Alessandra Belloni

• Director of Italian theatre Group I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA Artist in Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.
• Author of the book/DVD RHYTHM IS THE CURE –Mel Bay Publications
• A REMO Signature Series Artist with her own line of Italian tambourines.

Biography

      Alessandra Belloni is the Artistic Director, Founder and Lead Performer of "I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA", an Italian Music, Theatre and Dance Ensemble who  is Artists-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St.John the Divine in New York City.  She is also the designer of a line of signature series Italian tambourines made by Remo, and  of special brushes for tambourine with Pro- Mark.. .  She is the only woman in the U.S. and in Italy who specializes in traditional Southern Italian folk dances and percussion that she learned from the old people in the fields

     A tambourine virtuoso, singer, dancer and actress, Ms.Belloni was born in Rome, Italy and is committed to preserving the strong and rich traditions of her culture. She has performed extensively with master drummer Glen Velez and was invited by Nana Vasconcellos and Gilberto Gil to perform in PERC PAN '98 in Bahia, Brazil. Alessandra was also selected as one of three runners-up (along with Babatunde Olatunji and Mickey Hart) to Arthur Hull in DRUM! magazine's "New Age/Worldbeat Percussionist" category in their 1998 awards. She  was featured in Modern Drummer magazine and has written articles for Percussive Notes.
    She has collaborated with the Raven Drum Foundation, founded by Rick Allen, acclaimed drummer of the rock group Def Leppard and other world famous drummers.

      Her CD’s "Tarantelle & Canti D’amore" released by Naxos of America on 2003 has been considered the second best percussion CD of the year by DRUM Magazine and has received many favorable reviews from major press.
     The CD "Tarantata: The Dance of Ancient Spider" (on the Soundstrue label) released in 2000, has received a wide critical acclaim and distribution. It was also nominated one of the best CDs of the year (2002) by Jon Parales from the New York Times and Dan Hackman from the Los Angeles Times, and won the Best World Percussion CD of the Year by DRUM Magazine.
      Alessandra Belloni created a new World Music Sound with her group, using electronic music combined with acoustic, in her new show TARANTELLA SPIDER DANCE, with electric violin master Joe Deninzon . She has recently founded a Women’s percussion ensemble called DAUGHTER OS CYBELE . She tours the world  her one woman show "Rhythm is the Cure" - also available as a duo with drummer  SERGIO BELLOTTI, (BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC)
 With her ensemble from New York she tours across the U.S. and abroad, performing and teaching workshops in various Festivals and halls –

 

 In New York:

LINCOLN CENTER 

SYMPHONY SPACE. World Music Institute

ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, RIVERSIDE THEATRE

JOE’S PUB

Percussion Festivals

KOREA PERCUSSION FESTIVAL
BERKLEE  PERCUSSION FESTIVAL , Boston

CROSS DRUMMING Warsaw, Poland), PERC PAN, (Salvador,  Bahia, Brazil,

KOSA PERCUSSION FESTIVAL (Vermont)

SEATTLE WORLD PERCUSSION FESTIVAL

CAPE BRETON DRUM FESTIVAL (Canada)

PERC FEST and PAS , Italy
JOURNE DE LA PERCUSSION, Paris, France

RHTYHM STICKS, (royal Festival Hall, London) 

PASIC 1996, 97,  2000 (Dallas), 2003 Louisville
DRUMMING AT THE PYRAMIDS ( Egypt)
Oberlin (Ohio), University of Buffalo, Fredonia (NY)

Conservatory of Milan (Italy) , Royal Marine School of Music (England),New York University, Julliard

 

WORLD MUSIC FESTIVALS

WOMAD (Seattle and Sicily), NEW ORLEANS JAZZ FESTIVAL , CHICAGO WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL

LOTUS WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL RHYTHM STICKS, Royal Festival Hall (London) 
MONTREAL MUSIC FESTIVAL, Canada,

ACOUSTICA FESTIVAL, Sidney, Australia)
Getty Center, Los Angeles,

Glastonbury Goddess Festival, England, Cultural Center in Tel Aviv (Israel)

IN ITALY: VENICE, MUSICA VENEZIA
PALLADIUM , QUIRINO AND ARGENTINA THEATRES (Rome ,Italy)

LERICI,, SORRENTO JAZZ (Sorrento),

TARANTELLA POWER

IN BRAZIL :  REC BEAT, PERC PAN,Recife,Bahia, Sau Paulo, Maranhao, Belo Horizonte

 

She has also been featured on Television with the National Geographic documentary SPIDER SEX with  the Tarantella, as well as WORLD BEAT on CNN.
featured on the PBS documentary, "LA FESTA" with The Voyage of the Black Madonna.  She holds annual healing dance and percussion workshops in Tuscany, Italy and together with writer, philosopher, healer  ANGELO TONELLI and also from. She has spent many years also participating in authentic drumming festivals in remote areas of Southern Italy, held as rituals of purification in honor of the Black Madonna.

       Alessandra Belloni has studied acting at H.B. Studios, voice with Professor Michael Warren, and mime and Commedia dell'Arte with Dario Fo (winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature) at New York University. She has worked in both theatre and film in New York - "Next Stop the Greenwich Village" by Paul Mazursky - and in Italy with Anna Magnani in "La Lupa" and Federico Fellini in "Casanova". Ms. Belloni founded "I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA" - a company performing traditional Italian Folk Music and Theatre – with classical guitarist/composer John La Barbera in 1979 and was Artist-in-Residence at New York University for ten years. Fluent in Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese plus Southern Italian dialects, Alessandra Belloni also speaks through her tambourine and drums.

       Since then, she has created cross-cultural productions dedicated to Mother Earth, featuring the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, and African and Latin American artists. For her achievements in music and theatre, she won the following  awards: from the ITALIAN ORAL HISTORY INSTITUTE IN Los Angeles, Fall 2005, Award for Italian American Woman of the Year in 1996 and the Community Arts Project Award from Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts as well as the Sons of Liberty "Citation of Honor" award in 2001.
In 1997, she received a special grant from the Carnahan Jackson Humanities Fund for a residency with the Women Studies program at SUNY Fredonia. 

Recordings:

TARANTELLA –SPIDER DANCE

DAUGHTER OF THE DRUM –REMO, INC.
TARANTELLE E’ CANTI D’AMORE – Naxos World
TARANTATA: THE DANCE OF ANCIENT SPIDER – Sounds True - MOTHER EARTH LULLABIES  - Ellipsis
MEDITERRANEAN LULLABIES - Ellipsis Arts 2000
EARTH, SUN AND MOON - Lyrichord 1995
DIVINE DIVAS - Rounder Compilation 1997
GLOBAL CELEBRATIONS - Ellipsis Arts 1993
DEA FORTUNA - Shanachie 1989
SULILLO MIO - Shanachie 1985

She is the Company’s director, writer,
and lead performer of the Folk Operas:

ALESSANDRA BELLONI REMO PERFORMING ARTIST Artist in Residence at Cathedral St. John the Divine 1047 Amsterdam Avenue – Studio #4 New York City, N.Y. 10025   Singer – Percussionist – Folk Dancer Artistic Director/Founder of I Giullari di Piazza Italian Folk Music, Theatre & Dance   Tel: (646)  322-4637- Fax: (212) 932 7348 Email: abelloni@aol.com www.alessandrabelloni.com

"

TARANTELLA SPIDER DANCE - The Dance of the Ancient Spider"premiered at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center
"Stabat Mater: Donna de Paradiso"
(Cathedral of St. John the Divine)
"The Voyage of the Black Madonna"
(Cathedral of St. John the Divine)
"1492-1992: Earth, Sun and Moon"
 Lincoln Center out of Doors Festival 1992
"La Cantata dei Pastori" (Caramoor , St. John the Divine, Smithsonian and others)
"La Lupa"  (St. Mark’s Church, YALE, and others)
"The Adventures of Don Giovanni & His Servant Pulcinella" (Carnegie Hall and others)
 

 

What journalists are saying about Alessandra:

Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote:
"Invocations and work songs, exorcisms and lullabies shared the program of RHTHM IS THE CURE in the Chapel of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.... Driven by tambourine patterns so fast that the drummer’s hands became blurs. Ms. Belloni sang in an exultant voice. The songs blazed with an age-old momentum" .

Dan Hackman – Los Angeles Time:
Alessandra Belloni and Tarantata  Dance of the Ancient Spider is a revelation, utterly fascinating..”

 

Drum Magazine:

Italian-born virtuoso Alessandra Belloni is established as a unique phenomenon, not just a percussionist,  she is an actress, lecturer, entertainer, a healer,  above all archetype….

 

 Ric Mattinly- Modern Drummer:

With her left hande she  she uses a variety of techniques to produce  a wide range of timbers, incorporating thumb strokes, finger strokes, and slaps.

 

The Village Voice:
Alessandra Belloni is a force of Nature