A dynamic classical pianist, Marcelo Bratke captures the sounds and spirit of his native Brazil, whether exploring the repertoire of Heitor Villa-Lobos who he has introduced globally with touring and his soon to be completed recordings of the entire piano repertoire of this fascinating 20th century Brazilian composer or interpreting the music of Tom Jobim or Ernesto Nazareth through new arrangements with orchestral musicians, percussion and Brazilian 'soul'. 

Marcelo curates multi-faceted programmes featuring the giants of Brazilian classical music together with video scenography filmed by the renowned Brazilian artist Mariannita Luzzati. His programmes have combined poetry, visuals and music on tours throughout Brazil and abroad with a Camerata of young musicians, with opera singers or pop stars and some of the most dynamic instrumentalists Brazil has to offer today. 

Marcelo is a national icon in Brazil with a weekly radio programme and is a magnet for the Brazilian media. His programming and performance add value to a company's corporate marketing strategy both nationally in Brazil and globally.

In the 2016/2017 season Marcelo had a tour in Brazil with sold-out and highly acclaimed performances of L'invitation au voyage, a collaboration with actor Mario Gambino and video scenographer Mariannita Luzzati with a musical, poetic and visually beguiling tour of the world. This was premiered at London's Southbank.

For 2016/2017 we are delighted to present L'invitation au voyage combining the video scenography of Brazilian artist Mariannita Luzzati with Marcelo Bratke at the piano interacting with actor Marco Gambino reciting poetry. We are pleased to also offer a performance of songs by Claudio Santoro and Heitor Villa-Lobos with renowned Brazilian soprano Rosana Lamosa and Marcelo Bratke on piano.

L'invitation au voyage presentation

Presentation: recital with Rosana Lamosa

Listen: Marcelo Bratke with Rosana Lamosa

marcelobratke.com

Born in Athens, Greece in 1966 Dimitri Tarlow is the grandson of the novelist M.Karagatsis. He studied acting at the National Theatre of Greece drama school. He then worked as an actor in theatre and television for fifteen years, before creating his own theatre group. His first production, Richard Kalinoski's "Beast on the moon", became talk of the town and was sold out for two consecutive years. Since then he has been directing, translating, acting and producing at his own theatre "Poreia", one of the most well known, historical theatres of Athens. 

Most recently Dimitri Tarlow had an enormous hit with his co-production with the Athens and Epidaurus Festival 2014 of The Great Chimera, based on the novel written by his grandfather M. Karagatsis and adapted by Stratis Paschalis. This sold out the theatre at every performance for the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons and garnered many awards from Athinerama Magazine, the ‘Oliviers’ of the Athens theatre scene. In 2015/2016 Dimitri Tarlow also directed Chekhov’s Three Sisters to enthusiastic audiences, who appreciated the parallels he drew to the political upheavals in Greece. Earlier plays included Sarah Ruhl's "Eurydice", Dimitris' Dimitriades' "Oblivion" and Sarah Kane's "Blasted", all of which were acclaimed by the critics and won audience and critic awards.

He is available as a freelance director, as a producer touring shows created in Greece to international theatre festivals and as a collaborator, co-producing between Poreia Theatre, Athens and  theatre companies in other countries.

poreiatheatre.com/en

Oblivion presentation

Mario Pirovano is an energy force to be reckoned with. A close collaborator of Nobel prize-winner Dario Fo since 1983, Mario has translated his most famous one-man plays into English and performs them all over the world. In the style of a medieval jester Mario brings to life Fo’s plays – Francis the Holy Jester, Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas and his central work, the well-known Mistero Buffo. 

The stories told by Dario Fo and interpreted in English by Mario Pirovano address the startling issues of today. They uphold the dignity of the poor, the oppressed and those shunned by society. They reflect through a comedic and spiritual perspective the ills that we confront each day, that we read about and experience personally. The stories are in the ancient Italian style of Commedia dell’Arte.

Mario Pirovano first encountered Dario Fo at one of his performances in London and has worked at his side ever since. He was been recognised as a translator by Dario Fo who has appointed him to carry on with translations of his other plays and which he will do following the sad death of Dario Fo in October 2016.

Mario is available to perform Dario Fo's one-man plays and to lead workshops - no set or props required. The joy of the performance is in Mario's animated, physical story-telling. By special arrangement it may be possible to mount an exhibition of Dario Fo's paintings in conjunction with performances of the plays.

More about Mario

www.mariopirovano.it

Video excerpt - Mistero Buffo 

Video excerpt - Francis the Holy Jester

Video excerpt - Johan Padan and the Discovery of the Americas