
Pianist-composer Riccardo Piacentini of Duo Alterno and his wife singer Tiziana Scandaletti.
ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. (March 10, 2010)—Italian group Duo Alterno will perform songs inspired by the muses of love and composed by St. Mary’s College of Maryland music professor David Froom at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, 2010, at the college’s Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall. The concert, part of the Guest Artist and Faculty Series, is free and open to the public.
Duo Alterno, made up of soprano Tiziana Scandaletti and her husband pianist-composer Riccardo Piacentini, had asked Froom to write a piece with them in mind. He turned to Boston poet Sue Standing for the words. The result, “Three Love Songs,” brings us through three aspects of love. “The first song,” said Froom, “is about the early stages of a relationship. The second song expresses some anxiety and wonder about whether the relationship will continue. And the third song is about looking back at a mature, ongoing, lifelong love. I tried to find ways of getting the music to evoke and embrace the poetry.”
“Three Love Songs” has been performed by Duo Alterno already in Turin, Italy, and in Milan. On this trip to the United States, the two musicians will perform it in Washington D.C. (at the Levine School) and in Baltimore (at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County). The composition has also been performed by other singers, last April at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and this past fall in Ohio at the Bowling Green Music Festival.
Duo Alterno, said one Italian newspaper, “gives voice and piano to the Italian 20th century.” Froom’s music has been performed extensively throughout the United States by major orchestras, ensembles, and soloists, including, among many others, the Louisville, Seattle, Utah, and Chesapeake symphony orchestras, the United States Marine and Navy bands, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.






