Luca Cubisino
President, Artistic Director
Luca Cubisino is a polyhedral and versatile artist, whose path is paved with performance, teaching, and research. Prize winner in nearly twenty national and international piano competitions, Luca Cubisino has played in prestigious venues such as Teatro Massimo “V. Bellini” in Catania, Concertgebouw de Doelen in Rotterdam, Wiener Saal in Salzburg, Wertheim Concert Hall in Miami, and other venues in Bologna, Leipzig, New York, Austin, Atlanta, etc. His musicianship has benefited from lessons and master classes given by Antonella Scuderi, Flavio Meniconi, Franco Scala, Aquiles Delle Vigne, François-Joël Thiollier, Antonio Ballista, Choong-Mo Kang, Gerald Fauth, Bruno Canino, Enrico Pace, Anton Nel, Boris Slutsky, Marina Lomazov, and others. Born in Italy, Luca Cubisino earned undergraduate (B.M.) and graduate (M.M.) degrees in his home country. Additionally, he earned two Master’s degrees at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Rotterdam and at Texas State University, where he was awarded the 2014 “Piano Achievement Award”. Recently, he has earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Keyboard Performance at the Frost School of Music, where he studied with Professors Tian Ying and Kevin Kenner and served as a Teaching Assistant. Luca Cubisino collaborates with various musical organizations, including AmiCa in Sicily, of which he is the Artistic Director (amicafest.com), San Giacomo Festival in Bologna, which organizes almost two hundred concerts every year (sangiacomofestival.it), and Kaleidoscope MusArt in Miami, which focuses its activity mostly on contemporary classical music (kaleidoscopemusart.com). Jury member in several piano competitions, Luca Cubisino has given master classes for Grumo Festival in Tesero (Italy) and for the Miami Conservatory of Music in Miami. He is also the 2016 winner of the Presser Award at the University of Miami for his project of publishing and recording Ottorino Respighi’s early piano works. Currently, he teaches at the Preparatory Program of the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.
Lorella Di Gregorio
Artistic Co-Director
Born in Catania, Lorella Di Gregorio lived in Grammichele until the age of 19, when she earned a diploma in Applied Arts (specializing in Ceramics) with honors at the local Fine Arts High-school. In 2006, at the University of Catania, she graduated in Italian Literature with honors and a thesis in History of Music. In 2010, she earned a Masters degree (summa cum laude) in History of Art at University of Bologna with a thesis in Psychology of Art. In Italy, she cultivated her interest in public programming in the arts by developing educational workshops about Contemporary Art for primary school children. Furthermore, she has a full work profile that involves varied work experiences with experts, curators, and scholars in the arts, collaborating with several institutions. In 2012, Lorella moved to the US to attend a MA in Spanish at Texas State University, where she worked as IA and TA and received several awards including that of Outstanding Graduate Student and Outstanding Service to the House of Graduate Representatives. At TSU, she discussed a thesis in linguistics. In 2014, Lorella was admitted with full scholarship to the PhD program in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies at the University of Miami where, at the present, she teaches, conducts research on 20th and 21st century Mexican and Southern Italian cultural production related with migration and organized crime, and has been awarded with numerous research and travel grants.
Giuseppe Montemagno
General Consultant
Giuseppe Montemagno teaches History of Music and Musical theater at the Academy of Fine Arts in Catania and collaborates on the research activities of the Fondazione Bellini, University of Catania. His researches focus on musical theater and, in particular, on cultural migrations and interartistic relationships between France and Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this context he has published several papers, especially on Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Hérold, Massenet and Bruneau, Charpentier and Debussy, Daniel-Lesur. He is also the author of a few studies on opera direction, with a special attention to Patrice Chéreau, Emma Dante and Claus Guths productions. Freelance journalist for over twenty-five years, he reviews international drama and musical productions for specialist press (LAvant-Scène Opéra, Hystrio, lopera).
Ina Gugliara
Vice-President
Lorella Grosso
Secretary
Francesco Gurrieri
Treasurer