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Silvia Cignoli

Silvia Cignoli

Classical and electric guitarist, versatile musician ranges from classical to contemporary music, from radical improvisation to avant-rock to his own musical creation, crossover between her academic experiences and the underground scene of drone, glitch and noise music. Recently she has been focusing on her solo project “The Wharmerall” where she composes and plays electric guitar, signal processors, electronics and keyboards. The project was performed in Milan at Mudec Museum, at Tertulliano Theatre (Smart Guitar Fest by Città Sonora) and at Salotto in Prova.

She studied classical guitar with Paola Coppi at Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, graduated from the Conservatory in Milan and later gained the Master of Arts in Music Performance under the guidance of Massimo Laura. At the same time she studies electric guitar for contemporary music with Francesco Zago. In the last years of education she ranks among the first places in various Italian international competitions such as: “Rocco Peruggini”, “Rospigliosi”, “Roberto Pinciroli” and “Città di Voghera”.

Very soon she specializes in the field of contemporary music as a soloist (ranking among the first places in several Italian international contemporary music competitions as “Mencherini” and “Luigi Nono”). She has been collaborating with various ensembles (Divertimento, Repertorio 0, Eutopia, Sinestesia, Fiarì, New Made.) She regularly plays in contemporary music Festival for example: Rebus, Festival 5 Giornate, Rondò (Milan), Festival Archipel (Geneva, CH), Festival Soundscape (Maccagno, IT), Le strade del suono (Genoa); Alterazioni (Lainate, IT). She has curated dozens of first performances and has collaborated as a musician with the composition class of Giovanni Verrando at the Fondazione Claudio Abbado (Milan).

She is co-author of the project “irid.”, a variable ensemble in collaboration with the audiovisual artist Andre Carlotto and with the composer, performer and instrument and effects builder Andrea Tremolada. The project combines contemporary, experimental, electronics and improvisation music, creating audiovisual immersive shows. The project was one of the winners of the Mitici contest by Fondazione Milano and went on stage in Italy in various venues like OCA, Auditorium Lattuada, Pacta dei Teatri for “pactaSOUNDzone” (Milan), Bloom (Mezzago, IT), Teatro S. Giorgio for “Contemporanea” (Udine, IT) and in Austria for “Limmitationes”.

As IRID.so (irid.sounds) with Andrea Tremolada she’s been selected for the Interfaces residency in Nicosia (Cyprus) in collaboration with the European University of Cyprus, creating and performing the site-specific project for electric guitar, objects and electronics “Kyparissos”.

A similar work approach has been develop with the performance “Arianna … il suon de bei lamenti. Drammatizzazione sonora in quattro stazioni”, a psychedelic semi-improvised homage to Claudio Monteverdi performed with Laura Faoro, Elia Moretti and Mario Mariotti at the church of San Giovanni in Laterano (Milan).

Another project that sees her as author is IN/ELEKTRA with the bassist Valentina Guidugli, a crossover music between two very different backgrounds that moves in particular in the avant-rock and effects experimentation. The duo played in Italy in several different situations like “Rewrite Festival” (Massimo Theatre, Cagliari, Sardinia), Jazzmi Festival (Milan) and in Switzerland at Klang Bang Festival (Basel).

As an electric guitarist she also collaborates with the keyboardist and composer Massimo Giuntoli in the duo U-Gene.

She has worked several times with the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala of Milan playing at the Teatro alla Scala, Teatro Grande of Brescia, Teatro Valli of Reggio Emilia, Teatro Pavarotti of Modena, Opera Theater of Kaliningrad (Russia) and Muscat (Oman), taking part in the Italian premiere of “The Yellow Shark” by Frank Zappa (Verbania, Teatro Il Maggiore).

As an electric guitarist she took part in the realization of the musical “Teen Dante” produced by the RSI (Swiss Radio and TV) and performed at the LAC Theatre (Lugano, CH).

She also collaborated with the Paolo Grassi School of Drama (Milan).

Finally, she helds several concerts as soloist or in ensemble in Milan (“Notturni” in Villa Simonetta, Università Statale, Mazzotta Foundation, Modern Art Gallery, Milan Haus Musik, Planetarium), and for important events such as the Lake Festival of Como, the concert season of the Laudense Guitar Atelier, in Switzerland (Pinacoteca Züst, Cineteatro di Chiasso) and in London (Mary Queen University).

She teaches guitar and teaches an experimental and improvisation workshop mixing music and video in Italy and Switzerland.