adEIdJ – Associazione delle Etichette Indipendenti di Jazz

Press Release

Stefano Bellon (Padua 1956) is a classical composer who trained at the school ogf Wolfango Dalla Vecchia and perfected his skills with Franco Donadoni at Santa Cecilia in Rome and then in the Accademia Chigiana. He attended seminars by Salvatore Sciarrino, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and studied analysis with Giacomo Manzoni. He also worked as arranger in jazz, a music he explored as a pianist in his youth.

After attending the conservatories of Udine, Rovigo, and Trieste, he has been teaching composition at the Pollini Conservatory in Padua for several years. His music has been performed in Europe, America, and Asia by prestigious ensembles such as the Arditti Quartet, the Atlas Ensemble, the CMEK, and the Lumen Contemporary Ensemble, as well as by important soloists. He collaborates closely with Alvise Vidolin in the field of electronic experimentation. Stylistically, Bellon started out close to the positions of Donatoni, one of his first teachers, and Luciano Berio, to whom he dedicated the piece Paul McCartney Commentaries, performed at the Biennale Musica in Venice. He shares with composers such as Bruno Maderna a rethinking of experiences in the field of jazz within traditional writing, and the development of a post–serial compositional approach, also applied to materials from non–European cultures, especially Asian ones.

“Vocativo”, first album entirely dedicated to his own music – which also features on many other albums – brings together four important compositions spanning roughly a decade, from the aforementioned tribute to Berio (1995) to the more recent Alfabeto Deserto (2006). These are live recordings of impeccable technical quality, all made in Amsterdam, two of them in one of Europe's most prestigious concert halls, the Concertgebouw. Three are performed by the extraordinary Atlas Ensemble – which also uses traditional Asian instruments – under the direction of Ed Spanjaard, and one by the Nieuw Ensemble. Of particular note are the outstanding performances by the Chinese Yan Jiemin in Snakes, Skin and Strings, and, somewhat unexpectedly, by Mango, whose naturally rich and nuanced voice is ideal for interpreting the title track, in which the lyrics – taken from poems by Andrea Zanzotto – certainly play an important role. His interpretation only increases the regret at the loss of such an interesting singer–songwriter and uncommon vocal talent.

We hope that this album will put the spotlight back on Stefano Bellon, an innovative and personal composer like few others on the Italian contemporary music scene. We would like to point out that three of his compositions for jazz big band and electronics are featured in another title in our catalog, “Note sui Sillbari (omaggio a Goffredo Parise)” (2022), with lyrics by Vitaliano Trevisan, performed by the writer himself.

Track List

1. Alfabeto Deserto (concerto for flute, English horn and orchestra)
2. Vocativo
3. Paul McCartney Commentaries
4. Snakes, Skin and Strings (concerto for erhu and orchestra)

All compositions by Stefano Bellon (on track n. 2 lyrics by Andrea Zanzotto)

Personnel

1. Atlas Ensemble; Ed Spanjaard (conductor); Harrie Starreveld (flute, piccolo); Ernest Rombout (English horn)
2. Atlas Ensemble; Ed Spanjaard (conductor); Mango (vocals)
3. Nieuw Ensemble; Wijnand de Groot (audio recording)
4. Atlas Ensemble; Ed Spanjaard (conductor); Yan Jiemin (ehru) 

Recording Data

1. Muziekgebouw, Amsterdan, on March 9, 2006
2. Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on June 27, 2004
3. Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, on November 11, 1995
4. Paradiso, Amsterdam, on February 8, 2005

track n° 3 audio recording by Wijnand de Groot for Concertzender

Mastered and edited by Walter Bertolo, at Digitalsound Studio, Vedelago (Treviso), Italy, in 2025