Catfish Row Quartet featuring Greta Panettieri
A project inspired by George Gershwin’s innovative spirit, creating an original dialogue between Greta Panettieri’s jazz voice and a prestigious string quartet.
Brilliant composer and pianist, Gershwin changed the language of twentieth-century music forever, breaking down the boundaries between jazz and classical music, Broadway and the concert hall. With the legendary Rhapsody in Blue, the opera Porgy and Bess and songs that have become part of the universal musical heritage, he showed how seemingly irreconcilable worlds could merge into a single, compelling sonic vision.
A new dialogue between jazz and classical music
Great pages from Broadway and Porgy and Bess are reinterpreted through Greta Panettieri’s voice, joined by violinists Claudio Mondini and Anna Pecora, violist Duccio Beluffi and cellist Beatrice Pomarico, brought together for the occasion as the Catfish Row Quartet. The blend of Greta Panettieri’s jazz vocality and the rich timbre of the string quartet gives Gershwin’s songs a new dimension: intimate and sophisticated, cultured yet popular. Immortal melodies, subtle harmonies and pulsating rhythms merge in a continuous dialogue that highlights both the elegance of the writing and the immediacy of the interpretation.
90 years since Gershwin’s death
2027 marks 90 years since the death of George Gershwin. Catfish Row celebrates this important anniversary through a contemporary reading of his music, keeping alive the same spirit of encounter and cross-pollination that shaped his work.
From Porgy and Bess to a new sonic dimension
The project brings Gershwin’s music into an intimate and contemporary dimension, where voice, strings and improvisation create a continuous dialogue between composition and interpretation.
A distinguished string quartet
The Catfish Row Quartet brings together Claudio Mondini, Anna Pecora, Duccio Beluffi and Beatrice Pomarico, four musicians from the classical music world with extensive chamber-music experience and important collaborations with Italian and European orchestras, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Italian National RAI Symphony Orchestra in Turin, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Barcelona Symphony and Opera Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonisch.
Between tradition and contemporaneity
The project was conceived by Professor Luca Cerchiari (University of Milan-IULM), with original arrangements by Giampaolo Testoni, which enhance the dialogue between chamber writing and the language of popular music. The result is a coherent work deeply faithful to the Gershwin spirit: music born from encounter and cross-pollination. A concert that is a journey, a story and a celebration, where the great American tradition meets Italian musical excellence.
Line-up
- Greta Panettieri — vocals
- Claudio Mondini — first violin
- Anna Pecora — second violin
- Duccio Beluffi — viola
- Beatrice Pomarico — cello
Production: IULM and LAC Lugano. The CD will be released by Alfa Music and will be available for purchase on their website. Presented live in preview at Blue Note Milan and LAC Lugano.
Available for booking.