Four students received the grant to perform as a quartet at the chamber music festival: “I Suoni di Sillene,” a collaborative learning experience, featuring violinists Benjamin Bernardes and Francesca Azzolini, cellist Hajiel Santos and violaist Eric Tinitana.
Their performance is part of their Master's degree project, and in it they perform as a quartet, exploring their musical and human skills in the beauty of chamber music, bringing together their different experiences in a performance: Francesca is from Italy, Benjamin and Santos are from Brazil, and Tinitana is from Ecuador, each bringing their own unique experience.
Now, their next goal is a trip to Italy to meet Paolo Andreoli, a highly renowned member of the Italian quartet. The group is excited to see how their growth as individuals and as a quartet will impact new audiences. They hope that the trip will bring them all back so they can share their experiences and learnings with the CMU community.
The group has been practicing several hours a day for years under the direction of Alicia Valloti and is extremely grateful for this opportunity. The grant they won will help the quartet by covering expenses such as airfare, lodging and in the event of an unexpected event like a broken string on their instrument.
