The Istituto Italiano di Cultura will host a garden concert with the renowned Sicilian Jazz Project.
The Sicilian Jazz Project features some of the best musicians from Toronto’s vibrant music scene as well as a variety of international guests, and in August 2023 welcomes Sicilian vocalists and composers Daniela Spalletta and Giuseppe Di Bella to Canada for the first time.
The group will also be performing at Mississauga’s yearly Italfest.
SICILIAN JAZZ PROJECT
Giuseppe Di Bella | Guitar & Voice
Michael Occhipinti | Guitar
Daniela Spalletta | Voice
ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA
Thursday, August 10 | 7:00PM
496 Huron St | Toronto ON
FREE EVENT | REGISTRATION REQUIRED
In case of rain, concert will be held indoors
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE
MISSISSAUGA ITALFEST 2023
Saturday, August 12 | 5:50PM
CELEBRATION SQUARE | Mainstage
300 City Centre Dr | Mississauga ON
FREE EVENT | OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ITALFEST
Michael Occhipinti’s Sicilian Jazz Project has been dazzling audiences worldwide with its unique mix of rare Old World Sicilian folk material and the New World sounds of electric guitars, chamber music, funk and reggae grooves, and modern jazz. Using music sung by Sicilian fishermen, sulfur miners, and folk musicians as a starting point, the music is like a trip on the Mediterranean that detours to Mali, Jamaica, and Toronto.
ABOUT GIUSEPPE DI BELLA
Giuseppe Di Bella is a gifted singer-songwriter, performer, poet, and guitarist with a stunning voice, who sees his work as a synthesis of contemporary song, art music, and alternative genre music, but which feeds on the great popular songwriting of the 20th Century. He has been a finalist twice for the Parodi Prize in Sardinia and for the Botteghe D’autore prize.
ABOUT MICHAEL OCCHIPINTI
Michael Occhipinti is a versatile, sound-sculpting guitarist and composer/arranger, who has spent decades freely moving between jazz, chamber music, world music, r&b/funk, and anything involving modern guitar sounds. Michael has received 11 JUNO Award nominations (Canada’s Grammy) and 2 JUNO Awards including the 2022 JUNO Award for Jazz Group of the Year as a member of Avataar. 2022 also saw his duo with Elizabeth Shepherd (ES:MO) nominated for Jazz Vocal Album of the Year. In addition to ES:MO, Michael leads or co-leads several acclaimed groups including The Sicilian Jazz Project, IN ORBIT ( with Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band) on saxophone, and Felix Pastorius on bass), Shine On: The Universe of John Lennon, The Triodes, and the acclaimed 16-piece group NOJO (Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra).
ABOUT DANIELA SPALLETTA
Daniela Spalletta has been called “a silken voice, with remarkable fluidity and range” by the prestigious American Jazz magazine Downbeat, and she finished second in the prestigious 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. She is considered one of the top contemporary jazz singers in Europe and is also a gifted composer and arranger working in many styles, including exploring Sicilian music and folklore.
