Valentina Ciardelli

Valentina was born in Pietrasanta (Lucca - Italy), to a German mother and Italian father. Initially a pianist, she started to play double bass in late 2009, graduating with Honours from the “Istituto Musicale L. Boccherini” in Lucca in October 2014. She then gained her Master of Performance (Honours) at the Royal College of Music in July 2016 and continued further studies under the guidance of Leon Bosch an Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she was the recipient scholarships from Trinity Collegee London and the Leverhulme Trust. In 2018/19, she was awarded Trinity Laban’s Carne Trust Junior Fellowship for an Individual.

Valentina also focused her attention on composition, graduating in March 2014 with Honours. Valentina has won several awards and prizes including first prize in the RCM Double Bass Competition 2016, the Vernon Elliot Double bass Competition 2018, the Vivian Joseph Classical Concerto Competition 2018, String Category and the De Simone and Partners prize in the Chamber Music Festival in Rome. Valentina also won a place with a scholarship in the Accademia Chigiana for summer 2018 with Maestro Giuseppe Ettorre. She was finalist in important national and international competitions such as the “Migliori Diplomati D’Italia” (best young Italian music graduate) 2015 and “Double bass international competition Galicia Garcia Graves. She was selected with other 16 young double bass players around the world to perform in the live final rounds at the worldwide double bass solo competition granted by “Bradetich Foundation” in Denton, Texas, at the end of august 2017. Valentina also won several orchestral auditions such as Gustav Mahler Academy 2016 and BBC SO training scheme. She recently won the Artist in Residence at the BANFF, Alberta (Canada) that has hosted her from 15th till 28th September 2019. She gave solo performance with “I solisti veneti” with Maestro Claudio Scimone and she won the prestigious scholarship granted by this Academy (Proliber). She has performed as a soloist in the prestigious London concert halls Wigmore Hall and St. Martin in the Field and has been invited to the pre- opening of the Zappanale 2018 in St.Katharinen Kirche (Hamburg) with her Trio featuring the Worldwide saxophone virtuoso Napoleon Murphy Brock.

Currently, Valentina is Double bass teacher assistant at Trinity Laban Conservatorie of Music and Dance (London, UK) in Leon Bosch’s class and she is double bass professor at the London performing academy of music and coaching the composition dipartment for string writing. She is also a young artist of Talent Unlimited. She won a scholarship from associazione Animando in Lucca for a research project investigating the music of Giacomo Puccini’s ancestors and her work has been published for the Japanese Press Da Vinci. She has debut her first solo album, Music from the Sphinx, (silver medal in the Global Music Award) in November 2019 with a brand new repertoire. Valentina's work is focused to expand the double bass solo repertoire composing new virtuoso pieces, transcribing mostly Frank Zappa’s Repertoire and playing new composition written for her from many contemporary composers. Three of her new double bass solo releases with the British label Ulysses arts has been selected for Apple classical and Contemporary Classical music playlists. In May 2022 The second Album "Rūtsu" will debut in collaboration with her duo partner Anna Astesano from "the Girls in the magnesium Dress"

Valentina also has a wide Jazz experience playing in important Jazz Festival such as Dusseldorf Jazz Marathon, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Tuscia Jazz, Umbria Jazz Clinics and she got to final in competition such as Tuscia Jazz as Best double bass and electric bass player and Nicola Tiberio Awards in 2012. She plays a 2014 Scipioni Bass made in Mantua.

www.valentinaciardelli.com