Virginia Sutera
studied classical violin with Maestro Manuel Meo at Milan Conservatory. Since the very beginning of her career, she had been interested in world music, free jazz and improvisation.

She worked with F. Battiato, M. Dulbecco, F. Meloni, V. Zitello, S. Cerino, F. Cerri, G. Carlone (Banda Osiris), Arup Kanti Das, F. Bruni, F. Frongia. She also took part in large musical ensembles, such as Milan Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra dei Popoli.

She has performed in different places and ventures, including Teatro Elfo-Puccini, the Castello Sforzesco, Milan’s Teatro P. Grassi, Auditorium Fazioli, Museo della Scienza e della Tecnica, il Teatro Nuovo Eden of Brescia, Mudec, Teatro Lirico in Magenta, Milan’s Triennale, Teatro Coccia in Novara, Palazzo Farnese in Piacenza, Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme, the Accademia Chigiana of Siena, Blue Note e the Sala Piatti in Bergamo, where she recently performed with pianist Ermanno Novali for the Società del Quartetto.

Since 2015 she regularly preforms with Fase Hobart: this ensemble, made by Marco Pisi, Lorenzo D’Erasmo and Virginia herself, explores free jazz and ethnic music, combining the western avant-garde with the musical traditions of distant regions and past ages.

In 2017, she attended a masterclass on free improvisation held by Stefano Battaglia; after that, she was admitted to the Laboratorio di Ricerca permanente, Siena Jazz.

In 2018 Virginia started to explore the musical language performing both as a soloist and in ensembles and duos: among them, Duo Anser, with the pianist Alberto Braida Duo Sutera Novali with pianist Ermanno Novali.

Alberto Braida
was born in 1966. He began his piano studies when he was seven years old. He obtained a diploma at the Conservatory "G. Nicolini" in Piacenza and attended jazz music seminars in Siena from 1989 to 1991. He has been focused since the beginning on improvisation and its relationship with composition.

He has collaborated and played with musicians such as Liz Albee, Ab Baars, Antonio Borghini, John Butcher, Cristiano Calcagnile, Günter Christmann, George Cremaschi, Wilbert De Joode, John Edwards, Lisle Ellis, Massimo Falascone, Wolfgang Fuchs, Ig Henneman, John Hughes, Michael Griener, Hans Koch, Peter Kowald, Giancarlo Locatelli, Paul Lovens, Paul Lytton, Edoardo Marraffa, Phil Minton, Filippo Monico, Larry Ochs, Gino Robair, Elke Shipper, Wadada Leo Smith, Fabrizio Spera, Michael Thieke, Luca Venitucci, Frances-Marie Uitti, Jack Wright and many other.

He played at Vision Festival (New York), Umbrella Festival (Chicago), Improvised and Otherwise Festival (New York), International Jazz Festival (Vancouver), Total Music Meeting (Berlino), Tasten Festival (Berlino), Uncool Festival (Poschiavo), Taktlos Festival (Zurigo), Interactivity 05 (The Haag), Music Unlimited Festival XIX (Wells), Konfrontationen (Nickelsdorf), Podring (Biel), Risonanze (Venezia), Controindicazioni (Roma), Free Radicals at the Red Rose (Londra), Festival milanese della musica d'improvvisazione (Milano), Pulsi (Milano), ContemporaneaMente and in many other venues within the United States and Europe.