Italian pianist and jazz player Raphael Gualazzi will perform a free concert at the UJ Arts Centre on 19 October.<\/p>\n
The Italian Cultural Institute in Pretoria in collaboration with the Embassy of Italy in South Africa, the Consulate General of Italy in Johannesburg and the Consulate of Italy in Cape Town is pleased to announce that the Italian pianist and jazz player Raphael Gualazzi will perform three concerts (free of charge) in Cape Town (17 October), Durban (18 October) and Johannesburg (19 October).<\/p>\n
Raphael Gualazzi is one of the most accomplished Italian jazz-blues musicians. Born in Urbino in 1981, his authentic sound is the result of his pianoforte studies at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, his eventual research of early-1900s ragtime blues and New Orleans jazz, and the love of more contemporary artists like\u00a0Jamiroquai<\/a>,\u00a0Stevie Wonder<\/a>, and\u00a0Ben Harper<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2005, he released his debut album,\u00a0Love Outside the Window<\/i><\/a>, and three years later produced a Piano Jazz compilation for Wagram Music. In 2009 his cover version of\u00a0Fleetwood Mac<\/a>‘s\u00a0Don’t Stop<\/i>\u00a0introduced him to a wider audience. In 2011 he participated to the famous Italian music competition \u201cFestival di Sanremo\u201d, where he won the Giovani (New Generation) award and was chosen by a six-member jury to represent his country at Eurovision with his self-penned bilingual song,\u00a0Follia d’Amore<\/i>. The track, Italy’s first entry since 1997, won the second place and became the breakout single for his sophomore effort,\u00a0Reality and Fantasy<\/i><\/a>, that also included collaborations with French DJ\u00a0Gilles Peterson<\/a>, Italian trumpeter\u00a0Fabrizio Bosso<\/a>, and British soul singer\u00a0Ro<\/a>x.<\/p>\n Raphael Gualazzi\u2019s Johannesburg performance is scheduled to take place at the UJ Arts Centre on the University of Johannesburg\u2019s Kingsway Campus in Auckland Park on Wednesday 19 October at 18:00. To book for the Johannesburg concert please click\u00a0HERE<\/a>.\u00a0Please note that registration to the concerts, although they free of charge, is mandatory.<\/b><\/p>\n