Roots and Academic Training
It all began at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Milan, where she undertook cello studies under the guidance of Marco Bernardin. She then continued her training at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana, refining her skills with Taisuke Yamashita and Mattia Zappa to obtain a Bachelor in Music Performance and a Master in Cello Performance and Music Pedagogy. Between 2016 and 2017, her thirst for knowledge led her to the Jerusalem Academy of Music in Zvi Plesser’s class. Her artistic maturity was shaped through fruitful interactions with giants of the caliber of Rocco Filippini, Enrico Dindo, and Bruno Giuranna, and was further enriched by encounters and masterclasses with Julius Berger, Enrico Bronzi, and Luca Franzetti.
The Stage and Symphonic Commitment
The cellist’s professional experience quickly consolidated within prestigious European orchestral ensembles. After serving as principal cello of the Jugend Sinfonie Orchester Aargau and collaborating with the Jugend Bayerische Orchester and the Jeunesses Musicales de Suisse, from 2011 to 2016 she held the role of section cellist with the Milan Symphony Orchestra “Giuseppe Verdi”. Concurrently, during the 2014-2016 biennial period, she trained as a student at the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala. This solid foundation allowed her to develop an intense concert activity, both as a chamber musician and a soloist, gracing stages in Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Israel, and Palestine. Among her numerous achievements are her solo concerts with orchestras scheduled for 2026, which opened in May with a performance at the Aula Magna of the Sapienza University of Rome. Furthermore, her participation in the Orchestra del Mare (Orchestra of the Sea) project, promoted by the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti, holds profound human and symbolic value. On countless occasions, she has played a luthier-made cello crafted entirely from wood recovered from boats sunk in the Mediterranean, on which migrants desperately sought safety.
A Stylistic Signature Between Baroque and Avant-Garde
Lucia D’Anna’s artistic identity is situated at a unique crossroads, in perfect balance between musical eras that are only seemingly distant. On the one hand, her meticulous study of the Baroque cello and the viola da gamba with masters such as Marcello Scandelli, Martin Zeller, and Myrna Herzog has seen her take a leading role in renowned ensembles, including the Accademia dell’Annunciata and the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra, also performing under the baton of Rinaldo Alessandrini at the Urbino Antica festival. On the other hand, her vocation for the contemporary repertoire has driven her to participate in the Neon and Caffeine festival in Lugano, to collaborate with Lucas Fels of the Arditti Quartet, and to conceive Strings and Ink, an original, interdisciplinary project that fuses musical performance with live painting. In recent years, she has given an even stronger voice to current creation by developing a valuable research project dedicated to living Palestinian composers, performing numerous world premieres of their works.
Music as an Instrument of Peace and Cooperation
However, it is in the field of pedagogy and cultural cooperation that her work takes on a vital and extraordinary dimension. Together with Michele Cantoni and Luca Franzetti, she co-directed the EMAP (Ensembles Music Academies Palestine), founding in Bethlehem in 2022 the first Baroque music academy entirely dedicated to young Palestinians. In her delicate role as a teacher and head of the Strings Department at the Palestinian National Conservatory and the Kamandjati school in Ramallah, she has actively operated on the front lines in the difficult contexts of refugee camps. In response to the dramatic emergencies of the conflict in the Middle East, she designed specific music education programs for children evacuated from Rafah at the SOS Children’s Village in Bethlehem and for the young residents of the Old City of Jerusalem, complementing these initiatives with numerous cello masterclasses held between Italy and Palestine.
Lucia D'Anna 