Bio

(english version)

Ilary Barnes started studying piano at the age of seven. Born from a family of musicians, she won important prizes in a national ed international piano competitions at a very young age, obtaining numerous awards among which:

  • 1995: 1°prize to the National Competition “Marta Bragadin 95”
  • 1996: 1° prize to the International Competition “Città di Stresa 96”
  • 2° prize to the National Competition “Giovanni Verga” Milano,
  • 1° prize to the National Competition “Remo Bergamin”

She graduated in piano with full marks at the “C.Pollini” Conservatory, in Padua. She had performed in various musical contexts in the national and international territory collaborating with many musicians of the national territory. She played many trio and quartet concerts in tribute to the composer Astor Piazzolla.
She has also gained experience in the field of fusion music, ethnic and Argentine music and zero music. In particular, she dedicated herself to the realization of the musical project in tribute to the Middle Eastern composer ‘Aziza Mustafah Zadeh’, proposing her compositions in many musical contexts and festivals, transcribed and elaborated for double bass, piano and drums.

She performed as a soloist and with ‘Ilary Barnes Trio’ in numerous Festivals of classical, modern and jazz music and musical contexts including ‘Elba Jazz Contest’ (Elba Island 2008) ‘A year of Jazz’ in Padova (2016), ‘Veneto Jazz’, ‘Voices in the Air (Padova 2007) the literary festival ‘The Fair of the Words’ (Rovigo 2009) “Pardes – Contemporary art research laboratories” (Venezia 2011 and 2012 years), the ‘Musical Foundation Masiero & Centanin’ in Arquà Petrarca (Padua) proposing, in addition to the traditional classic repertoire and in musical trio, their own compositions for piano solo, as all as various arrangements for piano and string quartet. She performed the full length of Rachmaninoff’s preludes op.3, 23, 32 to the ‘Contemporary art research laboratories’ in Venice and during the. Festival ‘The venetian landscape’ to the cultural center ‘San Paolo’ (Monselice, Padua 2013). She performed the Concert n. 2 op. 18 for piano and orchestra of Rachmaninoff to the “Temple of the Rotunda” in Rovigo in the 2011 year. In the year 2018 she performed in the music festival to the Hotel ‘Ariston Buja Molino’ in Abano Terme (Padua) playing songs of Chopin, Beethoven, S.Rachmaninoff (Preludes op.23 e 32), W.A.Mozart. She performed to ‘Casa Cimarosa’ in Naples (june 2019) in the ‘Jommelli Cimarosa Festival’ performing the Concerto in Do of Giovanni Paisiello for piano and orchestra, directed by the M.Christian Deliso. She performed to the ‘Philosophical Study Center Pietro Golia‘ in Naples in honor of Alexandr Dugin (2019) performing musicof Chopin, Satie and Rachmaninoff. She performed in the event the ‘Meeting with the opera’ during the ‘Expo art polis’ Festival, to the ‘Pan’ in Naples in September of 2019 performing with the soprano Maja Murjikneli with music of Giacomo Puccini and famous Neapolitan arias. She participated as a guest to the ‘Sanremo Emozioni Live’ Festival (febbraio 2019) broadcast on Rai and Mediaset. She performed as a guest during the famous Literary prize ‘Cimitile prize’ (2019) in ensemble piano and string quartet, playing
her original compositions. She performed as a guest of honor to the ‘Red Carpet of the heart ’ prize in Naples (november 2019) where she played her musical variations on the famous themes of Yann Tiersenn, taken from her recent album in tribute to the film ‘The fabulous world of Amelie Poulain’. She was a member of the jury at the “Stradella International piano competition’ ( Stradella, ottobre 2018 e ottobre 2019) and to the “Valtidone International Competition” ( giugno 2018) in Valtidone (Piacenza).

– Beetween 2017 and 2018 records and publishes for the English label Oracle Records Ltd (Londra) the album “Le Fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain” (in Italy known as the fabulous world of Amélie) in tribute to Yann Tiersenn, contains extracts from the soundtrack of the film of the same name, reworked for solo piano with arrangements and variations on the themes. The album in distribuite worldwide in all digital stores (Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Amazon, Tidal; Google Play ecc…)

– In 2016 she recorded and released the album “The Godfather I, II & III” for the English label “Oracle Records Ltd (London) – in collaboration with the Milanese label PLAY – in tribute to the composer Nino Rota.
The album contains the songs of the soundtrack of the trilogy of “ The Godfather”’ by Francis Ford Coppola, arranged ed performed in piano solo. The album in distribuite worldwide in all digital stores (Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Amazon, Tidal; Google Play ecc…)

PIANO AND COMPOSITION STYLE
The piano and compositional style of Ilary Barnes was born and developed in the classical, solisti and chamber repertory, and in particular way in the romantic and contemporary one, in which the work of F. Chopin, R.Schumann, J. Brahms e S. Rachmaninoff and Debussy.

– In 2021 she published with the label “Soulgem Records” the album “Guardando San Marco” contains original piano pieces for pianos and piano and string quartets.

Ranging between different styles and offering a vast repertoire ranging from Bach to the contemporary music, inspired by Chopin, Rachmaninoff e Debussy, as well as by the contemporary minimalism of Philip Glass and John Cage amo by the atmospheres of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Morricone. Ilary Barnes, in addition to the traditional classical repertoire, dedicated herself to creating her own original piece and variations on a theme, which blend various musical styles in a single sound mix, characterized by a modern sound but at the same time inspired by the virtuosity of the classical age.
The album “The Godfather I, II & III” of Ilary Barnes was born in tribute to the great composer Nino Rota.
The album was produced by “Oracle Records” and contains the soundtrack of the famous trilogy “The Godfather” by Francis Ford Coppola. The album was arranged and reinterpreted by the pianist and composer Ilary Barnes, which in this project was particularly inspired; with a distinctly classical atmospheres with references to Chopin’s music you can enjoy the flavour of the romantic era but also of the gangster era, which went through prohibition in the early 20th century, and the compositional and stylistic choices draw ispiration from the ‘Rag Time’ by Scott Joplin and the musical poetics of the silent films by Charlie Chaplin.
The album “Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain” was born as a tribute to one of the world famous French films, whose soundtrack was written by Yann Tiersenn. Throught this refined and fascinating interpretation for piano, Ilary Barnes has built her original vision of the surreale world of Amelie, so that the listener can live vivere and admire the little magical universe of Amelie throught the gaze of the pianist. Ilary Barnes takes us by the hand guiding us throught “les plus jolies ruelles de Paris”, making the distant echo of the melody of an old singer be heard, while the listener is wrapped in the virtuous and impressionist imprint of music at the turn of the late 1800s and early 1900s which is inspired to Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy. Ilary Barnes created her magical world through Amelìe’s eyes, just like an actress.