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Nicola Tescari, also known as "Manofresca", is an outstanding pianist, conductor and composer.
Manofresca transcribes his emotional impulses into cinematic odes on his debut album, And Then., which is scheduled to be released in 2024.
Lulled by classical music and the popular Italian songs of the resistance, Nicola Tescari was born in Milan. Coming from a long line of artists (his film-maker father, singer and actress mother, and his opera singer great grandmother), he was taught the piano from a very young age by his grandmother, who passed on to him her passion.
Nicola's childhood and adolescence were punctuated by classical music, but also by American pop, rock, blues and jazz. After graduating high school, he obtained a scholarship to the prestigious New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied composition and contemporary improvisation with legends such as Lee Hyla, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Elliot Carter and Joe Maneri.
He moved back to Europe after learning a new way of conceiving performance and improvisation, while retaining his classical grounding, he made his own the various possibilities of each musical style. Nicola Tescari then piles up compositions for film directors (Cristina Comencini, Carlos Saura, Valeria Golino), theater (Alftredo Arias, Alessandro Baricco) television, contemporary art… without disregarding pop. In 2012, his arrangement of Sting's "Moon Over Bourbon Street" was nominated for a Grammy Awards.
As a pianist, he accompanied artists like Madonna, Sting or Rufus Wainwright, and shared the stage with personalities from classic music such as Katia and Marielle Labèque, the violin soloist Viktoria Mullova or the cellist Giovanni Sollima.
Having worked in the shadows of the greats until now, Nicola Tescari takes the name of
"Manofresca" to offer his first personal work: And Then. It reflects his musical peregrinations of rare depth, while questioning our world: from classical to jazz, via minimalist and concrete music. Through the voices of Victor Solf, Annie Burnell, Nadeah, Nate McBride and Piers Faccini, his texts point out the limits and failings of our society, while vocal samples from Yanis Varoufakis reminisce notes of hope.
An orchestral and cinematographic trip where analog and organic sounds are intertwined, revisiting the codes of contemporary music, while making it accessible. If Nicola Tescari chose the shadows, Manofresca takes the light beyond a simple project: a manifesto to pass on.
