Sara Zamboni (1990) is an Italian composer and pianist based in The Hague, The Netherlands. Her musical interests are multiple and very broad. Her composition projects encompass instrumental works for concert hall, soundtracks for visuals, multichannel fixed media and combinations with acoustic instruments, music for stage and choreography. It is difficult to separate her various musical interests: in each project can be found connections with dance, chamber music, instrumental practice and traces of music theatre. Although her musical education and personal development are affected by the chronological order in which different events take place in Sara's life, she makes sure that those different phases and interests are always interconnected.
She is currently focussed on composing for live instruments and recordings of the same instruments on multichannel fixed media (once known as "tape"). Combining acoustic instruments and their digital counterparts represents a big fascination for her: it requires instrumental knowledge combined with music technology. The main purpose of this, is exploring the relationship between the player and several versions of him/herself, and the consequences in sound and stage presence that they might generate.
She started a series of pieces committing to this combination, such as A Playful Piece for clarinet and fixed media, Lumen de Lumine for 11 instruments and 6-channels fixed media and Dark Vocalise for voice and 5-channels fixed media. Embarking in such projects required her to develop a strong mentality of team-work, where creativity and practical aspects are always confronted and discussed with her performers and audio engineers.
Sara is committed to work with specific performers, musicians and creators to guarantee the maximum attention for each other's creative ideas according to everybody's personal and professional beliefs.
COMPOSITION
Sara Zamboni studied for five years at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, The Netherlands. She studied composition with Martijn Padding and Calliope Tsoupaki. She also followed courses in the Institute of Sonology such as 'Composing in the analogue studio' with Kees Tazelaar and 'Audio engineering in electronic music' with Paul Jeukendrup. She achieved a brilliant B.A. degree in Composition and later she graduated for her M.A. with a distinction "for the commitment in creating new forms of mixed acoustic and electronic composition".
She is particularly interested in composing for chamber music groups and small ensembles. Among the various instrumental projects she accomplished in the last years, she composed for ensembles that have been formed in the school such as Kluster5, Duo Coraline Groen&Robbrecht van Cauwenberghe, the Haag-Brno ensemble.
She has been selected to take part to the Composer Collider Europe (2017-2020), a composition project launched by the Köln-based Ensemble Musikfabrik. Her composition Lumen de Lumine (2018) has been premiered at the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra (GR) by Ensemble Musikfabrik conducted by Christian Eggen and will be part of the CCE Tour scheduled in November 2020.
PIANO
Sara developed her interest in music since early age. She studied and graduated in Classical Piano at the "Luca Marenzio" Conservatory of Darfo Boario Terme and Brescia under the teachings of Caterina Vasaturo. In the meantime, she studied harmony, counterpoint and fugue with Vincenzo Simmarano and analysis with Marino Pessina. She has been introduced to the world of chamber music thanks to the passion of Antonio Valentino. Later on, in the same institution, she met on her way the pianist Andrea Rebaudengo who took her on the trail of modern repertoire and coached her in her Master's Degree together with Marina Baudoux. She achieved her M.A. in Classical piano performance cum laude with a research on "The piano music of Béla Bartók and the rediscovery of the 'popular' element". She thought piano was not enough for her, that's why she was also composing, trying to develop both.
Since she moved to The Netherlands to study Composition, she also began studying Modern piano repertoire with Gerard Bouwhuis. This represented a life-changing experience for her thanks to Gerard's deep knowledge in repertoire and techniques and his always positive approach, passion, musicality, precision and sense of humor.
She has been active as pianist and chamber musician, especially for modern and contemporary repertoire. She performed in various concert venues in The Netherlands such as Korzo Theatre, Het Nutshuis, KABK, Theatre De Nieuwe Regentes, Nieuwe Kerk, Arnold Schönbergzaal (Den Haag), Tivoli Vredenburg (Utrecht), De Doelen (Rotterdam), Orpheus Theatre (Apeldoorn), Theater Veluvine (Nunspeet), Vliegtuighangar (Arnhem).
She participated to the NJO Muziekzomer 2017 together with Isobel Warmelink (violin), Daniele Zamboni (clarinet) and Berber Heerema (cello) presenting Quatrain II by T. Takemitsu, Quatuor pour la fin du temps of Messiaen and her own compositions in a music theatre frame directed by Teus van der Stelt.
She took part in the Stockhausen/AUS LICHT opera marathon during Holland Festival 2019 in the Gashouder (Amsterdam) playing piano in Stockhausen's Donnerstag Gruß and synthesizer in Michaels Reise um die Erde, conducted by Adrian Heger.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC STUDIO & REHEARSAL SPACE
Since the first lessons in the analogue studio of the Composition Department of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Maurice Bom "Mouse" , she developed a strong interest in composing electronic music and in technology applied to music. Mouse's artistic view, sharp artistry and personal way to approach studio technology stimulated her to develop her own taste for electronic music and to build up her own studio. Step by step, in a few years, she managed to acquire the needed pieces of equipment, licenses and facilities with the money coming from musical her various musical activities and donations made by people who understood her goals and priorities.
Several successful projects has been accomplished by her and her collaborators such as the electronic composition part for Lacrymosa, commissioned by the Harmonie Concordia Obbicht in 2017. This project was very peculiar due to the involvement of two composers: Rob Goorhuis for the instrumental part and Sara Zamboni for the 4-channels fixed media part. The performance of the Harmonie Concordia Obbicht conducted by Alex Schillings was awarded with a gold medal at the WMC Kerkrade in 2017.
She composed electronic music for two events curated by Karin Post for the Schrit_tmacher Festival presented in the SCHUNCK* Glaspaleis in Heerlen (NL): the music for the exposition "Punk+Dans+Kunst: Angry Movements" (2018) and the techno track Techno Giselle for the conference "Romantiek Nu" (2019).
A collection of electronic music for Modern and Contemporary dance performances has been composed thanks to the improvements and achievements of her studio, Sara Zamboni Music. Investing in the development of this studio means feeding the creative possibilities of the people involved.
Sara is frequently asked by The Royal Conservatory to lead workshops in the "K. Stockhausen" analogue studio of the composition department, especially during the First Year Festival and the Open Dagen.
MUSIC FOR DANCE
Since her early Bachelor's studies, she had the chance to learn and develop her interest in music for dance, as a composer, and later on also as a pianist, thanks to the passion and the patience of Joan van der Mast who guided her into the world of Modern dance. After some years, Joan is still a source of inspiration due to her strong personality, musicality, creativity and commitment as a dance teacher and educator.
She composed the music for "The Silence of the Bees" (2016), a choreography of Joan van der Mast performed during Dance Fest Skopje 2016 by Skopje Dance Theatre, the first professional contemporary dance company in Macedonia lead by Risima Risimkin.
She composed music for Matea Kiselichka's "JAE: Just About Everyone", a 40-minutes new choreography for the China-CEEC Music and Dance Festival 2019 organised by the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in Hangzhou (CN).
Sara works also as freelance piano accompanist for modern dance at the Dance Department of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where she plays for modern dance classes, composes music for school performances and helps out with music for solo performances.