A Shared Passion: Annalisa and Gabriele’s Lifelong Piano Journey
- WOMCO
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Annalisa Critelli and Gabriele Tomasello was awarded the Gold Prize in the Duo Music Category at the 2025 Season 2 Debussy International Music Competition.
Biography
Annalisa has been playing the piano since she was a child. At the age of 7, she accidentally encountered this magical instrument: she was part of a children's choir and during an afternoon of rehearsals fell in love with those black and white keys that, like all love, have given her so many joys and so many sorrows.
Her training path was the traditional one: at the conservatory, she graduated at 19 with top marks and immediately after she obtained a specialist degree with 110 cum laude.
In the meantime, she met the great masters who were crucial to my musical growth: Michele
Marvulli, Benedetto Lupo, Bruno Mezzena, then Michele Campanella, with whom she studied at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena and in Naples, and Andrea Lucchesini, with whom she brilliantly concluded the specialization course of studies at theScuola di Musica di Fiesole (Florence).
Gabriele has also played the piano since he was a child, around the age of 8 he started
taking piano lessons from a neighbor, a friend of my mother, from there, slowly, everything
began. In 2000 he graduated with top marks and honors from the Catania Conservatory
and also obtained two specialist degrees in 2007 and 2010. He studied with Vincenzo
Balzani and Aquiles Delle Vigne and in 2012 he started teaching piano at the Conservatory in
Calabria (first in Vibo Valentia and then in Reggio Calabria) and since 2022 at the Messina Conservatory. The piano and music, in general, have accompanied his entire life.
Since Annalisa and Gabriele were children, they have both studied pieces by Debussy. The first piece for both of them was Arabesque No. 1.
Behind the scenes
In southern italy there are widespread street vendors of genuine and delicious food products. During the filming of our videos we were sometimes interrupted by the seller of potatoes, eggs (salumi and uova), mozzarelle and provole cheese.
