A piano, a trumpet, two great musicians and the audience gathered around their stage. udine20.it
The duo Cristofoli & Takahashi was officially born in 2016, debuting with a concert at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan with the “Fulgor, Italian Neo Romantic” programme, that is also the first recording project by trumpet player Ottaviano Cristofoli and features several pieces written especially for him.
Doremi was invited to jump at this concert last minute, as the pianist who was supposed to play was sick. Most of the programme had to be performed as a premiere that night and the time to rehearse was very short. It is in this inconvenient situation that the duo Cristofoli/Takahashi discovered an inbred capability to play together. Their styles naturally melted like if the duo existed for many years. After that first challenging performance, they both recognised that the duo had to keep going performing together and with this particular birth behind, it has played in several concert halls and festivals, exploring different repertoires. Moreover, the duo released its first disc “Azzurra” (Nippon Acoustic Records), that was warmly reworded by the press and the public in different concerts, like for example the Udine Theatre in Italy.
Ottaviano Cristofoli since 2009 is solo trumpet of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo. On top of his activity as an orchestral musician, he is active in a duo with pianist Doremi Takahashi and with “Samurai brass”, a crossover ensemble featuring the most influential Japanese orchestral and jazz brass musicians.
Doremi Takahashi studied under Yuko Sekine and Katsunori Ishii at the Tokyo College of Music Piano Performer Course, and graduated from the top in 2012. Currently, in addition to solo activities, she has a wide range of projects as an ensemble pianist, co-starring with famous domestic and foreign performers.