Lart can represent a form of resistance, a vector of change, a way of communicating the condition of women not only in Italy. It started from this belief Roberta DiMario marrying the project of reading-concert Reading Lolita in Tehraninspired by bestseller by Azar Nafisi. «In some moments the music accompanies the reading, in others the music is the protagonist on its own» explains the pianist and composer, from Parma with great-great-grandfather piano teacher at the court of Maria Luigia, who started playing at the age of five, performed in the first essay at six and, at 19, she had already graduated from the Conservatory.
The new time
«Born from an idea of Cinzia Spanò – actress, playwright and activistpresident of theHamlet association against gender inequality and violence in the entertainment world. We agreed that, given the particular historical moment, we had to do something and we had to do it through art. We debuted on November 25 on Rai Radio 3 and we will be on tour for the next few months» recalls Di Mario,Just chosen by the FS Group for the soundtrack of their new promotional campaign, A new time – Take your time («One of the four compositions is entitled Kairos, καιρόςthe Greeks’ way of indicating the “qualitative” nature of time, other than χρόνος (chronos)»).
Gender equality
Among the various stages, it is especially worth mentioning that of Lecce, April 5th (which will have an introduction by Pegah Moshir Pour): fits into the frame of the second edition of the We – Women’s Equality Festival, an event dedicated to gender equality. «The wonderful images of the photographic project are projected in the background My Stealthy Freedom Iran by Marinka Masséus. Some compositions are drawn from my previous works, others are written ad hoc, at the service of the words of the novel».
New Classic
Roberta Di Mario and Cinzia Spanò during “Reading Lolita in Tehran”.
The albums of Roberta DiMario (Between time and distance, The state of things, Illegacy, Disarm) they’re the ones that cause problems in record shops (the very few that unfortunately remain, of course). In which section would it be more appropriate to place them? world music? Crossovers? «I would say in the classical-contemporary section, they also call it new classic (that of Ludovico Einaudi). My music is very transversal, not labelable because it starts from the classical world, from the academy (and you can feel it, there is a virtuosity, although never an end in itself) and then acquired more contemporary sounds. It has transformed according to my experiences, my new knowledge, writing soundtracks, projects for Magister Art (which explores the fourth dimension in art)».
Roberta Di Mario and inspiration
How – from silence – are the notes born? Where does your inspiration come from? “There is no rule. Sometimes I put my hands on the piano and melodies come. Other times I live an experience and the melodies manifest after weeks… In the case of Reading Lolita in Tehran I started from reading, of course, I recalled the women I met in my life, I reflected on the situation in Iran and I waited for the images to turn into sound, for them to flow. The important thing is to disarm and let yourself go, to let the notes flow between your fingers».
Mozart and Måneskin
There are still few female composers… «Yes, because there have been no examples in the past. And the example serves: let’s think of how many girls are approaching the traditionally male bass guitar today after seeing Victoria of the Måneskin… Maria Anna, Mozart’s sister was a brilliant artist (Wolfgang Amadeus himself recognized this), but the family she refused to express herself: when she was of marriageable age, they removed her from the instrument.
His compositions have been lost. Fortunately at least those of Clara Wieck, the wife of Robert Schumann, were saved, who instead had a supportive father. Just as those of Fanny Mendelssohn survived».
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