Italian songwriter Peppe Voltarelli on tour in the United States presents the brand new album “Lupionòpolis” in Cambridge

After recording it in New York City, Peppe Voltarelli returns to the United States to present his brand new album “La grande corsa verso Lupionòpolis” (“The great race to Lupionòpolis”). With this latest work, the singer-songwriter has already performed 130 concerts in Italy and abroad (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland), as well as having placed second at the Tenco Prize and having won the Loano Prize, the most prestigious award for folk music in Italy. Below the calendar of concerts that will see the Calabrian artist perform in the United States, where he will be accompanied by Luca Ciarla, a violinist and composer with an unmistakable style acclaimed by international critics.

The album recorded in New York City

Published by Visage Music, this is the first album of unreleased material eight years after the successful “Voltarelli canta Profazio” and two years after “Planetario”, both works awarded the prestigious Tenco Prize as best performer album in 2016 and 2021 respectively.

The Calabrian songwriter presents his new collection of songs recorded in New York City by Marc Urselli (three Grammy Awards and collaborations with Lou Reed, Nick Cave, and U2) at Manhattan’s historic East Side Sound, and artistically produced and arranged by Los Angeles-based Italian pianist Simone Giuliani (to his credit, productions with Andrea Bocelli and the London Symphony Orchestra). The album, which contains ten new tracks including eight songs in Calabrian dialect, one in Italian, and an instrumental waltz, features musicians of international calibre such as Davin Hoff (double bass), Jake Owen (guitar), Stéphane San Juan (drums), Mauro Refosco (percussions), and the participation of Eleanor Norton (cello), Dough Wieselman (saxophone and clarinet), and Amy Denio (vocals).

The record is accompanied by the music videos of the songs “Nun signu sulu mai”, shot in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighbourhood and directed by Giacomo Triglia (Brunori Sas, Jovanotti, Lucio Dalla, Måneskin), and “Au cinéma”, directed by Lele Nucera and realized with the actors and crew of the Calabria Film Academy.

The connection with America

Peppe Voltarelli has been present in the United States with his music for over twenty years, with concerts in cities such as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle. Already in 2006, he was co-writer and leading actor for the movie “The True Legend of Tony Vilar”: a road movie about the epic of Italians in America, following the tracks of an Italian singer who was famous in Argentina in the 1960s and then disappeared from the scene. The work, which took place between Buenos Aires and New York City, participated in the Roberto De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York in 2007 and the Italian Film Festival in San Diego in 2009.

In 2016, the music video for “Iamavanti” was shot between Los Angeles, New York and Seattle by Italian-American director Nunzio Germanetta. In 2019, the single “Dio come ti amo”, a reinterpretation of Domenico Modugno’s planetary hit (with which the Apulian maestro won the Sanremo Festival and participated in the 1966 Eurovision), was released by the New York-based label Adesso in a new electro swing version in collaboration with Parisian producers Bart & Baker.

As proof of the lasting and meaningful relationship with the American public, a special playlist, “Live in the USA”, with live performances, interviews and music videos recorded overseas, is available on his official YouTube channel (www.peppevoltarelli.eu/youtube/usa).

The artists

Peppe Voltarelli is an Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and writer. He has been active since 1990 as leader and voice of Il parto delle nuvole pesanti, a cult new folk band. As a solo artist, he has published seven studio albums, four soundtracks, and two concerts. He won the Tenco Prize three times, with “Ultima notte a Malá Strana” in 2010 as best album in dialect, with “Voltarelli canta Profazio” in 2016, and with “Planetario” in 2021, both as best performer album. He boasts collaborations with Claudio Lolli, Teresa De Sio, Silvio Rodríguez, Adriana Varela, Kevin Johansen, Sergio Cammariere, Otello Profazio, Roy Paci, Carmen Consoli, Bandabardò, and Amy Denio. His intense concert activity has led him to play in 24 countries around the world and his records have been released in Europe, Argentina, Canada, and the United States.

Luca Ciarla has successfully performed in jazz, classical and world music festivals and concert series in 70 countries around the world. He graduated in violin in 1993 under the supervision of Antonio Salvatore. In 1996, he moved to the United States to pursue a master’s degree at the Indiana University and to study jazz with David Baker. Subsequently, he also completed a doctorate in musical arts at the University of Arizona, where he taught for several years. Winner of various competitions in Italy and abroad, he was awarded in 1999 by the prestigious New York organization Chamber Music America. Over the years he has worked with artists of the calibre of Greg Cohen, Chris Jarrett, Daniele Sepe, Joshua Bell, Edgar Mayer, Daniele Scannapieco, Danilo Rea, Sylvain Gagnon, Anthony Fernandes, and Luciano Berio, Andrea Piccioni, Meklit Hadero, Simone Zanchini, Marina Rei, Blaine Whittaker, Mimmo Locasciulli, Luciano Biondini, Fabrizio Bosso, Sergio Cammariere, Rodolfo Maltese, Paola Turci, Luigi Tessarollo, Ferruccio Spinetti, Mark Rush, Enrico Zanisi, and Javier Girotto. After publishing with various record labels, he founded Violipiano Music, a production company that takes care of his eclectic artistic activity. «One of the most interesting violinists nowadays on the international scene, capable of browsing around different sounds and genres without ever losing his unmistakable style» (la Repubblica).

The tour is organized in cooperation with Italian Cultural Institute of New York, Violipiano, Visage Music and CortoCorto.

(Cover: Peppe Voltarelli photographed by Danilo Samà at the bistro Au petit fer à cheval in the Marais district of Paris in 2024)