The mandolin with a thousand faces, even a controversial one

In a recent article Italian journalist Vittorio Feltre implied that Italians living in the north are eagerly waiting for the COVID-19 lockdown to end so that they can return to work, while in the centre and the south they would rather stroll in the streets playing their mandolin.

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Italian mandolin musician, teacher and historian Carlo Aonzo says that Feltri's comments show how "ignorant" people are of the vital role the instrument plays in the classical musical history of all Italian major cities and regions.

Source: Courtesy of Carlo Aonzo

Graduating with honors from the conservatory in Padua (1993), Carlo Aonzo has played for several prestigious institutions like the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala in Milan (Italy), the Nashville Chamber Orchestra (USA), the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal (Canada), the Philharmonia of San Petersburg (Russia), the Minsk Chamber Soloist (Belarus), Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (Germany). In 2001 with his “Orchestra a Pizzico Ligure” he performed in Vatican city for the Pope Johannes Paul II.

Carlo Aonzo con il chitarrista classico Re Izquierdo. Source: Courtesy of Carlo Aonzo

Carlo Aonzo con l'Orchestra a pizzico ligure. Source: Courtesy of Carlo Aonzo

Source: Courtesy of Carlo Aonzo

il Trio Aonzo. Da sinistra, al basso Luciano Puppo, al mandolino Carlo Aonzo e alla chitarra Lorenzo Piccone. Source: Courtesy of Carlo Aonzo