CRISTINA ZAVALLONI (Dante) was born in Bologna (Italy). Capitalizing on her strong background in jazz, she went on expanding her studies, in bel canto and in composition, at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna. She also studied classical and modern dance for several years.

Her multidimensional skills enable her to perform both jazz and classical music. Notable venues include the Montreux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Free Music Jazz Festival (Antwerp), the Umbria Jazz Festival, the London Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center (New York), the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), the Palau de la Musica (Barcelona), Barbican Center (London), the Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Biennale Musica in Venice.

She has sung under the baton of Martyn Brabbins, Stefan Asbury, Reinbert de Leeuw, Oliver Knussen, David Robertson, and Georges-Elie Octor. She has soloed with the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Rai (Torino), the Schönberg Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 1993, Zavalloni started a collaboration with Louis Andriessen, who wrote several works for her: Passeggiata in tram per l’America e ritorno, La Passione, Inanna, Letter from Cathy, Racconto dall’Inferno (the recording of which earned her a Diapason d’Or in 2008), the lead role (Dante) in La Commedia, and the role of Anaïs Nin in his new opera, Anaïs, to be premiered in July 2010. She has also collaborated with composers Michael Nyman, Paolo Castaldi, Gavin Bryars, Carlo Boccadoro, and Alain Platel.

Her repertoire includes 20th-century chamber music (Cage, Berio, Ravel, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Satie, De Falla, and Montsalvatge), Mozart (Idamante), and Baroque music (Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Clorinda in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda). She has recently premiered Poulenc’s La voix humaine at Teatro Comunale di Bolzano.

She performs regularly with artists such as Gabriele Mirabassi, Mario Brunello, Andrea Lucchesini, Andrea Rebaudengo, Monica Germino, and Hamilton de Holanda.

A composer and jazz bandleader herself, Zavalloni has conceived several programs. Currently, she is under contract with the Italian label Egea, for which she has recorded Idea (2006) and Solidago (2009), the latter of which includes some of her new compositions and a selection of Charles Aznavour’s covers, in quartet.

Please visit cristinazavalloni.it.