The Italian Embassy in Lebanon and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut present the concert Piazza Gande, where passion and creativity, bewilderment and encounter, and homesickness come together. The show will retrace a sixty-year period, from 1940 to 2000, through some of the most iconic Italian singer-songwriter songs of that period.

Through Alessia Squarcella’s voice and the arrangements and accompaniment of some of the most virtuosic exponents of the Lebanese music scene, the thousands of facets and/or contradictions of Italian-ness will be contaminated by jazz and oriental music, tracing the cultural baggage – or burden – that every Italian man and woman abroad drags along.

Alessia Squarcella is a Roman singer currently living in Beirut. Introduced to classical music at an early age, she discovered her voice during her teenage years singing in the Musicanova Choir in Rome, and then explored the eclectic universe of jazz in adulthood. Her style, straddling the baroque polyphony of Claudio Monteverdi and the scat of Sarah Vaughan, is enhanced by the warmth of her timbre and talent for improvisation. In Lebanon since 2021, Alessia currently collaborates with some of the leading members of the local jazz scene.

joe Aouad, guitarist, composer and arranger, learns the language of music well before he writes or reads it. His style is a bouquet of influences, from the enchantment of Eastern melodies to the freedom of expression of jazz, via Baroque counterpoint, contemporary classical music and African rhythms, all of which is evident in his arrangements.

Kevin Safadi is a Lebanese drummer and percussionist who has collaborated with the most renowned artists in the Lebanese and international scene, ranging from jazz to samba, Latin and Afro-Cuban music. During his most recent international tour, Kevin performed with several elite samba schools in Germany, France, Portugal, and Brazil. Kevin is the founder and artistic director of “Segundo Bloco,” the first samba percussion ensemble in the Middle East.

Makram Aboul Hosn is a double bassist, composer and educator. Currently based in Beirut, Makram performs in jazz, classical, oriental, and experimental music ensembles. A member of the Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra and professor of jazz at Notre Dame University in Louaize since 2016, Makram has performed at Lebanon’s most important festivals, including the Baalbeck International Festival and the Beiteddine International Festival.

Simon Salameh is a trumpet player trained at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music. He began his career in classical music, performing in orchestral ensembles, and then integrated the Lebanese Jazz Big Band. Simon collaborates with ensembles in a variety of musical genres, from pop to Cuban music.

Tom Hornig is a first-rate saxophonist whose ability to combine his jazz sensibilities with Eastern musical traditions has made him an invaluable resource for some of the Middle East’s leading artists, including Charbel Rouhana, Ziad Rahbani and Hiba Tawaji. A musician and composer with profound creativity, Tom is currently a professor at the Lebanese National Higher Conservatory of Music in Beirut.