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- dance, opera, photography...

Rossini Opera Festival

Interview: Tenor Dave Monaco, at 30, reflects on his journey to becoming one of the world’s most exciting opera singers.

3 May 2026 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Dave Monaco, photo Mattia Di Pasquale crop

Tenor Dave Monaco chats with Graham Spicer about his journey to becoming one of today’s most sought-after Rossini and Mozart singers. Dave Monaco just turned 30, and his career is flourishing. He … [Read more...] about Interview: Tenor Dave Monaco, at 30, reflects on his journey to becoming one of the world’s most exciting opera singers.

The Rossini Opera Festival 2026 is announced

6 January 2026 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

La scala di seta - Olga Peretyatko, Carlo Lepore, Paolo Bordogna, José Manuel Zapata, ROF 2009

The 47th edition of the Rossini Opera Festival will be held in Pesaro from 11 to 23 August 2026. The Festival opens with a new production of Le Siège de Corinthe, conducted by Carlo Rizzi and … [Read more...] about The Rossini Opera Festival 2026 is announced

Winners of the 44th edition of the Franco Abbiati Music Critics’ Prize

5 March 2025 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Anastasia Bartoli as Ermione with Juan Diego Flórez as Orestes, photo by Amati Bacciardi

Best Production: Ermione by the Rossini Opera FestivalBest Conductor: Emmanuel TjeknavorianBest Voices: soprano Mariangela Sicilia and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Molinari The commission for the 44th … [Read more...] about Winners of the 44th edition of the Franco Abbiati Music Critics’ Prize

Rossini Opera Festival announces 2025 programme after this year’s opening performance

9 August 2024 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Turco in Italia, ROF 2016

After last night's opening opera at the Rossini Opera Festival with Bianca e Falliero (Starring Jessica Pratt and Aya Wakizono) and before tonight's presentation of the season's second opera, … [Read more...] about Rossini Opera Festival announces 2025 programme after this year’s opening performance

Rossini Opera Festival 2024 presented in New York

28 November 2023 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Equivoco stravagante

The Rossini Opera Festival 2024 (the 45th edition), to be held in Pesaro from 7 to 23 August, was presented at the Italian Consulate in New York with speakers including the Intendant Ernesto Palacio … [Read more...] about Rossini Opera Festival 2024 presented in New York

Matthew Lee, Andrea Mingardi and Matia Bazar in Liguria

26 August 2023 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Matthew Lee

Ceriale, a small town on the Ligurian coast, halfway between Genoa and Montecarlo, has often offered tepid summertime entertainment – concerts, plays, stand-up comedy – in its piazzas on the seafront. … [Read more...] about Matthew Lee, Andrea Mingardi and Matia Bazar in Liguria

Rossini Opera Festival 2024

25 August 2023 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Eduardo and Cristina, Rossini Opera Festival 2023

The Petite messe solennelle conducted by Michele Mariotti closed the 44th edition of the Rossini Opera Festival. There were 40 events on the programme, including performances and meetings. This … [Read more...] about Rossini Opera Festival 2024

Juan Diego Flórez interview: my 25 years with Rossini

26 August 2021 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Juan Diego Flórez

Twenty-five years ago, Gramilano met a young Peruvian tenor in Milan. He was on his way to sing a small role in 'Ricciardo e Zoraide' at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and was bright-eyed with … [Read more...] about Juan Diego Flórez interview: my 25 years with Rossini

Italian festivals of music and dance march onward with creative initiatives and Green Passes

10 August 2021 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Bolero - Balletto di Milano © Photo Carla Moro & Aurelio Dessì - 01

The Italian festivals of music and dance are back. Last year most were saved in extremis during the summer lockdown lull, but this year there was time to come up with some more suitable, creative … [Read more...] about Italian festivals of music and dance march onward with creative initiatives and Green Passes

Italy mourns the death of opera director Graham Vick at 67

17 July 2021 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Graham Vick by Hugo Glendinning

Italy mourns the loss of the opera director Graham Vick who died today at 67 of Covid-related complications. Vick worked extensively in Italy and the Teatro Fenice in Venice, the Macerata Opera … [Read more...] about Italy mourns the death of opera director Graham Vick at 67

Paolo Bordogna answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… singers’ edition

10 June 2019 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Paolo Bordogna crop

Q&A in italiano When did you start singing? On the staircase of my apartment building, there was an echo that added force to my voice; I listened to it as though it were my voice. It was … [Read more...] about Paolo Bordogna answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… singers’ edition

The great basso buffo, Enzo Dara, dies at 78

26 August 2017 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

DARA ENZO in Il viaggio a Reims, photo by Lelli e Masotti   Teatro alla Scala

Enzo Dara, who would have been 79 in October, has died in Mantua, his home town. The exemplary Italian basso buffo died at 6pm yesterday afternoon in the town where he was born on 13 October … [Read more...] about The great basso buffo, Enzo Dara, dies at 78

Great musicologist Philip Gossett remembered by his colleagues and friends

14 June 2017 by Gramilano 1 Comment

Philip Gossett   photo courtesy of the University of Chicago

Philip Gossett called himself “a fan, a musician and a scholar,” in that order. The great music scholar, who died yesterday in Chicago at the age of 75, saw himself first and foremost as a fan. It … [Read more...] about Great musicologist Philip Gossett remembered by his colleagues and friends

Teatro Comunale di Bologna pulls its orchestra and chorus from Rossini Opera Festival

18 March 2017 by Gramilano 1 Comment

Rossini Opera Festival

Rossini Opera Festival The Rossini Opera Festival and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna have announced their separation after 30 years. Starting with a Petite Messe Solennelle in 1987, Bologna has … [Read more...] about Teatro Comunale di Bologna pulls its orchestra and chorus from Rossini Opera Festival

Nicola Alaimo answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition

16 November 2015 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Q&A   in italiano When did you start singing? I started singing when I was very young, but seriously in 1996, together with literature and music. I was a 17-year-old full of hopes and dreams … [Read more...] about Nicola Alaimo answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition

Chris Merritt’s brave plea for help

12 April 2015 by Gramilano 6 Comments

Chris Merritt has written a heartfelt plea for financial aid on gofundme.com - he is asking fans and friends to help kick-start his career. Dear Ones, near and far.....I am turning to this … [Read more...] about Chris Merritt’s brave plea for help

Luca Ronconi, Italian director of theatre and opera, dies at 81

22 February 2015 by Gramilano 1 Comment

Italian director Luca Ronconi died yesterday evening in the Policlinico in Milan after a short illness. His health had been poor over the last years, he was on dialysis, and was complicated by … [Read more...] about Luca Ronconi, Italian director of theatre and opera, dies at 81

Stream Opera brings popular and rare delights to your PC

22 December 2014 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

If you haven't heard of StreamOpera - and you're interested in opera - then visit their site to enrich your Christmas hols, as it is full of exciting and unusual titles which can be streamed to your … [Read more...] about Stream Opera brings popular and rare delights to your PC

Juan Diego Flórez on his future, his family, his colleagues, and the economic crisis

17 August 2012 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Juan Diego Flórez

To coincide with his Pesaro appearances this year, Juan Diego Flórez talked with Italy's Il Corriere della Sera. It was at Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival in 1996 that the young Peruvian suddenly … [Read more...] about Juan Diego Flórez on his future, his family, his colleagues, and the economic crisis

Juan Diego Florez talks about his fairy-tale wedding, his fans, and being lazy

6 May 2012 by Gramilano 1 Comment

On the eve of Juan Diego Florez's Albert Hall concert, The Sunday Times sent a journalist to his home in Pesaro. This beautiful town on Italy's east coast - home to the Rossini Opera Festival, and … [Read more...] about Juan Diego Florez talks about his fairy-tale wedding, his fans, and being lazy

Daniela Barcellona sings Scarlatti

19 May 2011 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

The beautiful and technically demanding arias by Scarlatti constitute, surprisingly, the first recital disc by Italian mezzo Daniela Barcellona. If the record companies don't offer you a contract when … [Read more...] about Daniela Barcellona sings Scarlatti

Even Florez is fallible: “a resonant expostulation of “Oh, shit” from the performer”

21 January 2011 by Gramilano Leave a Comment

Juan Diego Florez has been used to glowing reviews since his début at the Rossini Opera Festival. Recently he has started receiving some sterner criticism, and reactions to his latest recital in … [Read more...] about Even Florez is fallible: “a resonant expostulation of “Oh, shit” from the performer”

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Gramilano newsletter 2019

INTERVIEWS

Olga Smirnova as Nikiya in La Bayadére, photo by Damir Yusupov, 2018

[Interview] Olga Smirnova on leaving the Bolshoi Ballet – Everyone must deal with their conscience

Grand Pas Classique at English National Ballet, photo by Laurent Liotardo

Introducing 19-year-old Canadian dancer Shale Wagman: from Lausanne to ENB to the Mariinsky

Sebastian Catana

[Interview] Baritone Sebastian Catana: never scream or shout

Dancers of English National Ballet in Swan Lake in the round c Laurent Liotardo 5

[Interview] Six quick questions for Derek Deane on the opening of his “Swan Lake in-the-round” in London

Caravaggio from Pas de deux for Toes and Fingers, photo by Marcello Orselli, Teatro Carlo Felice - 355

Interview with Svetlana Zakharova: I was afraid of gaining weight

Fumi Kaneko and Vadim Muntagirov rehearse Mayerling. Photo by Dancers Diary ROH 1

[Interview] Royal Ballet’s Fumi Kaneko on her upcoming debut in Mayerling

Giselle with Alexander Campbell as Albrecht and Francesca Hayward as Giselle. © ROH, Helen Maybanks 2018 (3)

Interview with The Royal Ballet’s hot couple: Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell

Mariposa by DeNada photo by Joe Armitage, crop

Interview: Choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra on Mariposa – a Queer Tragedy inspired by Puccini’s Madama Butterfly

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GRAMILANO

Graham Spicer, aka 'Gramilano', is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.

Since 2022, Gramilano has been pleased to welcome guest authors: Paul Arrowsmith, Donatella Bertozzi, Georgina Butler, Kathrina Farrugia-Kriel, Jonathan Gray, Marina Harss, Ann Haskins, Lily Hyde, Marta Mele, Matthew Paluch, Jann Parry, Lucía Piquero, Graham Watts, Deborah Weiss, and Lydia Wharf.

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