cultures with which jazz has come in contact (Latin jazz, salsa, funk, contemporary classical music, world music). In particular, the melodic and rhythmic characteristics of jazz from which the musics most listened to by young people, such as hip hop and rap, were derived will be analyzed. These are colors and inflections that belong to the cultural ear of boys, often unconsciously and passively. Live performances will be offered by an ensemble including pianists Claudio Angeleri and Giovanni Panzeri, singer Francesca Facchinetti, violinist Safiye Haciogullari, flutist Beatrice Sisana, clarinetist Lorenzo Zanoli, saxophonist Alessandro Albani, guitarist Pietro Berti, bassist Sofia Filippi and drummer Giuseppe Cutuli. Speeches by journalist Fabio Santini are also scheduled.

“Tutti quanti voglion fare jazz” is instead the program designed for younger children. On stage, the gospel choir ofBergamo’s IC Santa Lucia, created within a workshop held in the previous months by CDpM experts and directed by Gabriele Capitanio, will perform alongside a group of jazz musicians – Claudio Angeleri on piano, Paola Milzani, vocals, Gabriele Comeglio on alto and soprano sax, Marco Esposito on bass and Matteo Milesi on drums – and well-known children’s TV actor Oreste Castagna, engaged in reading fairy tales revisited by Tiziana Sallese.

The repertoire draws from the Disney catalog, such as “Beauty an the beast,” “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”(Cinderella), “Everybody wants to be a cat”(Aristocats), and “Cruella Demon”(The Charge of the 101), and the different performances are interspersed with recited songs from the different animated films. The boys and girls are involved through some melodic riffs performed according to the call-and-response technique and some rhythmic claves that fit into the instrumental and choral arrangement offered on stage. At the opening, the marchin band of IC Camozzi of Bergamo will accompany the students in the audience.