Ariella Uliano

Ariella Uliano is a singer of Early and Traditional Music, a lecturer and a skillful songwriter.

In London, Ariella performs with a baroque dance company and studies European Literature & Art.

Ariella Uliano is the author of five albums: A.U. (almost) a Compilation; Leave Only Your Footsteps Behind; Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare; The Wandering Spirit and So, We'll Go No More A-Roving.

She has also released two DVD singles of Sumer and Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare from the CD Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare, with photography by Renzo Frontoni as seen on YouTube, produced by MusicariE.

Ariella's music is available directly from www.ariella-music.co.uk

TIP OF THE MONTH

If you love piano arrangements, listen to track no. 2 MARY HAMILTON and no. 10 SHE'S LIKE THE SWALLOW from the CD 'Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare', also available as mp3 from major online distributors.

TIP OF THE MONTH

For lovers of Jane Austen's dances, check out MR BEVERIDGE'S MAGGOT (also featured in Pride & Prejudice) and MINUET from Ariella Uliano's CD 'Leave Only Your Footsteps Behind', also available from major online distributors as mp3.

PRESS RELEASE:

Ariella Uliano - Tanto Gentile E tanto Onesta Pare -

The album 'Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare' (My Lady Looks So Gentle And So Pure) embraces and links together Celtic and English ballads and tunes with the poetry of Medieval and Renaissance Italy.

The ancient songs, melodies and words on this album speak of love, the arrival of the warm and sunny season and the joys and pleasures of youth.

'Tanto Gentile E Tanto Onesta Pare' also features Medieval poetry by Dante Alighieri from The Divine Comedy and the Vita Nova (New Life) dedicated to Beatrice, works by the Italian Renaissance poet Gaspara Stampa and words by Lorenzo De' Medici and his tutor, the famous humanist Angelo Poliziano.

The repertoire encompasses beautiful piano settings of traditional ballads, elegant arrangements of Medieval and Renaissance dances and some original compositions by Ariella Uliano.

The CD contains a very elegant 12 pages booklet with stunning full colour photography, notes in English and in Italian with texts of the lyrics.

PRESS RELEASE:

Ariella Uliano - A.U. (almost) a Compilation -

Once again, Ariella Uliano (successfully) breaks with a tradition dictating uniformity of style, to offer us a breathtaking and original artistic product, perhaps her best to date.

In 'A.U. (almost) a Compilation' the modern and the traditional combine beautifully with the pure sound of Ms. Uliano's unaffected soprano voice and the rich orchestral arrangements.

There is a sense of spirituality, love, introspection in Ariella's songs, as well as a touch of lightness and irony as in track no.2 GOOD MORNING LONDON (An English Summer’s Day).

Many the gems to be found in this collection but three in particular are in my opinion outstanding: Walter Scott’s ELLEN'S THIRD SONG (from The Lady Of The Lake, Hymn to the Virgin) for most of us Schubert’s AVE MARIA; the Italian CANTO D'AUTUNNO (Autumn Song) and Child’s ballad THE THREE RAVENS (new version).

In preparing this CD, Ms.Uliano and her new ensemble of virtuoso instrumentalists have created fresh arrangements for some of her old hits and among the finest interpretations we find: the much loved SO, WE'LL GO NO MORE A-ROVING ( new version ) by Lord Byron; the moving IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER ( new version ) by Christina Rossetti; the haunting THE CHERRY TREE CAROL ( new version ) and the Celtic classics SKYE BOAT SONG ( remix ) and SALLEY GARDENS ( new version ).

Of her fondness for British traditional balladry she says:

“Your beautiful old songs have a mantra-like effect upon me, they resound through my heart and soul and I feel compelled to sing them. When I do so, I inevitably change them a little, though not through a conscious effort. But it’s because they become a part of me and I keep singing them in my head wherever I go and whatever I do that when I sing them to an audience they sound different.

Perhaps, if I may quote from Shakespeare, they are …translated!

I know this is not entirely my tradition but that’s how I feel about them. Something similar must have happened to those European artists who went to Italy and Greece in the 18th and 19th centuries to visit, admire, absorb and eventually portray in their works the spectacle of our classical ruins and ancient cities, each in their own peculiar way. It’s a cultural exchange!”

Yet when Ms. Uliano sings NON PARLAR TROPPO D'AMORE and CANTO D'AUTUNNO (Autumn Song) in the Italian language, as she does in this album, her voice and melodies reach a different level and depth, leaving her audiences enthralled.

Ariella Uliano is a complete artist and in an age of digital downloads she still loves details. She has chosen to release a limited edition of 'A.U. (almost) a Compilation' with an accompanying 32 pages A5 size book: an elegant portfolio featuring some of her artwork and photographs.

Difficult to guess whether the pictures have been selected as a subtle commentary to the poetry or vice versa.

The B/W ink drawings are beautiful in their own right and the book which contains both them and the CD is a small work of art so that, in A.U.’s latest achievement, images and sounds form a harmonious whole and she delivers, once more, an excellent product.

The Publisher