New lecturer for historical opera and historically informed stage practice from September 2023: Deda Cristina Colonna

Deda Cristina Colonna is a director and choreographer and has been teaching gesture at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis since 2021. Her most recent productions include Castor et Pollux by J.- Ph. Rameau (Warszawska Opera Kameralna, 2021), for which she was awarded the Jan Kiepura Prize 2022 as best director, Bluebeard's Castle by B. Bartok (Teatro Coccia, Novara / Teatro G.B. Pergolesi, Jesi 2021), Il Trovatore by G. Verdi (Teatro G.B. Pergolesi Jesi, Teatro Coccia Novara, Teatro Sociale Rovigo, Teatro M. Dal Monaco Treviso 2022-2023), Juditha Triumphans by A. Vivaldi (Teatro Verdi Pisa, Teatro Ponchielli Cremona 2023) and participation in the opera project Muzio Scevola of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in April 2023.

Her work is strongly influenced by her own stage experience as a dancer and actress. Her particular expertise is in baroque dance, rhetorical gesture and historically informed acting. Based on a historically informed stage practice, her direction seeks contact with today's audiences.

Deda Cristina Colonna obtained degrees in ballet at the Civico Istituto Musicale Brera (Novara) and at the École Supérieure d'Etudes Chorégraphiques (Paris). She completed her studies at the Sorbonne (Paris) and specialised in Renaissance and Baroque dance. She also graduated from the drama school of the Teatro Stabile di Genova and performed in productions in Italy, France and Germany. She was a soloist and guest choreographer with the New York Baroque Dance Company. Since 2021 she has been the director of the dance school of the Accademia G. Marziali in Seveso.

For over 25 years she has taught baroque dance, gesture and acting in courses and master classes at institutions in Italy and abroad and publishes, especially on her research on Baroque dance.