Self-taught, he started studying the guitar and singing in 1969 for pleasure.
In the 70's, he played in various pop-rock bands and took part in many concerts.
In 1977 he joined the band named "Acquaragia" that later became "Vico del Vecchio".
In this period he began to study and to re-elaborate old popular songs from the Peligna valley,
an area which is situated in the centre of Abruzzo.
With the group, he played in more than 700 concerts in Italy and took part
in many radio and television shows. In 1995, the band "DisCanto",
which inherited the cultural heritage of
“Vico del Vecchio”,
was formed (listen to the mp3), and he became the musical director.
The band "DisCanto" gave more than 300 concerts in Italy, France, Holland, Germany and United States. It was also asked to take part in important musical events
and national television shows.
Since the 70's, Michele Avolio has collaborated with many theatrical companies
and has composed their music. He wrote the music for the CD "Il culto di San Domenico a Cocullo" (edited by Amaltea) which came out in 1998,
and for the documentary "S. Franco Eremita" edited by the Chamber of
Cultural Arts of L'Aquila, in 2003.
In 2004 he also composed the music for an art exhibit by the painter Michetti and
for a video called “Immagini della Nativita' nel territorio abruzzese".
In August of 1998 and 1999 he was in charge of the music for "Notte delle Paure",
a play performed on the Laga Mountains.
In 1999, with the collaboration of the "Theatrical Laboratory of Fossa" and the
orchestra of
"S. Aquilano", he staged "La Madama Pullarola", a play which had been
performed in many cities up to the year 2000.
With the same collaboration, he wrote the music and lyrics for the play
"La luna si fermo' di camminare" that was gave at the "Spoltore Ensemble" in 2000
and taken on tour in the province of Cagliari in Sardinia.
He was lead vocalist in four songs for the CD of medieval music, "Tempus Transit",
published by
Le Cantrici di Euterpe – Aquila Altera, which was produced in 2000.
For many years he has been teaching modern guitar. He also gave singing lessons
and taught the use of popular musical instruments.
In 2003 he gave music lessons to the inmates of the prison of Chieti.
He was artistic director in various ethnic music festivals that were given in the towns
of Vasto, Capestrano, Civitella Alfedena and Villetta Barrea.
In Sulmona he promoted "Mediterraneo e Dintorni", a musical festival that for many
years gave an important place in the cultural scene of Abruzzo.
SARA CIANCONE
cello, percussion and chorus
She graduated at the University of Music in L' Aquila where she specialized in cello.
She played in many orchestras including the Abruzzo Orchestra,
the Marsica Orchestra, the
"Insieme Strumentale S. Aquilano",
L' Ensemble Strumentale Italiano, L' Ensemble of baroque music "Sine Nomine",
the Citta' Aperta Orchestra, the Accademia Musicale of Pescara and the
"Camerata Italica" Orchestra.
Out of the classical music scene, she played the cello and was actress in the
theatre production "Dannati Angeli” for the theatrical company "Drammateatro"
of Popoli. She attended a theatrical laboratory, diretcted by Judith Malina
of the "Leaving Theatre".
With the piano player and musicologist Antonello Colimberti she gave concerts of
free improvisation.
She was in the band "Noiseful Loop" that played pop-industry music and with this
group she took part in the famous festival "Arezzo Wave 98".
Before joining DisCanto, in December 1999, she played in the female band called "Laos" that presented musical arrangements of popular music of some Italian regions
such as Abruzzo, Campania, Puglia and Sicily and arrangements of Hebrew music.
ANTONELLO DI MATTEO
italian bag-pipes, clarinet, flutes, accordion and italian melodeon
He studied at the "F.Masci" high school in Chieti.
His interest in the Italian bag-pipes started when he was 14. He went on studying
this instrument with excitement and, in a short time, he became a master
and went on evolving his technique.His great talent and passion brought him to be
the first student and then teacher at the
"Accademia dei Transumanti" of Abruzzo
(AcTA) in Chieti.
At a very young age he played in many cultural and folkloristic festivals, in Abruzzo
(Settembrata Abruzzese in Pescara, Bue di S.Zopito at Loreto Aprutino,
Festival of Folklore at Atessa) and in many live nativities.
He also took part in national (Borsa Internazionale del Turismo – Milan;
Pastori Di Lunigiana festival – Licciana Nardi, Messina) and international
(Basilea, Switzerland) cultural events.
He took part in a lot of conventions and study halls regarding
the Italian bagpipes and the flute.
Antonello joined DisCanto in August 2004.
DORIANA LEGGE
voce e chitarra
Musicista autodidatta, laureata nel 2006 in "Storia e pratiche delle arti, della musica e dello spettacolo" presso la facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'università di L'Aquila.
Pur iniziando lo studio del violino presso il Conservatorio A.Casella di L'Aquila, abbandona lo strumento per dedicarsi anni dopo allo studio personale della chitarra elettrica e della voce.
Suona dal 2005 con il gruppo post-rock "Queer dolls" con il quale ha aperto il concerto di Hugo Race and The Bad Seeds ed ha partecipato a numerose manifestazioni e concorsi nazionali.
Con lo stesso gruppo nel 2006 realizza un teatro-clip, con la Scuola Ambulante di teatro di Simone Capula e, nel 2007, inizia i lavori per un album autoprodotto, mixato e masterizzato da Francesco Donadello (Giardini di Mirò).
Collabora con i “DisCanto” dal novembre 2007.
GERMANA ROSSI
violin, accordion, percussion and vocals
At the age of 6 she started studying the accordion, the instrument that she
would later put on the side in order to study the violin at the
Music School in L'Aquila, where she graduated in 1997.
She devoted the first few years of her career to classical and baroque music.
She played in various orchestras and quartets and took part in many concerts
in Italy and in other countries as well.
She founded the music school "Ophelia" (where she now teaches).
She also founded the "Gruppo Strumentale dell'Ateneo"
(the first university orchestra in Italy) where she was the artistic director
and backup violinist until 2001.
In 1995, she was chosen by the Academy of Music to take part
in the theatrical project of TSA, called "Autori allo scoperto”, for which she wrote
the lyrics and created the scenes.
Her encounter with the theatrical company, "Drammateatro" of Popoli (Pescara),
with which she set up the show "Dannati Angeli", let her appreciate the beauty
of popular music; in particular, southern Italian and Hebrew music.
Thanks to this particular experience she started playing her “first” instrument again.
She was co-author and responsible for the music in the play "La Notte delle Paure"
performed on the Laga Mountains in 1997.
The encounter with musicians with whom she shared the love for ethnic music
inspired her to found the all women band " Laos" Voce del Sud
(Voice of the South) which proposed arrangements of Italian and
non-Italian traditional popular music.
In February 2000, she joined the band DisCanto and started singing
and playing percussions.
