Giorgia Fumanti
Encyclopedia
Giorgia Fumanti is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 soprano (operatic pop / crossover), composer, producer and arranger now based in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Her music is best compared to that of Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli, is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident....

, Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...

 and Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...

. Her debut EMI album "From My Heart" reached the top 20 on the Billboard Crossover Chart. She has sold over 1.2 million copies of her albums so far.

Career

Giorgia Fumanti was born in the Tuscan
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 village of Fivizzano
Fivizzano
Fivizzano, a walled city in the province of Massa-Carrara, Tuscany , became part of the Republic of Florence in the 15th century thus gaining the Tuscan republic an important foothold in Lunigiana, a key region which Genoa, Pisa, Milan and Florence had sought to dominate since the early Middle Ages...

 and grew up in the nearby town of Aulla
Aulla
-History:Traces of Roman and Etruscan civilizations found in the Church of Saint Caprisio indicate that there were settlements in Aulla long before the 8th century CE, when margrave Adalbert I of Tuscany founded a village and castle to accommodate pilgrims traveling the via Francigena. Here, at...

, which remains her family home. As a teenager she sang in the Città di Aulla
Aulla
-History:Traces of Roman and Etruscan civilizations found in the Church of Saint Caprisio indicate that there were settlements in Aulla long before the 8th century CE, when margrave Adalbert I of Tuscany founded a village and castle to accommodate pilgrims traveling the via Francigena. Here, at...

 Choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

. She nearly completed a law degree, but left law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 2 exams from finishing. She became a yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 teacher then. At the age of 23 she decided to sing professionally. Giorgia enrolled in the Conservatorio di Musica "Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito
Arrigo Boito , aka Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito, pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello and Falstaff, and his own opera Mefistofele...

" in Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, where she studied for three years.

In 2002, Fumanti relocated to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada to work with manager, Maurice Velenosi of MCM Entertainment Management, and in 2004, her first album, entitled Like a Dream was released on Canadian independent label Isba Music Entertainment. The album featured her take on the music of Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...

.

She was soon signed with Angel Records
Angel Records
Angel Records is a record label belonging to EMI. It was formed in 1953 and specialised in classical music, but included an occasional operetta or Broadway score...

/EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

, and in March 2007, she released the album From My Heart worldwide. From My Heart was produced by Craig Leon
Craig Leon
Craig Leon is an American born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many recording artists including The Ramones and Blondie...

, and features her musical version of Sting's 'Fields of Gold' (Campi d’Oro), and four Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...

 pieces including themes from The Mission, Cinema Paradiso and Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West
Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone for Paramount Pictures. It stars Henry Fonda cast against type as the villain, Charles Bronson as his nemesis, Jason Robards as a bandit, and Claudia Cardinale as a newly widowed homesteader with a...

. It was recorded in the Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

 in London with the English Chamber Choir, and the Netherlands Media Orchestra.

2008 saw Giorgia Fumanti's third studio album take form. Entitled Je Suis, the majority of the songs were in French, with a few Italian songs in between. Je Suis was also released on Isba Music Entertainment, in association with Universal Music Canada, and was initially released across Canada, and on the internet in November 2008. In addition to a credit in Artistic Direction, Giorgia also earned writing credits on 4 of the 14 songs on Je Suis. The duet "Le Plus Grand Amour Qui Soit" featured a 9-year old singer Jacob Guay
Jacob Guay
Jacob Guay better known as just Jacob is a Canadian young singer and dubbed as the French language answer to fellow Canadian Justin Bieber.-Earlier years:...

. The album also featured versions of Sarah MacLachlan's "Angel", Albinoni's "Adagio", Chopin's "Notturno", and Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...

's "Ave Maria".

Then in 2009, the album Magnificat was released. A collection of mainly sacred and classical arias, Giorgia sang 3 versions of Ave Maria (Caccini, Schubert, and Bach/Gounod), and renditions of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World", and Billy Joel's "Goodnight My Angel".

For the 2010 Shanghai World International Expo, Giorgia Fumanti along with Chinese baryton, Liao Chang Yong, sang the theme song "Better City, Better Life" and appeared on many Chinese TV shows produced by the Shanghai Media Group, CCTV, Beijing TV and Dragon TV. A regular featured artist and special guest in China and Asia, Giorgia Fumanti sang at the 2011 Chinese New Year CCTV - Internet Spring Festival Gala, as well as at the December 31, 2010 New Year's Eve Gala TV show for CCTV in Beijing.

She has also performed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, at the closing ceremony of the Shanghai Special Olympics, sang the National Anthem at the NHL All Star Game in Dallas and has appeared on several PBS TV Specials in the USA. She has shared the stage with Jose Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...

, Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

, Lang Lang, Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Chinese pop icon Wei Wei
Wei Wei (singer)
Wei Wei is a Mandopop singer and actress. She was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia and was raised in Liuzhou, Guangxi.Wei Wei recently performed at the opening ceremony of the , as well as at the closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics...

 and Han Hong, famous Chinese tenors, Yu Qiang Dai and Ding Yi, the 12 Girls Band from China, The Russian Red Army Choir, Italian pop stars Zucchero
Zucchero
Adelmo Fornaciari, Commander , more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero /ˈtsukkero/, is an Italian rock singer. His music is largely inspired by gospel, blues and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces.Zucchero is the...

, Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla is a popular Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He also plays clarinet and keyboards.He is the composer of Caruso , which has been covered by numerous international artists...

 and Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli
Gino Paoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. He wrote four masterpieces of Italian popular music: "Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa c'è", "Senza fine" and "Sapore di sale".- Biography :...

, as well as famous Greek tenor Mario Frangoulis
Mario Frangoulis
Mario Frangoulis is a Greek tenor and is best known for his song, "Vincerò, Perderò". He sings in Italian, Spanish, English, French, and Greek; he is fluent in all 5 languages.-Early life:...

, crooner Patrizio Buanne
Patrizio Buanne
Patrizio is an Italian singer baritone, songwriter, producer. He was previously signed with Globe Records, a division of Universal Music, but has recently signed a global record deal with Warner Music Entertainment.-Biography:Early lifePatrizio Buanne spent his childhood living and traveling from...

, Irish tenor John McDermott
John McDermott
John McDermott may refer to:*John McDermott , American athlete*John McDermott , former Grimsby Town footballer*John McDermott , former Meath Gaelic footballer*John McDermott , British boxer...

, Benise and The Canadian Tenors
The Canadian Tenors
The Canadian Tenors are a vocal quartet consisting of Remigio Pereira, Victor Micallef, Fraser Walters, and Clifton Murray, with Murray replacing earlier member Jamie McKnight...

. She is currently signed to Universal Music with a new album, "Elysium" to be released in the spring of 2011.

Performances

In January 2007, Fumanti made her U.S. TV debut, singing the Canadian National Anthem
O Canada
It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "Marsch der Priester" , from the opera Die Zauberflöte , composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and that Lavallée's melody was inspired by Mozart's tune...

 for the NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

 All-Stars Game in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

.

In March 2007, she performed on the PBS Concert Special Heavenly Voices along with musical artists Ryland Angel, Sasha & Shawna, and the Tim Janis Ensemble
Tim Janis
Tim Janis is an American composer with 10 Billboard charting CDs, over one million albums sold, four National Public Television Specials, and a constant touring presence.-Career:...

. The concert, now available on DVD, was filmed in Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and featured footage of each performer's homeland
Homeland
A homeland is the concept of the place to which an ethnic group holds a long history and a deep cultural association with —the country in which a particular national identity began. As a common noun, it simply connotes the country of one's origin...

.

She toured Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

 in the winter of 2006/2007 with star tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...

, including performances in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

 (for a New Year's Eve Concert). In June 2007 she performed again with Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...

 at the Hampton Court Palace Festival
Hampton Court Palace Festival
The Hampton Court Palace Festival is an annual musical event held in June which was established in 1993. The Festival is known for presenting artists across the music genres such as Sir Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tom Jones, Andrea Bocelli, Van Morrison, Jools Holland, the Buena Vista Social Club,...

, along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

.

She recorded a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 Concert with Canadian-Irish Tenor John McDermott
John McDermott (singer)
John Charles McDermott is a Scottish-Canadian tenor best known for his rendering of the song "Danny Boy". Born in Glasgow, Scotland, John moved with his family to Willowdale, Ontario, Canada in 1965. Growing up in a musical family, his only formal musical training was at St...

 at the Rose Theater in Brampton, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, on June 26, 2007 (to be aired in November and December 2007). The concert was also recorded on CD and DVD.

Fumanti performed in an American Summer Tour along with the other performers of the PBS Special Heavenly Voices. The tour included Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

; Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

; Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

; San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

; Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

; Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 and Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

.

In Autumn 2007, she toured with the Asian musical group, 12 Girls Band, with shows in North America and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

.

In September 2007, she performed in four Canadian concerts with Italian singer, Zucchero
Zucchero
Adelmo Fornaciari, Commander , more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero /ˈtsukkero/, is an Italian rock singer. His music is largely inspired by gospel, blues and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces.Zucchero is the...

.

On October 11, 2007, Giorgia went to Shanghai, China, for the Special Olympics
Special Olympics
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and competitions to more than 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries....

 World Summer Games
Summer Games
Summer Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx and released by U.S. Gold based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games. Released in 1984 for the Commodore 64, it was also eventually ported to the Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari XL/XE and Sega Master System platforms...

, Closing Ceremonies. She was chosen to represent the Americas, among 4 other singers from 5 continents to sing a new version of "We Are The World
We Are the World
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World...

".

Early in 2008, Giorgia sang a duet with superstar Chinese pop icon Wei Wei
Wei Wei
Wei Wei , originally known as Hong Jie , was a poet, a prose writer, a literary report writer, a journalist, a vice-editor-in-chief and the editor of various newspapers in China and a propagandist. His works are noted for their themes of patriotism, communism, and nationalism...

, and the Fairchild TV/ Shanghai Media Group's "Chinese New Year All Star Show 2008". The show also marked the first time she sang in the Mandarin language.

Charity work

Giorgia Fumanti served as the Spokesperson for the Québec Multi-Ethnic Association for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities AMEIPH. She also served a 2 year term as World Ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....

Association of Quebec
(L’Association de paralysie cérébrale du Québec), performing concerts, meeting with members and media to increase awareness of the condition.

Discography

Like a Dream CD
  • Release date: 2004
  • Label: Isba Music Entertainment/The Orchard
  • UPC: 829410412964


From My Heart CD
  • Release date: March 6, 2007 in North America and December 29, 2006 in Asia
  • Label: Manhattan Records
  • ISBN: P2872852


Heavenly Voices DVD
  • Release date: March 6, 2007
  • Co-performers: Ryland Angel, Giorgia Fumanti, Sasha & Shawna
  • Label: Manhattan Records
  • ISBN 978E91R79598


Je Suis CD
  • Release date: November 18, 2008
  • Label : Isba Music Entertainment / Universal Music Canada
  • UPC: 619061371921


Peace of Heaven CD
  • Release date: Jul 3, 2009
  • Label : Fortissimo
  • UPC: FOR77228


Magnificat CD
  • Release date: November 17, 2009
  • Label: Isba Music Entertainment / Universal Music Canada
  • ASIN: B002SXPKD4


Elysium CD
  • Release date: May 10, 2011
  • Label: Isba Music Entertainment / Universal Music Canada
  • ASIN: B004VB477Q

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK