Sonia Bergamasco

BIOGRAPHY

Born in , Sonia Bergamasco earned a degree in piano at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatore and one in acting at the Piccolo Teatro School directed by . She made her stage debut in Goldoni’s "Arlecchino servitore di due padroni" (The Servant of Two Masters) directed by Strehler and went on to work with Massimo Castri, Glauco Mauri and Theodoros Terzopoulos. She also played the Fairy in both the theatrical and televised versions of Carmelo Bene’s "Pinocchio".

Since 2001, she has directed and performed in shows in which her musical background is more deeply entwined with theater.

These include "Giorni in bianco" (White Days) by Ingeborg Bachmann, "Croce e delizia" (Torment and Delight) by Penna and Rosselli, "Esse di Salomè, teatro sonoro da Mallarmé" (‘S’ as in Salomè, sound theater by Mallarmé), in collaboration with Tempo Reale in Florence, and "Karénina prove aperte d’infelicità" (Karénina, open rehearsals in unhappiness), created in collaboration with Emanuele Trevi and Giuseppe Bertolucci which earned her the 2012 Critic’s Prize and the Enriquez Prize in 2014. Later in 2014, she won the Eleonora Duse Award for theater.

She has recently created a performance work based on the story “Il Ballo" (The Ball) by Irène Némirovsky, which will premiere in Rome in November, 2013.

In films, she has worked with directors including Silvio Soldini, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Bernardo Bertolucci and Marco Tullio Giordana (winning a Best Actress Silver Ribbon in 2004 for "La meglio Gioventù", ). She was directed by Liliana Cavani in "De Gasperi" (receiving the 2005 Flaiano Prize for Best Actress) and again in "Einstein". She has also worked with Franco Battiato, Giacomo Campiotti, Giuseppe Piccioni e Riccardo Milani.

In addition, she is devoted to the repertoire for singer-narrator that ranges from the Romantic concert melodrama to 20th century and contemporary concert works for voice and ensemble or orchestra. She has established a keen working relationship with composer Azio Corghi, and has performed in many of his operas. In 2006 she sang Donna Elvira in the world premiere of the opera "Il Dissoluto assolto" (The Libertine Absolved) by Corghi, with libretto by José Saramago (at Teatro San Carlo, Lisbon and Teatro alla Scala, Milan).

She performed the role of Belisa in "Don Perlimplin" by Bruno Maderna at the Venice Music Biennale. Together with , she wrote and performs the musical show "I kiss your hands, a semi-serious catalogue of Mozart’s letters".

In 2010, “Pochi avvenimenti, felicità assoluta – scene da un matrimonio" (Few events, utterly happy scenes from a marriage), a concert-show dedicated to Clara Schumann, created in collaboration with the EsTrio ensemble, from an original play by Maria Grazie Calandrone.

She has recorded Schoenberg’s "Pierrot Lunaire" (on the ARTS label) as well as the CD "Recitarsonando", an anthology of melodramas for voice and piano (for RaiTrade) together with pianist Vsevolod Dvorkin. Furthermore, she collaborates regularly with pianist Emanuele Arciuli.