 Tiziana Fumagalli holds a degree in music education and piano. She has studied choral direction under Fosco Corti, Roberto Goitre, and Giovanni Acciai.In her long experience as a teacher, Ms. Fumagalli has always emphasized choral music and performance for the substantial benefits they provide both in individual training and in music education more generally. Together with the various choirs she has directed as part of her teaching duties, Ms. Fumagalli has won widespread recognition through her participation in concerts, festivals, and cultural events.In 1992, together with a group of former students, she assembled the first singers who would later become the “Hildegard von Bingen Women’s Chorus.” Today, the Choir’s members boast extensive experience in choral performance. The Choir draws inspiration from Hildegard von Bingen, whose work is the subject of particular study and interest on the part of Choir members. In addition to the performance of a traditional polyphonic repertoire, the Choir’s mission is to study and to increase awareness of musical works dedicated to female figures and especially of compositions by female composers. As part of its ongoing collaboration with the Como-based “Donneinmusica” group, the Choir researches, transcribes, and performs work by women, including previously unknown and unpublished compositions. The Choir has participated in numerous cultural events, programs, and festivals and has appeared in collaboration with such prestigious organizations as the University of Verona; the Margaret Fuller Women’s Cultural Center (Pescara); “Il Canto delle Pietre” (The Stones Sing); and the International “Autunno Musicale” Festival, held in Como, Italy. During the latter, the Choir performed in Gustav Holst’s one-act opera, Savitri, with the Autunno Musicale Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Pierangelo Gelmini, as well as in Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, for women’s chorus and harp, also by Holst. In 2007, the Choir was invited to open the international conference, “The Monastery: A Site of Prayer and Culture,” and appeared as well in the stage production, Fanny Mendelssohn: The Tempo of Life, performing Mendelssohn’s compositions live. The Choir, under the direction of Tiziana Fumagalli, has recorded two CDs of Hildegard von Bingen’s music. The first, Carmina Canti Spirituali, appeared in 1996 in connection with the publication of the first unabridged translation into Italian of von Bingen’s poetic works (Verona: Demetra, Vincenzo Guarracino, Trans.); the Choir completed its second CD, Ecstatic Chants, for Recording Arts in 1998. Through her work with the Choir and her ongoing involvement in advanced professional coursework, Ms. Fumagalli has made a deep and careful study of the history and traditions of plainsong. In recent years, she has attended Cremona’s Scuola Superiore di Canto Gregoriano, an institute of professional studies dedicated to Gregorian chant. Ms. Fumagalli currently studies voice with soprano Doina Dinu Palade and teaches at the Teresa Ciceri High School in Como, Italy. Tiziana Fumagalli |
