Memoria: Echoes & Transformations unites classical and original music in an evening of reflection, renewal, and subtle emotional transformation. Pianist Flavio Villani presents a programme exploring how sound carries memory, reshapes emotion, and reveals new inner landscapes through its unfolding arcs.
Programme:
Bach-Busoni – Chaconne in D minor
In Memoriam Suite
Brahms – Rhapsody in B minor, Op.79 n.1
Brahms – Intermezzi Op.117
Cesar Franck – Prelude, Choral et Fugue 7
The first half pairs the vast emotional arc of Bach–Busoni’s Chaconne with the intimate reflections of Villani’s In Memoriam Suite, shaped during a period of personal introspection. The second half moves toward Brahms’s Rhapsody Op.79 n.1—fiery, searching, and full of momentum—and his Intermezzi Op.117, described by the composer as “the lullabies of my sorrows”, before arriving at the spiritual architecture and luminous resolution of Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue. Each work listens to what came before, creating an unfolding journey through longing, renewal, and the quiet transformations that emerge through sound.
Memoria: Echoes & Transformations offers an evening shaped by memory, imagination, and the gradual re-alignment of the inner world—where music unfolds not only as expression, but as a form of listening, understanding, and transformation.
About the Artist
Flavio Villani is an Italian–New Zealand pianist recognised for his expressive performances and international artistic activity. He completed his piano studies in Italy before earning a Master of Piano Performance with first-class honours at the University of Auckland under Stephen De Pledge. He is currently awaiting the final outcome of his Doctoral studies at the University of Waikato, supervised by Katherine Austin, with additional research undertaken at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Flavio has performed at festivals including the Venice Biennale, Lamezia Classica, and Pianino in Europe, The Gurwitz in the United States, and both the Auckland Arts Festival and Christopher Classics in New Zealand. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Auckland Symphony and the Orchestra of CalArts, and his performance with the Orchestra Filarmonica della Calabria was featured in the internationally screened documentary Crossing Rachmaninoff (2015).
He is the founder and director of L’Accademia, a music school in Auckland dedicated to high-quality musicianship and to cultivating a vibrant, inclusive community through live performance and education.
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